The high level meeting taken by the far right Netanyahu on Sunday night signalled that the Israeli military forces are ready to invade Gaza and clear the zone of the Hamas militants. Apart, the Israelis will not allow humanitarian aid from all countries and the distribution will be monitored by the Israelis. The objective is that the Hamas militants, their families and supporters will be denied of any aid offered by the UN agencies. Reports say that Israeli PM only agreed to the request of President Biden for allowing aid flow to Gaza after Biden agreed to his conditions. Israel wants to completely eliminate Hamas from the Gaza strip and this view is shared by both.

At the ground level, the Israelis, apart from continuing bombing and rockets attacks on Gaza under seize, has expanded the bombing to West Bank also killing Palestinians. Hamas militants are also bombing parts of Israel but their intensity is much less compared to the high octane attacks by the Israelis. As per official Israeli estimates, by Sunday evening, more than 4800 Palestinians and 1500 Israelis have been killed including civilians on both sides. The number of injured totals nearly 10,000 including one third children and minors.

What emboldens the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is not just moral and military support extended to the savage Israeli retaliation against the equally chilling attack on the civilians by Hamas on October 7 but also the personal support extended to Israel by both Joe Biden and the US secretary of state Antony Blinken. Biden told Netanyahu, though I am not a Jew, I am a Zionist. Blinken told the PM ‘I have come to you not just as the US secretary of state but also as a Jew. This personal identification of the two US top people of the US administration has made the task of Netanyahu easier in going ahead with his program of displacing the Palestinians from the Gaza strip.

The United Nations Security Council is at a standstill as the resolution of the Brazilian President of the UNSC for immediate ceasefire was immediately vetoed by the USA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not yet called for ceasefire even after the devastation caused to the hospital in Gaza. The Indian PM tried a very poor balancing of the Indian position by talking to the PLO President Mahmoud Abbas, promising sending aid to the Gaza victims and expressing his grief at the death of the Palestinians in the hospital, but there was no mention that this war should immediately stop. Earlier twice he declared that India stands by the side of Israel, once on October 7 and later when Netanyahu thanked him for India’s support.

While other nations of Global South were assessing the impact of the horror of Hamas attack on October 7 , Narendra Modi was among the first world leaders to react. He expressed his shock at “the news of terrorist attacks in Israel”. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour,” he posted on X. This tweet surprised the nations of the developing and poor countries who took note of the regular killings of the Palestinians of the Gaza strip by the Israeli soldiers in the last few months and the extent of provocation provided by them to the Hamas militants.

The Brazilian government of Lula Ignacio da Silva has consistently tried to help end the killings, not only in this war but in Russia and Ukraine, too. As the current president of the UN Security Council, Brazil crafted a ceasefire motion and determinately negotiated, even changing the wording to “humanitarian pause.” The United States vetoed it. Britain abstained. Most of the members of African Union while condemning Hamas terror are equally condemning the savage Israeli retaliation.. They are calling for immediate ceasefire to stop further genocide.

On Saturday thousands of people in the streets in London, New York, Paris, Amsterdam as also in other cities of the world held demonstration before te American and Israeli embassies. They demanded immediate ceasefire by both Israel and Hamas, They wanted permanent solution of Palestine problem. In India, no such demonstrations are being held. There were some attempts, but the BJP state governments did not allow any protests.

Presently BJP ecosystem is going by what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said on standing by Israel. A big disinformation campaign has been launched by BJP trolls projecting Hamas fully responsible for what has happened and showing Israel in a positive light. INDIA constituents issued a statement a few days back. But that is not adequate. After Dussehra, demonstrations have to be organized throughout the country by INDIA constituents demanding ceasefire and calling for a permanent solution on the basis of two state formula of the UN.INDIA partners must show the Palestinians who are undergoing a difficult hour that Modi’s voice does not represent the views of all Indians, the Indians with their big legacy of fighting apartheid and imperialism are not with Israel at this hour but with the fighting Palestinians. (IPA Service)