Overkill Is An Understatement When It Comes To Israel’s Self-Defence

The bombing of al-Ahli Hospital by Israel is nothing short of horrifying and sickening. This sanctuary, which was providing emergency medical aid to families, has now become a graveyard. With the death toll from this single airstrike standing at 500 — a number that is tragically expected to rise — the overall death toll has now surpassed 3,000 lives.

These abominable actions reveal a chilling willingness on Israel’s part to go to extreme lengths, disregarding international norms and human rights. Let’s recap their actions in the mere span of ten days since Hamas’ attack on October 7:

• Indiscriminately carpet-bombed one of the world’s most densely populated areas, where half the residents are children.
• Deliberately targeted civilian infrastructures including residential buildings, schools, and places of worship.
• Left civilians trapped, unable to escape due to a suffocating blockade that restricts any movement in or out.
• Deprived people of basic necessities like food, water, and electricity.
• Eventually ordered over a million civilians to evacuate their homes, only to bomb them as they attempt to leave through the designated ‘safe route.’
• Blocked all corridors of entry for humanitarian aid, isolating the entire city.
• Reduced a bustling city to mere rubble.

All of this in their purported quest to neutralise terrorists. Yet, as I scroll through my social media feeds, the faces that haunt me are not those of terrorists but of innocent children — victims of a campaign that seems to have lost all sense of proportion and humanity. To call this overkill is a huge understatement.

Israel and the United States often claim a moral high ground, asserting that their democratic values set them apart from terrorist organisations. They maintain that they exercise every possible precaution to avoid harming civilians. However, the abovementioned actions they’ve taken in the name of “self-defense” clearly tell a different story.

The abduction of hostages and the unjust killing of innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas is categorically wrong and deserves unequivocal condemnation. There is never an argument or justification for taking innocent lives, regardless of ethnicity, religion, nationality, or anything else.

But this is not an act of self-defense in retaliation to Hamas; this in itself is a depraved act of terrorism. It’s astonishing that global leaders are not only failing to recognise this atrocity for what it is, but they’re also neglecting to condemn it in any meaningful way.

The reality is stark: we’re dealing with an occupying power that has imposed a brutal military regime on a defenseless civilian population for over seven decades. This state was founded through acts of terrorism, forcibly expelling people from their ancestral lands at gunpoint. Yet, the prevailing narrative often parrots the phrase, “Israel has the right to defend itself.”

This assertion is fundamentally flawed. The notion of self-defense loses all credibility when you’ve seized another people’s homeland through a campaign of violence, oppression, dispossession, displacement, and murder. To claim self-defense while being the aggressor is not just misleading; it’s a logical absurdity.

But how can such an inherently flawed narrative gain traction and even become a mainstream viewpoint?

The answer is simple but chilling: the power of programming is real and dangerous and by no means accidental. It’s carefully crafted through media narratives and political rhetoric that uphold the actions of the aggressor as self-defense, thereby dehumanising the oppressed.

The history books show us time and again how insidious the consequences of this programming are.

Consider the 2003 invasion of Iraq, justified by the fabricated narrative of Weapons of Mass Destruction, a lie that led to the killing of over one million Iraqi civilians.

Or reflect on the Nazi propaganda machine that systematically dehumanised Jewish people, laying the groundwork for the Holocaust.

In our current context, this programming has manifested in the tragic case of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume . Shockingly, his landlord, who had previously been friendly with Wadea and his family, invaded their home and declared, “All you Muslims should die.”

How did a relationship that was once amicable deteriorate into such a horrifying act of violence?

When governments and media outlets perpetuate skewed narratives, they are effectively shaping public perception and attitudes to accept a distorted version of reality and justify such inhumane killings.

Wadea Al-Fayoum

The reality is this: Israel possesses one of the world’s most advanced and powerful military arsenals, backed by $3.8 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid, recently bolstered by an additional $2 billion as it prepares to launch its latest ground invasion into Gaza.

This war machine operates with near impunity, shielded by diplomatic cover from other nations and equipped with the Iron Dome, the world’s most advanced missile interception system.

Contrast this with Palestine, which has no army, no foreign aid, and no escape routes from the recurring cycles of violence it has endured since the onset of illegal occupation.

If the international community, particularly Western democracies, insists that Israel has a right to defend itself, it leads one you to question:

• Does Palestine not have the same right to resist?
• To defend itself against an overtly oppressive, racially discriminatory apartheid regime?
• To claim sovereignty over its own land, free from invasive checkpoints and pervasive surveillance?

If Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation for its actions, then by the same logic, Israel could be considered a far more potent and sophisticated terrorist entity.

Why?

Because Israel surpasses Hamas in every conceivable metric — resources, finances, international support, and the timeline and scale of its brutality.

The term “international law” has become little more than hollow rhetoric in this context. Statements declaring Israel’s breach of international law for its war crimes, occupation, and apartheid system are abundant, yet they result in no tangible action.

In this grim reality, international law seems to lack both weight and authority. The Palestinians have been let down by the global legal system for decades, and that failure persists unabated.

When a people are cornered by relentless oppression, stripped of basic human rights, forced to live in conditions that defy human dignity, and are failed by the rest of the world, what options are left to them?

This isn’t an endorsement of Hamas or any other group that resorts to violence; it’s a plea to recognise the unbearable circumstances that drive some to such desperate acts. The squalid conditions many Palestinians endure aren’t just a backdrop to the conflict; they are a breeding ground for extremism.

This blatant discrepancy becomes even more troubling when considering that Western perspectives, from governments and media outlets to celebrities and political commentators, ovwhelmingly favour Israel, often to the detriment of 2.2 million innocent Palestinians.

Whether it’s due to vested interests, geopolitical alliances, ingrained prejudice, or sheer moral cowardice, the result is a culture that promotes injustice and shields the true extent of Israel’s actions from global scrutiny.

The State’s oppressive policies predate the formation of Hamas by decades. For those invoking the self-defense argument to justify Israel’s current actions, it raises the question:

What justification was there for over 70 years of occupation, displacement, and systemic discrimination?

The self-defense narrative crumbles to pieces when scrutinised against the backdrop of a long-standing regime that has been inherently imbalanced in its exercise of power.

The irony here is tragic yet undeniable: How can a state, born from a people who suffered unimaginable horrors under Hitler’s Nazi regime, be willing to inflict similar terrors upon another group?

This paradox illustrates the cyclical nature of oppression and the disturbing ease with which the roles of victim and oppressor can be reversed.

This is a call to tackle the root issues as seriously as we address the surface problems. We can’t stop desperation unless we first improve the conditions that create it.

So, what can you do?

• Start by sharing articles like this one that offer a different perspective to the one-sided narrative of mainstream media.
• Engage in meaningful discussions with those around you, even if it’s uncomfortable.
• Support organisations that are working to bring justice and equality to oppressed communities, while actively boycotting those that are supporting the apartheid state.
• Do your own research. Find and follow accounts on social media that are providing accurate reporting and first-hand accounts on the issue.
• Donate to charitable organizations that are on the ground providing much-needed relief.
• Write to your local MP, urging them to raise the issue in Parliament. Your voice can be a catalyst for legislative change.

The journey towards justice and equality is a long one, and it requires the collective effort of each one of us.