Victims and enemies | Article by Rafael Vilasanjuan on the political debate on the war between Israel and Hamas

2023-11-26 17:11:54

The potential that the conflict in the middle east for polarize the political debate It’s tremendous. Unlike the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where hardly anyone in the West has any doubts about who the enemy is, in Gaza the conflict moves between the ambiguity of those who claim victims of terrorism oy those who are from the siege, subjected to a disproportionate violenceas if everything was allowed.

It is not strange, therefore, that such a polarized conflict divides Europe, as it also does in the United States, where the President Biden tries to navigate at the gates of an electoral campaign where his most progressive electorate asks him firm hand with the government of Israel and the Jewish community, on the other hand, who do not falter in the face of the terrorist threat. Something similar happened this week to Pedro Sánchez, showing that the Europe he currently presides over should not continue moving in the ambiguity that there is only one enemy in this war.

Related news

There isn’t. Although the beginning of the current violence is the carnage of October 7, the lack of political will in Israel in decades to propose a solution to a stateless Palestinian population is the main obstacle to their security. The current violence can only aggravate it, because it has managed polarize and eliminate many of the ties that despite everything continued to exist between Muslims and Jews. Therefore, although the ceasefire and the exchange of hostages and prisoners – by the way, many of the latter imprisoned without trial – is a step in the right direction, the conflict It does not point to a quick solution.

On the contrary, the war has been waged too big and deep so that the horizon of an agreement is close. That is why it is necessary keep putting pressure, reminding each of the parties that both use violence and that if they are incapable of finding another solution for themselves, they will be victims, -as they claim-, but victims of themselves. And that applies to both sides.