Our Secretary-General, William Morris LL.D., continues to discuss new political developments in his ongoing podcast series, “This Week in the Middle East”. In this week’s episode, William speaks about the Gaza War. The events that generated this war have understandably generated a lot of hatred. However, would most thinking Israelis have wanted this response? William is not so sure. William reflects on the current Gaza War and suggests an imposed solution may be the only answer. Listen to the full episode through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Buzzsprout. William’s words, for those who prefer a written text, are in full below:

Well, it’s a long time since I’ve done a broadcast or podcast or whatever you like to call it. And there are reasons for that. But now I feel I must with the Gaza war ongoing.

What to say about this terrible situation? I find the kind of tit-for-tat media coverage that barely scratches at the truth distressing. There are fundamentals here. Israel was hit by an Hamas attack in which other groups like Islamic Jihad and others, including the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine and so forth, piggybacked. There was significant killing of Israel’s civilians during that attack. Israel has responded with enormous force resulting in tremendous destruction and death in Gaza. And the Israeli press and news media, like press and news media everywhere, are part of the establishment. And therefore what an Israeli citizen sees is not the full power of the war and they are completely behind the government, by and large, in regard to this, what would you call it, “counteroffensive”.

And that said, Benjamin Netanyahu is hugely unpopular. Which is why he is incautious in making strikes in Syria and Lebanon. To my certain knowledge, Aleppo and Damascus airports have each been hit three times in futile attacks. But then Iran has been extremely restrained. Iran had no foreknowledge of the Hamas action. Iran has been extremely restrained as has its proxy Hezbollah at Iran’s behest. Netanyahu pushes the envelope as much as he does because I think he would almost like an existential war, a wider war, though he would never say that publicly. He would almost like that because it would give him justification I suppose, perhaps political Resurrection. I think that’s a long shot.

I think Benjamin Netanyahu is doomed just like the Conservative Party in Britain or the Democrat Party in America. We’re going to see change and possibly for the better I would think in terms of Israel, While Kier Starmer will renege on the Labour Party’s commitment to recognise the State of Palestine. It’s not an if or but or maybe. He will renege on that as the leader of Britain’s Labor Party, yes.  To see the Scottish Nationalist Party backing calls for a cease-fire is heartening.  Of course, it has a Muslim leader who has relatives in Gaza.

Interesting is it not to see your Britain with her Muslim leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party and yes, the Hindu prime minister, says a lot about the multi-faceted nature of Britain today. Which actually I find quite heartening. But I’m digressing from the main issue at hand.

I am distressed, you are distressed by the war in Gaza. America played it badly. Blinken asked for half a million Palestinians to be taken in by President Sisi.  If he did it, he would probably end up being assassinated, like Sadat. That’s asking a lot because it would make Egypt complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Obviously he refused. He could do little else and was even probably quite indignant at having been asked. He was put under huge pressure. I therefore say Israel is unable to get rid of the over 2 million (what was the population of Gaza?) 2.3 million they say –  nobody really knows – substantial anyway – in an area whose landmass is no greater than (or less than) the size of the Isle of White in Britain. Treat people like dogs and they behave like dogs maybe. Anyway, they’ve been imprisoned there for what? A quarter of a century? More.

Israel is fearful. It’s an existential issue if you are attacked in this way. And if you are Arab, you just stare open mouthed at the television and at the horror being portrayed as women and children are killed by Israel. It’s really important to the world that we have a Jewish state in Israel. But that Palestinians should pay the price for the Holocaust? The Holocaust was an awful crime and awful awful crime committed by us in Europe for which God forgive us. But two rights do not justify a wrong. No.

So what am I going to say, what am I trying to say, what do I want to say to you tonight?  I’m recording this from Iraq, where I am at present. But I’m not talking about Iraq because I’m desperately concerned about Palestine. I want to go back to Gaza. I feel ashamed I haven’t been back. My friend Wael Dahdouh lost his wife and two children. I have close friends in Gaza including two from Hamas. And Hamas are people. They get more extreme because nobody talks to them. One of the crimes of the international community is they send people to Coventry. Because it creates greater extremism. You shouldn’t even do that to Russia. So what are we gonna tell you? We need a Middle East peace process.

We need a Middle East Peace Process. That is right now. The West has done nothing of significance in my view since the Wye River in 1998 with Clinton, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yasser Arafat. We need a peace deal imposed by Israel and the Western world. We’re not gonna have a negotiated peace, not unless Israel gets rid of Abu Mazin, as he’s too fearful to do a deal. So we need the new Israeli leader, perhaps Beni Ganz, to do a peace deal. A deal that must be imposed, as enough enough enough wasting lives, wasting time, betraying the future of the children of Israel and the children of Palestine. And we in the West are complicit in this betrayal because of our lethargy and disgraceful lack of interest in the Middle East Peace Process.