Richard Hogan: When the atrocity in Gaza ends, we'll have to answer difficult questions

Richard Hogan. Photograph: Moya Nolan

The 1948 Nakba "catastrophe" which saw the displacement and persecution of Palestinian Arabs and the continuing occupation of their territories and lands has become a symbol of Palestinian identity and determination to continue and survive. 

There are songs and poems written about the event. 

The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish describes the Nakba as "an extended present that promises to continue in the future". What we are witnessing on our television screens, currently, is a far more devastating Nakba. 

Gaza has become a wasteland. Images of children ripped apart, homes flattened, hospitals in ruins, fathers and mothers desperately searching in rubble for their families. 

No water or electricity. Gunmetal grey smoke swirling in the rubble that was once a bustling city. 

Gaza resembles Hiroshima or Nagasaki. This is a humanitarian disaster, the likes of which we have not seen in our time. 

Even Putin didn’t dare subject Ukraine to such bombardment. He knew he would have to answer allegations of war crimes. He knew the international community would respond. 

The Israeli government seems less preoccupied with such concerns. They seem confident their wealthy allies will not ask such questions or dare to intervene. 

An atrocity by any other name is still an atrocity. When this brutal ground war ends, if it ends, we will all have to look at ourselves and answer some very difficult questions.

I don’t think there is any reasonably-minded person who doesn’t find what happened on October 7 an abhorrent evil. 

Our thoughts are with those 229 young adults currently held captive by a terror organisation. The parents of those young adults must be experiencing an incomprehensible living nightmare. 

Does the Israeli Defence Force really believe that their relentless bombardment of innocent civilians and ground battle will force the hand of Hamas to release those captives? 

I remember the story in school of the north wind, and the sun in a quarrel about which of them was the stronger. As they are quarrelling they see a stranger pass below wrapped in a cloak. 

They decide to see who can remove the cloak from the traveller, the wind blows like mad only to make the man tie up his jacket and firmly hold onto it. The sun with its heat, forces him to take it off. 

Do any of us think Hamas will relinquish their hold on these prisoners because of military might? 

Does history show that rising death tolls of innocent people end the death grip of terrorism or increase membership to terror groups? We all know the answer to that. 

Mr Netanyahu claims, “This is a do-or-die moment for our nation”. Sounds empty when you see the post-apocalyptic landscape of Gaza. 

“Israel isn’t only fighting its war, but all of humanity’s war against barbarians.” 

Again, you cannot destroy a people and see yourself as the liberator, no matter how powerful your propaganda machine. 

There is truth. And Gaza is being annihilated right in front of our eyes. An estimated 2,360 children have been killed so far in Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 attack. 

The terrible repercussions of this response have yet to play out. A ceasefire seems further away than ever. 

When President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, responds to questions about the deadly ferocity of Israel’s response, saying, ‘Ultimately, these are their decisions. This is their action, and they’re best postured to be able to answer questions about how it’s proceeding’, death and carnage are secured.

We are not only watching the annihilation of a people unfold on our screens, we are also watching the obliteration of international law and diplomacy. 

When I was a student studying some terrible event in history, of which we have plenty, I’d often wonder, how did everyone stand by and let that happen?

That answer has never been clearer now. 

International law and diplomacy are a luxury for those who are wealthy. If you are a poor Palestinian, you should not expect those laws to protect you. 

Wealthy friends and money are what we protect, not ordinary innocent people. They can offer us nothing. The terrible world ideology revealed in all its brutal ugliness. 

I have always fundamentally believed in the goodness at the heart of the human condition. But, we know from history, it only takes silence to allow evil to flourish. 

Ursula von der Leyen's support for Israel to defend itself has shattered the reputation of the EU. 

Of course, Israel has a right to defend itself, every country has a right to defend itself against terror. 

But not at the cost of 2.3 million ordinary Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip. That's not protecting yourself. 

President Michael D Higgins spoke powerfully against Von der Leyen’s comments. In her support of Israel, he said, she "wasn’t speaking for Ireland". 

President Higgins said the international law is now in tatters. Surely, von der Leyen’s position as President of the Europe Commission should be questioned. 

We should listen to the 842 signatures of staff members of EU institutions which stated that her support of Israel gives, a "free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip".

This is not about choosing sides. It’s about humanity. We either have international laws that protect innocent people or we don’t. 

Currently, we don’t. Shame on us.