Global response to the October 7 Massacre
In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas massacre in Southern Israel, in which more Jews were killed in a single day than since in the Holocaust, two distinct responses occurred. The first was one of support. The world’s most famous landmarks were lit up in blue and white; the colours of Israel’s flag washed a towering building in South Africa, in a clear message of defiance against the lie of apartheid in Israel. And across Europe and the Americas, world leaders sent their messages loud and clear: we stand with Israel and against the barbaric murder, torture and kidnapping of Israeli civilians by Hamas terrorists.
These displays of solidarity have been backed by unprecedented action, with the UK leading the way in Europe by sending military assets to the region to bolster support for Israel. including Royal Navy surveillance aircraft and Royal Marines. Both the UK and US Governments have been unwavering in their support for Israel’s right to defend herself and wipe out Hamas’ capabilities in Gaza. These world leaders know that Israel seeks to minimise civilian casualties by giving notice to Palestinians to leave Northern Gaza before the retaliatory strikes begin. They see that it is Hamas blocking or destroying exit routes, doubling their war crimes and putting the lives of their own people at stake. These leaders understand that Hamas stands for death, not for Palestinians.
And in a further demonstration of support for Israel in the face of such horror, the UK Government and his Majesty’s Opposition are standing shoulder to shoulder in condemnation of the atrocities and in support of Israel’s right to defend herself. This is an unrecognisable image from the ones seen just a few short years ago when the Labour Party was mired in antisemitism.
Pitted firmly against these official responses are much darker and sinister voices which, in a time-tested formula, use the plight of Palestinians as a not-so-thinly veiled attack on Jews. ELNET has consistently made no distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism and the shameless obsession with the world’s only Jewish state and only democracy in the Middle East. The October 7 massacre is, without doubt, the clearest example of this 21st century antisemitism and it is desperately alarming.
The first cries of ‘Free Palestine’ and marches supporting the ‘resistance’ against Israel, began within hours of the Hamas massacre occurring. Yet Israel had not retaliated, not set foot in Gaza, not made a single strike back. Israel was still reeling from seeing hundreds upon hundreds of its citizens brutally murdered, tortured and kidnapped.
The ‘pro-Palestine’ rallies have been filled with rhetoric, signs, slogans and actions that can only be explained as supporting or glorifying the attack; an illegal act in the UK. This shocking blood lust has been seen in the streets of Europe, the UK, and across the United States and on university campuses.
And so Israel has sought to explain what happened; to show the atrocities, to garner understanding for their pain and anger and show that Israel has a responsibility to respond and protect its citizens. After all, when ISIS rampaged through Syria, when they murdered young people at the Bataclan club in Paris, and when they raped and murdered Yazidi women in Syria, public outcry and horror was universal. Why should it be any different for Israelis?
The publication of the most shocking crimes against humanity perpetrated by Hamas, of images that are unprintable and cannot be erased from the minds of those who have born witness, have been questioned and dismissed as fake by those with such a deep-rooted anti-Israel narrative that they cannot believe the evidence of their own eyes. There is only one analogy applicable to this response and that is of Holocaust denial.
Across the media, the initial reaction to the Hamas attack and the atrocities they committed has been largely as humanity would expect: shock, horror and full of condemnation. Yet the double standards quickly began to seep through in the language and tone directed at Israel and its supporters, culminating in the BBC’s refusal to refer to Hamas as terrorists, even in the face of clear evidence and its legal status in the UK. Journalist have bizarrely demanded that world leaders denounce Israel’s refusal to provide resources such as electricity or water to Hamas-governed Gaza; yet no other country in the world would be expected to support its enemy, let alone a terrorist entity. They turn a blind eye to the use of UN first aid kits by the Hamas terrorists, to the proven misuse of EU funds in Gaza, to the digging up of water supply pipes to turn into rockets. They call on Israel to open its borders to civilians in Gaza, but ask nothing of the Egyptians who also share a border with Gaza. Some have questioned the very nature of the murder of Israeli babies, but parrot information from the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Authority without dispute.
And there is another, more subtle, aspect to the response to the attack and Israel’s right to self-defence. That of silence; of ‘all lives mattering’ Israel and the Jewish people. The UK Football Association refused to light up the arches of Wembley Stadium because it is remembering ‘all victims of the conflict’, but it did not hesitate to rightly condemn the murder of George Floyd and support the Black Lives Matter campaign. The UN Human Rights Council called for a minute’s silence to mark the ‘loss of life in the Palestinian authorities and elsewhere’ before calling for the return of the 199 Israeli hostages. This gaslighting matters because it diminishes the significance of the Hamas terror attack; it ranks it lower than others and implies that Israeli lives and the atrocities committed against Israeli civilians are worth less than others. As Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Eli Wiesel stated, “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
The outcome? Jews across the world are truly frightened. Their safe haven, the modern State of Israel created in the aftermath of the Holocaust, is in danger and we hear demands for its violent demise throughout the world. Once again, Jews are being killed, violently taunted and blamed for the ills of others. In the UK, antisemitism has skyrocketed by a staggering 300% (year on year) in a week. Jewish schools were closed as Hamas and its supporters, under the guise of being pro-Palestinian, called for a ‘Day of Rage’.
The rise in antisemitism across the world directly following the barbaric massacre of Israelis, which is undisputed, speaks for itself. And while this plays out on the streets of London, and in cities and campuses across the world, almost 200 innocent human beings (including women, children and babies) are being held hostage in the corners of hell. Is this ‘whataboutery’ just ignorance? Misguided support? Or a reassertion of the world’s oldest hate?
As Israel strikes at the heart of Hamas, discussion will take place about the ‘root cause’ of this violence; about the need to be ‘proportionate’. Let us be clear: Israel’s response is and should be the same as the West’s response to ISIS. They are the same murderous terrorists, who do not seek peace or coexistence and who are funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran; who have no regard for human rights, for diversity, for life itself. The Iranian leadership and Putin in Russia have given their vocal support to Hamas. Alarmingly, despite the UK Government’s clearly stated condemnation of both the Iranian regime and of Putin, and its strong support of Israel, the IRGC is still not a proscribed organisation, which goes against every other intrinsic British value.
To suggest there are ‘two sides’ to the Hamas attack is not only offensive to the victims of the massacre, but a deep an insult to civil society. Now is the time for those purporting to support Palestinians to dig deep and consider if they are being used as tools in the information war on Israel and more broadly, on Jews. They should ask themselves if they wish to be complicit in a narrative that does absolutely nothing for civilians inside Gaza but that condones murder, torture and kidnapping. ‘Never Again’ is an oft-repeated phrase, but never before has ‘Never Again’ meant more than it does today.
Jude Lobb, October 2023