Israel's military action in Gaza: Hostage crisis, Gazans' travails sharpen global opinion

Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis; Israeli actions caused over 10,000 Palestinian deaths in Gaza.

Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing Israeli military operation in Gaza have sharply divided the world.

While 1,200 Israelis died in the Hamas attack, the air bombing and ground operations by the Israeli army have so far killed more than 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

During its attack, Hamas took away more than 150 Israeli hostages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and said military operations will continue until the hostages are freed.

The hostage crisis and the misery of the people in Gaza, facing an Israeli army attack and an acute shortage of food, medicine, power, water, and other essentials, have sharpened opinions around the world.

However, unlike in the past, Israeli supporters have decided to strike back at their critics, often accusing them of anti-Semitism.

The war of words between Israeli and Palestinian supporters has not been limited to social media. Nor has it been confined within religious lines.

While Israel finds support in different parts of the Western world, its criticism has also come from sections of Israelis and Jews in the US and Europe.

The debate over anti-Semitism has been going on for several months. But the ongoing Israel-Palestinian war has brought it back to centre stage.

The sharp division between the rival camps has been most visible in the US and European countries, as the Global South, barring sections in India, have mostly rallied behind the Palestinians.

Most significantly, much of the criticism of US policy towards Israel has also come from within the Biden administration.

US President Joe Biden was prompt in travelling to Israel in the wake of the attack on Israel to express solidarity with Netanyahu.

He had also sent his Secretaries of State and Defence to Tel Aviv and supplied Israel with fresh arms.

The US also deployed two of its aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean to deter others from joining the war.

Protest within Biden Administration

But recently, more than 400 employees of President Joe Biden's administration signed an open letter demanding he pursue a ceasefire in the ongoing war that has killed thousands of civilians thus far.

“We represent a coalition of Biden-Harris Administration political appointees and civil servants, positioned across the domestic and foreign policy spheres, working in federal agencies, departments, independent agencies, and the White House,” the letter said.

“We call on President Biden to urgently demand a ceasefire and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity, and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip,” it continued.

The letter says the signatories hail from various backgrounds and faiths and work in more than 30 departments and agencies.

Massive demonstrations have been held in the cities of the United Kingdom and the US, as well as other European capitals, both in support of the release of hostages and the demand for a ceasefire.

On leading university campuses, the atmosphere has been enlivened with debates over antisemitism.

What is anti-Semitism?

Anti-Semitism means any attack or harassment of the Semitic people, which includes both Arabs and Jews.

But in recent years, the term has been accepted by many countries in the West as an attack on Jews, mostly those who were victims of the Holocaust.

The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jews during World War II.

Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe, or around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.

According to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition, “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred towards Jews.”

It adds, “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed towards Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, towards Jewish community institutions, and religious facilities.”

Though the IHRA definition has been accepted by the US and most of its European partners, in recent years, many Jewish scholars, intellectuals, and civil rights groups have begun to publicly express their opposition to it.

In November 2022 and April this year, hundreds of scholars said, “Anti-Semitism is an excruciatingly painful part of our community’s past and present.”

They pointed out that “our families have escaped wars, harassment, pogroms, and concentration camps.”

In a letter urging the United Nations not to accept the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, they said, “We have studied the long histories of persecution and violence against Jews, and we take seriously the ongoing anti-Semitism that jeopardise the safety of Jews around the world.”

According to these scholars, anti-Semitism has now been weaponised to thwart any criticism of the Israeli government’s policies and atrocities against the Palestinians.

“We find this rhetorical tactic antithetical to Jewish values, which teach us to repair the world, question authority, and champion the oppressed over the oppressor,” the scholars said in their letter.

They added, “It is precisely because of the painful history of anti-Semitism and the lessons of Jewish texts that we advocate for the dignity and sovereignty of the Palestinian people.”

But as the debate rages on in the streets and on campuses, there are no clear signs of when a ceasefire will be declared to end the war.

Otherwise, a regional conflict could plunge West Asia into a long phase of instability and affect the whole world.