Of all the enablers of the genocidal mission of Israel against the oppressed people of Palestine, two kingpins stand out head-and-shoulders above the rest.

They are, in their order of importance and effect, of course the US and – to a largely shocking extent – Germany.

Not so long ago Germany under the stewardship of its first woman Chancellor, Angela Merkel, not only flourished economically but was a highly-esteemed factor in geopolitics.

Merkel, who served as Germany’s Chancellor from 2005 until she retired in 2021, was a strong force in European politics and is regarded as “an architect of the European Union”.

Merkel led Germany through a lengthy period of economic boom, domestic political stability and increased international stature.

Under her leadership, Germany rose to become the breadbasket of Europe and an authoritative voice of reason that offered protection and guarantee to the autonomy of the EU.

I deliberately paint this erstwhile picture of the once mighty Germany that has all but evaporated under the watch of one Chancellor Olaf Sholz, a meek poodle of the US that shamelessly sits on the master’s lap.

Does anyone remember at the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict when the US President Joe Biden vowed that if Russia goes to war with Ukraine he will stop the Nordstream11 with the audacity of not engaging with his German counterpart?

Biden did not mince his words. He was forthright like a cow-bow. His threat was filled with the chilling tone of the Western movies that recites the mantra: Forewarned is forearmed.

True to his word, Biden soon made good on his promise, nay, threat, shutting the mega-economic oil and gas pipeline that was to supply the services to Germany in order for Merkel’s country to distribute, at a huge economic benefit, across the entire Western Europe.

Through it all, Chancellor Sholz resembled a stooge, either repeating Washington’s Russophobia or paraphrasing the US foreign policy objectives in an attempt to appear as though he was his own man. But his cover was long-blown.

The emperor stood naked for the rest of the world to see. On the say-so of Washington, Sholz abandoned Germany’s long-standing non-participatory stance on conflicts, sending weapons to Ukraine in an appeasement policy towards the US.

In fact, the Nordstream11 pipeline was soon blown up mysteriously and to this day, the US and Germany stand accused of the terrorist attack on the pipeline. They both deny the charge.

Fast-forward, geopolitical followers know too well what Washington’s stance on Israel is. Come hell or high water, the US stands by Israel. There is no need to demand proof.

Israel’s protection by the US is not concealed. This US military and diplomatic cover for Tel Aviv has ensured decades of sustained, uninterrupted subjugation of the entire Palestinian population – from 1967 to date.

Sheepishly, Chancellor Sholz is tucking along like a good boy. Sad, but true. He mimics America’s ruthless pro-Zionist policy, unquestionably.

As international calls grow louder to condemn the systematic extinction of the Palestinian people, Chancellor Sholz is keeping his place in the growing minority of the US-led nations that condones Israel’s blatant excesses in the name of self-defence.

The EU, not long ago projecting a united front in support of Ukraine and imposition of punitive sanctions against Russia, is struggling to hide the growing rift among its member-states.

Spain this week expressed outrage at Israel’s military annihilation of Gaza and the occupied territories of Palestine, saying Madrid doubts very much that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has any respect for international law.

Belgium has publicly gone further in the expression of outrage against the destruction of Gaza and the gruesome killing of so far more than 15 000 Palestinians in only five weeks since October 7.

Brussels is currently flirting with the idea of imposing economic sanctions against Israel, and the discussion is doing rounds across many EU capitals.

Ireland is also one of the most vocal voices of condemnation for Israel’s so-called “war on Gaza”, although in truth this is a war on the entire people of Palestine that Israel is deliberately misplacing with the aim of never allowing them to return to their annexed land.

Across the global south, countries such as South Africa, Turkey and Colombia, among many others, have taken active steps to read the riot act to Israel in spite of threats from the Big Brother in Washington.

Pressure has been put on the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes against Netanyahu and his so-called war cabinet.

Hopefully – just as the ICC was curiously quick to issue a warrant for the arrest of the Russian President Vladimir Putin over claims of forcefully relocating Ukrainian children to Russia unlawfully – the same enthusiasm should be displayed against a Jewish regime that has deliberately killed more than 6 000 Palestinian children and more than 3 000 women within a space of only five weeks.

As Israel stand in the court of international public opinion, so does the moral authority of the US and, indeed, the effectiveness of the archaic UN system.

Additionally, the silent global non-governmental organisations that have previously spoken the loudest against the Russian war on Ukraine stand in the dock of international court of public opinion.

The war on Gaza, as coined by the cunning pro-Israel Western media, will also ensure that finally, the issue of the “two-state solution” is brought back to the global table through the front door!

There can no longer be any dilly-dallying around the simmering plight of the stateless Palestinian people. Like you and I, they too deserve their place on the Earth of God/Allah.

Apartheid Israel can no longer go on as if it’s “business as usual” post its current indiscriminate bombing spree. Actually, as Bill Clinton once opined: “You can’t kill all your enemies.”

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who has been baby-sitting Israel’s war cabinet since Hamas attacks on October 7, has set up home in the Middle East where his latest narrative is based on “the day after” Hamas.

Arrogantly, and perhaps ill-advisedly, Blinken appear to belief that Hamas is the root cause of trouble in the area, and by extension, region.

Any decent historian should tell Secretary Blinken that Hamas was formed only in late 1987 as a response to the growing frustration of a new generation of Palestinians who felt that their elders were too soft in fighting the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.

The constant mushrooming of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied territories – condemned by the UN as an affront to a peaceful co-existence and the notion of a two-state solution, continues to operate as a militia community and an extension of the military junta that is Israeli occupation forces.

It is perhaps easier to appreciate the influence of the Jews in the American political system. Hence the posture and form of Washington’s cantankerous foreign policy.

As for Germany, the lingering sense of guilt over Adolf Hitler’s holocaust during which millions of Jews were killed appear, according to some domestic German critics, to lie at the centre of Chancellor Sholz’s bewildering foreign policy that imitates America’s.

The move certainly ensures the expedited demise of Germany as a powerhouse in Europe. It also ferments domestic instability and creates unnecessary aura of antisemitism inside Germany.

Fact: Not all Jewish people support the subjugation of the Palestinian people by the Zionist regime. Additionally, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu used to express dismay at Israel’s policy against Palestine, saying the Israelites “should know better” that you cannot practice apartheid over conquered people.

This weekend, Israel resumed its “bombing” – Western media describes it as “air strikes” – against whatever is left of the Gaza Strip, instantly killing dozens of helpless men, women and children who had believed that they survived the earlier Jewish military onslaught.

The Israeli Defence Force would not resume such a heinous military operation without the approval of the Big Brother in the White House, and the hangers-on in Berlin.

But the truth is, the world is watching, and acting to stop the carnage through renewed international cooperation led by BRICS-Plus.

Sooner than later, the war-mongers will stand all alone. The peace-loving nations of the world will speak with one voice against Israel’s tyranny.

Evil cannot triumph forever. All terrible things must come to the end, starting with the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and the implementation of the UN Resolution on the two-state solution.

Thereafter, there can, and there will be peace in our troubled universe. And Palestine’s “Wretched of the Earth” too – to borrow from Frantz Fanon, will eventually know, and sleep in peace.

Sunday Independent