The savage bombing of Gaza, its total demolishing and the targeted killing of Palestinian children by Israeli airstrikes truly shocked ordinary people throughout the world.
Images of blown-apart children, mutilated bodies, burned out mosques and churches gained worldwide attention, not through mainstream media but through Twitter and Facebook.
The social media highlighted the Palestinian plight and human suffering, the holocaust, the annihilation of a people whose only request is to live in freedom, peace and dignity.
But the mainstream media in the United States adopted a totally callous approach. Almost all mainstream papers, CNN, CSpan Fox and their affiliates went ballistic accusing Hamas of “attacking Israel” holding it responsible for the current situation and threatening the security and stability of Israel!!
Some anchormen even fabricated lies!!
Others totally ignored the Palestinian side and focused on imaginary tunnels and rockets!
They conveniently omitted to bring to everybody’s attention that freely supplied American weapons, bombs and rockets were blowing children to bits, killing the sick and elderly in the hospitals and killing and maiming worshippers as they prayed during the holy nights of Ramadan
This was not a war. It was a massacre goaded by the media in the United States. The media, which was blatantly biased, indirectly encouraged it by blanking out the attacks and creating hysteria.
Media depravity reached new heights when even live programs were censored by previously respected C-span. Members of academia who were critical of the genocide were brushed aside or not given space or airtime.
While Latin American countries, themselves the victims of American foreign policy, stood up and questioned the Palestinian holocaust no European or Western leader had the guts even to whimper.
The US government and its lawmakers followed the media in asking for Hamas to stop its aggression!
Canada was a bigger culprit and I would really ask our businessmen to stop meeting any Canadian delegation like it was done with the Russians. This move should apply to the European Union countries and the United States, which was the most belligerent!
Obama signed extra funds for Israel’s Iron Dome program and huge shipments of laser guided bombs and rockets were dispatched to replenish Israeli arms stocks.
To these European countries and the US the lives of Palestinians are not worth anything.
To them, we Arabs are just a market, gas stations and a people that can be swayed by words of “you are allies and trading partners.”
This may have been the case before but the Arab masses are now waking to this fact. And what they are seeing is unpalatable. They now want to be taken seriously and treated at par.
No more trade delegations that include diehard Zionists more intent on selling and cheating and filling their pockets. No more journalists who come here looking for domestic issues, no more lack of empathy and no more taking us for granted.
The West should understand that while we have failed in some aspects yet we have a desire to stride forward and progress.
To do that we need peace and you cannot have peace without justice and giving the Palestinian people their rights.
You cannot have peace where the hopes and aspirations of people are trampled upon. You cannot have peace if the West completely ignores human rights issues and on the contrary strengthens totalitarian regimes for economic gains.
All these machinations have to stop immediately. Otherwise the West will pay for the scourge of terroristic acts that will sadly develop from these injustices, as those who have no recourse to legal process will resort to terror.
The West should treat us as equals. We want friends, not masters.
– The writer is Editor-at-Large. He can be reached at kalmaeena@saudigazette.com.sa and followed on Twitter: @KhaledAlmaeena