Every day, we awake to more pictures of civilians being brutally assassinated and excruciatingly starved thanks to Israeli government policies and US complicity. Every day for the past 337 days, we ask why, in an age of freedom and democracy, is this happening just across the Mediterranean Sea. How come the genocide in Gaza is not a front-page story at least every week? And why is the political class so deaf to public outrage?
Huge majorities of people all over the world are demanding a ceasefire, access to humanitarian aid and freedom and equality for the Palestinian people. The UN Security Council, in part due to Malta’s diplomatic efforts, has passed resolutions for an immediate ceasefire. The International Court of Justice declared that Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal.
The International Criminal Court has called for all state parties, including Malta, to embargo Israel until it abides by international law. But the Israeli military forces continue to pound Gaza, targeting journalists, teachers, humanitarian aid and healthcare workers, women and children with seeming total impunity.
Let’s look at the relative scale of Israel’s war on Gaza. In Malta, many of our families were permanently scarred by the World War II siege of Malta. Fifteen thousand tons of explosives were dropped on 120 square miles with 300,000 starving souls in 3,343 raids that killed 1,581 civilians between June 1940 and July 1943.
According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli military dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on two million starving souls in Gaza’s 140 square miles over just six months (from October 7 to April 24). This exceeds the WWII combined bombing on London: 18,300 tons 1940-41; on Hamburg: 8,500 tons in summer 1943; and on Dresden: 3,900 tons in February 1945.
The resulting devastation in Gaza includes a rising death toll of some 41,000 people, over 94,100 injured and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of hunger who are primarily children and women. And, daily, we witness the destruction of critical infrastructure and Palestinian cultural heritage.
It is a mind-boggling and heartbreaking genocide that has huge historic significance.
Today, we see that not only did the Israeli war cabinet with US complicity defy international calls for peace negotiations but they have increased illegal evacuation orders, bombings, detentions and torture in Gaza while expanding these illegal operations in the Israeli occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military has dropped 70,000 tons of bombs on two million starving souls in Gaza- Yana Mintoff
So, what can explain the deafening silence of Malta’s political elite and media barons? Why the yawning gap between public opinion and political wheelers and dealers? Is the World Zionist Organisation at work in Malta? Is Israel’s illegal, racist, occupation of Palestinian land somehow benefitting Malta’s elite?
Have Malta’s leaders violated Malta’s neutrality to move full square into the US/NATO camp that provides unconditional military aid to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
These questions need honest answers.
Most of us cannot stomach the past, ongoing and increasing violations of justice, equality and peace for the Palestinian people. We want an end to Malta’s complicity and we want it now.
The international solidarity movement is growing. Responsible leaders in Ireland, for instance, are crafting strong new policies that show clearly where they stand. An example is the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill 28 of 2023. Meanwhile, and significantly for the Mediterranean region, more and more countries are refusing to assist in the passage of lethal weapons and military supplies.
The number of states that have recognised the state of Palestine exceeds 146. Why isn’t Malta on this list?
In the middle of the Mediterranean and with a solid history of bipartisan solidarity with the Palestinians against Israeli colonial apartheid politics, Malta should be the courageous leader, not the cowardly lagger in taking an ethical position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Lack of security is not alleviated but compounded by violent aggression. This is one of the first lessons we teach our children. It is common sense and speaks to communal survival.
We Maltese have survived three historic sieges: in 1565, 1800 and 1941. We have a natural empathy for besieged people: for David and not Goliath.
We want leaders with backbones mature enough to reflect our position.
Ġustizzja għall-Palestina (Justice for Palestine) has an ongoing petition for an immediate and urgent parliamentary debate on this issue. See: https://chng.it/Hk8rTD5Dmk.
Yana Mintoff is a political activist.