While most Western governments have been supporting Israel in the Gaza war since October 7, a new trend is taking shape as hundreds of officials from the US, the UK, and EU are now protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Since the war in Gaza started back on October 7, Israeli military has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children. But even despite this unprecedented volume of bloodshed, many Western countries have shown their support for Israel both in words and in action.
To read between the lines, countries such as the United States, the UK, and a number of European Union countries have generously supplied Israel with financial and military aid to continue the war against Gazans to date.
However, this trend seems to be changing to Tel Aviv’s disadvantage and officials of these very pro-Israeli governments are now standing against Israeli bloodshed in Gaza.
According to a new report by the New Times that was released this Friday, more than 800 officials in the above-mentioned countries released a public letter of dissent against their governments’ blind and unlimited support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip.
The letter is of significant importance and could be a turning point in the war. In this regard, current and former officials of these Western countries who are organizing or supporting the effort told the New York Times that the letter “is the first instance of officials in allied nations across the Atlantic coming together to openly criticize their governments over their standing with Israel in the Gaza war.”
We stand with Palestine till the war ends, Western officials say
Rebuking their governments for ignoring and dismissing their initial disagreements with pro-Israeli polices, the officials supporting the letter said that it is their duty as civil servants to speak up publicly to change their countries’ policies toward Israel.
“Our governments’ current policies weaken their moral standing and undermine their ability to stand up for freedom, justice, and human rights globally,” the letter reads, adding that “there is a plausible risk that our governments’ policies are contributing to grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing or genocide.”
The conscience-awake Western officials also referred in the letter to the huge number of casualties from the Palestinian side killed by Israeli air and ground attacks. “The Israeli bombing and ground campaign in Gaza have killed over 27,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. Israel has destroyed tens of thousands of homes, as well as hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and graveyards in a campaign to make Gaza uninhabitable. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans face starvation.” The letter noted.
But Israeli atrocities against Gazans do not confine to killing only, as the decision makers in Tel Aviv have also expressed their intention to expel Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to Egypt and other countries to conquer and annex the enclave and expand their illegal settlements on the Palestinian lands.
Although the signers of the letter are unknown as they did not want to reveal their names due to fear of reprisal, the New York Times report said that 80 of the signers are from US government agencies, and that some of these American officials have been working for the US government for years.
“The largest number of signers of the letter come from officials working for various agencies of the EU, followed by the US and the Netherlands. Officials from Sweden and Switzerland also approved the letter,” the report also noted.
