By: Dr Andreja Valič Zver
In the whirlwind of extremely complex events in the Middle East, it is hard to avoid the feeling that many people who are making authoritative judgments these days about the “good Palestinians” and the “bad Israelis” have no real understanding of the actual situation in this powder keg. Of course, we could discuss paid agitators under the direction of various intelligence agencies, but we will save that for another time. It must be said, though, that the way our esteemed Prime Minister perceives international affairs makes everything seem rather simple. The world is black and white, and all those who do not think like the “Sun King” are high on the list of court enemies. Whether it is the Middle East, Ukraine, or the issue of nutria in the Ljubljana Marshes. But putting the bitter joke aside.
It is difficult, in this short column at our disposal, to at least outline some of the main enigmas of the complex Gordian knot of the Middle East. For example:
Why do none of the so-called Islamic countries want to accept Palestinian refugees?
Why is the question of who originally lived on the territory that the Palestinians now want to claim not being raised? When there were no Arab Palestinians yet, the Israelites had already been inhabiting the land of their present-day state for millennia. The Arabs began their conquests during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and his successors from the 7th century onwards. Leftists, even in the European Parliament, constantly push the thesis that the problem arose with the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Why do pro-Palestinian protesters in Western countries shout for “Palestine from the river to the sea” rather than advocating for two states?
Why, according to polls, is support for the terrorist group Hamas rising to over 60% among Palestinians? Why have the Palestinians not held elections since 2006?
Why does a flood of sympathy on social media pour out for (many innocent) Palestinian victims of the conflict, but not for the Israeli hostages (abducted a year ago)?
Why do the media not report on the rockets launched from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere that attack Israeli territory every day and night? In just one year, they launched 13,200 rockets from Gaza, 12,400 from Lebanon, 400 from Iraq, 180 from Yemen, and 60 from Syria! Can you imagine that?
Many more legitimate questions could be raised. But let’s stop at October 7th, which, like September 11th, will be etched in the collective memory of the democratic Western world as a day to remember the victims of rampant Islamic terrorism. In the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on September 11th, 2001, 2,977 people lost their lives. In the massive terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th last year, 1,139 civilians and soldiers were killed. No, they were not just Israelis. They were also Arabs, Americans, and people of other nationalities. No, they were not just men. There were women, children, babies. Entire families.
Of the 250 hostages, Hamas terrorists are still hiding more than a hundred in underground tunnels sprawling under Gaza or who knows where else. Torture, rape, starvation, disease, suffering of all kinds. This is the horrifying daily reality for people who had come to celebrate at a desert dance festival or who were simply peacefully sleeping in their homes that early Saturday morning when Hamas militants stormed Israeli villages near the Gaza border. The story of one of the hostages, a 23-year-old young man who was attending the dance festival, was revealed by his brother during the October 7th, 2024, memorial ceremony at the European Parliament. Along with his mother and a relative of another hostage, their testimonies and pleas for support moved the audience to tears. Helpless people in the agony of pain no longer rely solely on the help of the Israeli state but knock on our conscience, stirring empathy. Most Western countries marked the anniversary of the massacre and abductions with memorial ceremonies, synagogue services, and similar events. Did you notice anything like that in Slovenia? As far as I know, the current Prime Minister only managed a rather miserable, both-sides kind of statement: “It has been a year since Hamas’ attack, the detention of Israeli hostages in Gaza, and a year since the Israeli military carried out one of the largest massacres in history.”
You really have to be quite a “gabbler” to, in a single sentence, place victims and perpetrators on the same side of the scales. To ignore causes and consequences. To throw out misplaced claims about “one of the largest massacres in history”, while across the Slovenian landscape, there are more than 700 mass graves, with over 100,000 murdered, mostly unburied, without memorials, and without death certificates.
Even when we remember important milestones, we need thoughtful evaluations from thoughtful people, especially leaders. If you fundamentally cannot distinguish between good and evil, life and the world can instantly transform from a dance into a nightmare.