GAZA AND THE END OF HUMANITY

Solidarity with the people of Gaza is being defused even as their agony intensifies

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Arecent poll conducted in 24 countries by the Pew Research Center reveals that Israel is very unpopular in most of these countries. The main exception is India, where just 29% of the respondents had an “unfavourable” view of Israel. A slightly higher proportion (34%) had a favourable view, and the rest had no view.

Perhaps this was a biased sample, where privileged sections of the population are over-represented. But the popular sentiment may or may not be more critical of Israel among the underprivileged, because they are not necessarily well informed on this issue. Clearly, there is some passivity in the response of the Indian public to the horrific war crimes that are taking place in Gaza.

India’s support of Israel

For nearly two years now, the people of Gaza have been mercilessly displaced, bombed, starved, and deprived of medical care. More than 50,000 people — mainly civilians — have been killed, and many more grievously wounded. Countless children have been shot, dismembered, burnt alive or buried under the rubble. Some of them had to be amputated without anaesthetics. More than 200 journalists and a thousand health workers have been killed. Schools, hospitals, mosques, and universities have been razed to the ground. Today, the entire population of Gaza is on the verge of famine. All this was deliberate, planned, announced, and livestreamed.