When the barbarous over-reaction by Israel towards the horrendous terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 occurred, I had written an article suggesting that ethnic cleansing or genocide by a country whose people, before the country even existed, had suffered a genocide themselves, was not the answer.

I was attacked and called names by their diplomatic representative. My country and the majority of countries have isolated Israel and the US – with the UK sitting on the fence – in the resolution launched by the UN secretary general applying Article 99 of the Charter. It shows that my comments were right and that Israel was the aggressor, the ethnic cleanser with genocidal tendencies. I wonder how that diplomat feels. 

We also saw photographs of half-naked Palestinian prisoners published.

The New York Times has also confirmed what I had indicated, namely that Israeli armed forces and secret services knew of the impending October 7 attack.

Yet, now that more than a month of forced relocation of over two million Palestinians, as well as the killing of over 18,000 mostly innocent civilians has taken place, we can take stock.

Israelis, who have occupied much of the territories promised in 1947 to Palestinians to one day form their State, have killed more than 10 Palestinians for every Israeli murdered on October 7.

Roman armies had always performed decimation against revolting guerillas of their occupied territories. The Nazis used to kill 10 Frenchmen for every German soldier killed by the resistance.

Is this not the same?

Beyond killing 10 Palestinians, four of whom are children, for every Israeli murdered or taken hostage on October 7, there is also the complete destruction of all the buildings and private property of Gaza residents.

Prior to the war, many of these people were also used as cheap labour by the Israelis, while others were captured and imprisoned without trial or legal rights.

Then there is the forced displacement of two million residents of Gaza on the pretext of breaking the underground system built by Hamas.

A threat to flood the tunnels with sea water would constitute another atrocity. Will this ever end? Or is the elimination of all Palestinians the plan?

Were not the pre-1947 Israeli terrorist attacks to force a League of Nations Resolution granting them a State, or the North Vietnam raids on the South, or the Irish Sinn Fein movements to liberate their occupied territories similar to what Hamas has done?

All were terrorists, yet all were fighting to rid their territories of occupiers. It only depends on which side one is ideologically or politically. Yes, they are all the same and they are all wrong.

Whereas the world was quite equally divided for and against Israel with greater sympathy for Israel when this started, things have changed drastically in just 10 weeks.

Fighting a theoretical ideo­logy with tanks, cannons, bombs, and starvation of children, placing prematurely born children in danger by cutting the electricity supply, and cutting water, medicines, food, and fuel for generators will never succeed.

It may starve people and kill some leaders of the movement today, but for every cruel and inhuman torture and torment it forces on the youngsters and children of today it is just fostering and fuelling the leaders and fighters of tomorrow.

Israelis have killed more than 10 Palestinians for every Israeli murdered on October 7

The only solution is to relinquish the occupied territories and to accept a UN Resolution creating a viable and sustainable Palestinian State led by whoever they choose as long as the objective to destroy Israel is eliminated from their charter.

Both states will then need to be protected by international forces for as long as it takes to allow economic independence of the two states.

Having an apartheid system, as has been the case since the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, is no solution. South Africa has shown that apartheid does not survive. Ireland has shown that violence is no answer.

Brutality and vengeance have never had any good outcomes. Malta should propose a new United Nations Security Council Resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire and recognising a State of Palestine along the 1947 lines. 

This will allow the repatriation of all refugees as well as an international fund for the reconstruction of Gaza paid into by as many countries as possible ‒ even Israel, which has caused so much destruction to the enclave.

This is probably the only way Israel can achieve security and maybe regain the admiration and respect that it has lost during these past weeks.

A continuation of the war will leave a stain on Israel that will never go away.

They have lost their position on the side of civilisation to adventure into the realm of barbarianism, only because they have an extremist government and a prime minister afraid to lose power because of the risk of a jail sentence.

That the Almighty ever promised any parcel of land to any given group of people is a fantasy that only religious fanatics can believe. Nobody with a modicum of education in this age of enlightenment believes such nonsense. God is good, and unlike the Greek pagan gods does not intervene in the workings of men.

He gave us free will to act civilly or like barbarians. It depends on which end of this spectrum one wishes to reside. There are no chosen people but there are people who all have the same rights, whatever their ethnic group, skin colour, language, or religion they practise.

The UN should put an end to this senseless killing fields in the Middle East and intervene with a powerful force of blue berets to come between the two sets of fanatics.

US President Joe Biden, an Irish Catholic, should know better than to sacrifice his re-election because of the financing of his campaign by pro-Israel benefactors.

Biden should do the right thing: stop the savage warmongers and force the hardline Palestinians to relinquish their demand for the destruction of Israel. Peace-loving Israelis, and there are many of them, will soon wake up and overthrow their fanatical present leadership, or the world will force them to do so.

John Vassallo is a former ambassador to the EU.