Why African countries should not rally behind desperate Israel

A ball of fire erupts from a building housing various international media, including The Associated Press, after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, May 15, 2021 in Gaza City. [AP photo]

Israel, as a state that came to being at the expense of the indigenous population subjecting them to war crimes as early as 1948, and for decades has acted as a foreign occupation as recognised by the United Nations (UN), including the UN Security Council.

For 56 years now, Israel has continued its defiance to all UN resolutions and all calls from all corners of the world, African countries in particular. The voting records of the sub-Saharan African states, including Kenya, over many decades is a clear reflection of the vision and legal position vis-a-vis the Israeli Occupation to Palestinian land and population.

Depicting Israel as a champion of African independence and self-determination is nothing but a fallacy that requires very basic research to expose. Israel's close ties during the '70s and '80s with Apartheid Regime of South Africa, had reached its peak covering all the fields of bilateral cooperation including military, armament, weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence.

In 1976 the Non-aliened Movement, that will be holding their summit this week in Uganda, had imposed an embargo on Israel for being the primary military ally and supplier of arms to the apartheid regime of South Africa. The list of violations of African States sovereignty and interference in domestic political affairs is well known to all specialists.

The Israeli relentless attempt to remind African states of their economic support, which is incomparable to many other partners including Arab States, and to ask for political support on matters that are deemed illegal and immoral by all legal international actors, is a dissolute act which could lead to the erosion of the solid international law compliance record that has been fostered by these African States.

These new pleas to African states are being made at a time that even the historical allies of Israel have not shied away from announcing very severe criticism to Israel's compliance with different international laws that amount to war crimes and genocide. A growing number of European, Latin American, Asian States are issuing frequent statements critical of Israel's illegal conduct and violations in all the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Several countries have already either severed ties with Israel or recalled their envoys in protest to Israel's massacres against the civilian population of Palestine. These positions are developing in reaction to the reports of UN bodies and agencies that have established the fact that Israel has and is still is committing crimes against a civilian population, including collective punishment.

According to various UN reports, over 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, thousands more are thought to remain missing under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. The UN has also confirmed that more than 200,000 housing units have been damaged or destroyed, amounting to roughly 45 per cent of all homes in Gaza.

The gravity of the situation can be summarised by remarks made by United Nations officials. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has stated that, "Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children". This was further complimented by UN special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, following orders of evacuating civilians to "safe zones", as she stressed that, "there is no safe place in Gaza". Moreover, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, stated that "when the death toll in Gaza was half what it is now, that there is a "serious risk of genocide".

As these lines are being written, the International Court of Justice is hearing the Case the Government of South Africa has filed against Israel, an act supported by several countries representing different continents. South Africa's case against Israel is motivated by their obligation to protect the Palestinians in Gaza and their right not be subjected to genocidal acts.

The international community and in the forefront of it the African states, are aware of the gravity of the situation in Palestine as Israel's crimes are being recorded live and made available to audiences around the world through mainstream media, and social media platforms. Political pressure is building around the globe, including in the United States, in a manner that resembles the mounting pressure against the apartheid regime of South Africa.

Individuals, activists, politicians and public officials around the world are becoming more involved in efforts aimed at protecting the Palestinian people, and ensuring their rights. The Palestinian government is working very close with all international partners, to bring the Israeli atrocities to an end, and to build up political momentum, to a process that brings this decades-long occupation of our People to an end.

Israel, as it has acted since its establishment, continues defying the International community's will, including that of its key allies, and is insisting on holding on to its colonial and apartheid domination of the Palestinian people, occupying their internationally recognised territory. Israel must not any longer be allowed to subject the Palestinian people to its military occupation, and deprive the population of their basic rights as enshrined in the UN charter, Universal Declaration of Human rights, Security Council Resolutions, and United Nation's General Assembly.