The Guardian is keen to remind its readers that the murderous bombing of Gaza was “sparked by the lethal Hamas raid of 7 October 2023”.
In the very early hours of Tuesday, March 18th, at 2.30am, shortly before the beleaguered Gazans would be starting their fast in the month of Ramadan, Israel shattered a two-month ceasefire.
The surprise attack, dubbed “Operation Might and Sword” took the lives of 412 Gazans, of whom 174 were children. 560 people were injured.
Nearly a thousand killed or injured in the twilight hours.
But that’s OK, because October 7th justifies it.
Since that fateful day, 62,000 Palestinians have been killed.
But the West is silent, because October 7th allows it.
17,500 children have been killed, because October 7th gives Israel the right to do this.
The Lancet puts the number of dead above 200,000 – but they are only Palestinians, so the numbers don’t really matter. What matters is that 1,200 Israelis were killed on October 7th .
Keir Starmer tells us that Israel has broken no international law – it may be at “risk” of breaking international law, but thus far Israel has not done anything wrong.
Keir Starmer tells us that we should not make any such judgement about Israel; that is for the international courts to decide.
Yet, in 2022, Keir Starmer confidently announced that Vladimir Putin was guilty of war crimes; no international court had passed any such judgement.
In July, 2024, Israeli soldiers sodomised a Palestinian prisoner with a mobile phone, because October 7th gave them the right to do this even though Hamas had raped no woman; nor had they behead any babies; nor did they bake any in an oven. But they could have done all of this, and that is horrific enough.
Keir Starmer does not want to pass judgement until there has been a trial.
On October 7th , Israeli killed their own civilians, because a dead Israeli is better than one taken hostage. The Palestinians made the IDF kill their own people. And so, Amalek.
On 29th February, 2024, the world was appalled by the “flour massacre”, in which 118 Palestinians were killed and 760 injured as they went to get food from aid truck. Starving civilians, desperate for food, mowed down by an army used to mowing the lawn. But October 7th provided the context to justify the horror.
On July 27th, the IDF unleashed an assault on Khadija School, killing 30 of which half were children. This was a place that civilians were sheltering. But October 7th gave Israel the right to bomb a place full of civilians and children.
On October 31st, 2023, Israel bombed a refugee camp – a refugee camp! Killing more than 50 and injuring 150. But October 7th gave Israel license to blitz refugee camps.
In November 2024, Israel bombed a residential building in Beit Lahiya, killing over 70 – payback for October 7th .
At least 50 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Kamal Adwan hospital on 15 January 2025. Reprisal for October 7th .
August 2024, Israel targeted a school that sheltered displaced Gazans, killing more than 100. Revenge for October 7th .
Between October 7 and October 17, in the 10 days, 51 health facilities in Gaza were attacked; justified by October 7th .
Every new horror seems unsurpassable, unforgivable. But each is forgiven and each surpassed by the next horror.
A day of massacre, October 7th , is followed by 510 days of massacres.
On October 7th , Hamas militia killed and took Israelis hostage.
After October 7th , the IDF, made up of Israeli, Indian, British, American, German, French, Italian, Dutch citizens, commit war crimes; rape Palestinians; shoot Palestinian children in the head and the chest; left babies to rot in incubators; switch off electricity to hospitals; shoot medics; kill journalists; blow up schools and universities; bomb hospitals; murdered doctors; denied children anaesthetics, antibiotics and essential medicines; bombed refugee camps; murdered aid workers; used Palestinians as human shields; tied an explosive around the neck of an eighty year old man, and then shot him and his wife dead; summary executions; mass graves including one with 283 bodies at the Nasser medical complex; rape of Palestinian women by males IDF; Palestinian boys and men raped by IDF; sodomising Palestinian men with hot metal sticks and electric sticks; Palestinian prisoners raped by dogs; a UN report finds that sexual and gender-based violence is part of the Israeli security forces operating procedures; B’Tselem concludes that Israeli jails are as good as torture camps for Palestinians; mosques destroyed; churches destroyed; graves desecrated and cemeteries dug up; starvation of the Gazan population; denying water; denying medicines; medical staff targeted by snipers; killing paramedics; double strikes; forced evacuations; looting by IDF soldiers; sexual humiliation; killing surrendering Palestinians.
If Israel invokes October 7th , then let Palestinians pick a day; any day, and invoke that - April 9; December 31; January 7; May 13; December 11; October 29; December 29; January 5; February 14; November 12; January 4; November 3; October 28; April 12; January 3; March 31; May 22; December 18; May 12; July 11; October 30; May 2; October 14; February 25; October 29; May 16; May 26; June 8; October 31; March 18.
We are reminded that 1,200 Israelis were murdered by Hamas on October 7th . But are we told how many of the 1,200 were killed by the IDF? We have the testimony of Yasmin Porat that confirms Israeli tanks fired on Israeli hostages; we have the graveyard of cars to testify that hundreds of Israelis were killed by the IDF; we have the testimony of the Israeli defence minister that IDF was ordered to kill Israelis.
So how many did Hamas really kill? 1,000? Perhaps 800? Perhaps less? We are not allowed to investigate the killing of Israelis on October 7th; only conclude that Hamas murdered 1,200. But the graveyard of cars testifies otherwise.
Keir Starmer reminds us to think of October 7 when asked whether he considered Gaza to be a genocide. The 510 days that followed are all justified by that one day. It doesn’t matter what the Israelis do. 510 days of frenzied genocide. The act is proven.
It doesn’t matter what they say, such as Israel Katz, Israeli minister, declaring on March 19:
Citizens of Gaza, this is your last warning. The first Sinwar ruined Gaza and the second Sinwar will destroy it completely. The Airforce attack against Hamas terrorists was only the first step. The rest will be significantly worse and you will pay the price. Soon, evacuation from the fighting zones will resume. Unless all the Israeli hostages are released and Hamas is expelled from Gaza Israel will act with forces never before seen. Take the US President’s advice. Return the hostages and expel Hamas and other options will be presented to you, including relocating to other places in the world for those who wish. The alternative is utter destruction and devastation.
The act is clear. The intention is clear.
And yet Keir Starmer can stand up in the House and say, October 7th allows Israel to do all this and more.
It doesn’t matter what they do; it doesn’t matter what they say.
October 7th allows everything.
The Guardian tells its readers that it was Hamas that lit the fuse on October 7.
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