We stand firmly against injustice in all its forms. Nothing can justify the current war crimes committed by Israel in occupied Palestine. Equally, nothing can excuse the continued support offered by other nations to this apartheid regime. If you believe in human rights, dignity, and justice, then we urge you to boycott this rogue state. Silence is complicity, do what’s right.
(The night smells of smoke and dust. Handala, the eternal 10-year-old with his back turned to the world, stands among the ruins of Gaza. Across from him stands a suited figure: Prime Minister Netanyahu His tie is spotless, though his hands are not.)
Handala:
I’ve been standing here for decades, my back to you all, because none of you ever listen.
But tonight, I turn—just enough—to ask:
How many more children must you bury to save your career?
Netanyahu:
Career? I act for security, for my people’s safety.
The world is dangerous. My enemies are everywhere.
Handala:
Safety?
Is starving babies your definition of safety?
Is dropping bombs on hospitals your idea of morality?
You claim to defend life, yet you trade it for applause.
Netanyahu
These are tragic necessities.
Collateral damage.
The price of peace.
Handala:
Peace?
You kill mediators, bomb neighbours, starve and choke a population,
and call it peace?
Your words are porcelain—shiny on the outside,
full of filth beneath the lid.
Netanyahu
My army is the most moral in the world.
We warn before we strike.
We are forced to act.
Handala:
A moral army does not warn children before killing them—
it does not kill them at all.
You demolish homes, hospitals, schools, universities, UN shelters, dreams,then boast of virtue.
That is not morality.
That is war crime.
Netanyahu
The world understands my struggle.
They still shake my hand.
They still give me weapons.
Handala:
The world’s silence is not your innocence.
It is their complicity.
History does not forget—
it counts bones when leaders count votes.
Netanyahu
History is written by the strong.
Handala:
No.
History is carved by the dead.
Their names will stain your every page.
Children you starved will whisper through time
long after your podium crumbles.
(Handala steps closer, his small bare feet silent on the rubble. He keeps his back to the cameras, but his words pierce like shards of glass.)
Handala:
You bombed the mediators.
You shelled the shelters.
You fed hunger instead of hope.
And still you speak of morality.
Tell me, Prime Minister—
when the applause dies,
who will protect you from the ghosts of the children you buried?
(The leader opens his mouth but no words come. The silence of Gaza answers instead—
In late August 2025, the U.S. State Department revoked or denied visas for Mahmoud Abbas (President of the Palestinian Authority) and around 80 other Palestinian PLO/PA officials, preventing them from traveling to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.
The U.S. justification: these officials are supposedly failing to comply with commitments, undermining peace prospects, engaging in what U.S. calls “lawfare” (use of international legal bodies like the ICC/ICJ), pushing unilateral recognition of statehood, etc.
The Palestinian side argues that the U.S. visa denial violates the UN Headquarters Agreement (1947), under which the U.S. as host country of the UN must allow foreign diplomats representing UN member or observer states to access UN HQ for UN business.
The U.N. General Assembly responded by passing a resolution (145 in favour, 5 against, 6 abstentions) allowing Abbas to address the UNGA via video/pre-recorded statement due to visa issues.
There is an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu in relation to alleged war crimes in Gaza. (This is from earlier reporting.)
Despite that warrant, Netanyahu continues to travel internationally, including plans to travel to the U.S. for UN / diplomatic events. These travels would, in theory, expose him to legal risk under the ICC decision—but in practice many states appear to be ignoring or refusing to enforce the warrant.
On one hand, a Palestinian leader who seeks to speak peacefully at the UN, to push for recognition of the Palestinian state, is blocked from entry. The reason given is partly because of diplomacy/legal activism (ICC, unilateral recognition, etc.).
On the other hand, an Israeli leader, and war criminal who killed more than 65000 Palestinians and using starvation as a weapon against the population and despite facing an ICC warrant (which is a serious international legal finding), faces comparatively little restriction in terms of travel by the U.S. and many other countries. Netanyahu can still travel, speak at international forums, meet with foreign leaders, without being arrested in jurisdictions that are signatories to the ICC (or at least without that being enforced).
This juxtaposition raises obvious concerns about double standards in how international law is applied, and how powerful states or well-allied but criminal leaders may be shielded from legal consequences that are enforced (or at least attempted) against weaker or less powerful actors.
Politically, powerful states often protect criminal allies or themselves via influence, via exceptions, or via fear from disclosure of certain embarrassing videos against politicians or by interpreting “immunity” in broad ways. Meanwhile, actors with less geopolitical clout find themselves subjected to stricter enforcement or barriers. This is a well-known corrupted pattern in international relations.
Denying visa to Abbas silences Palestinian leadership’s voice in a key international forum (the UN), even when that voice is seeking recognition, peace, or legal redress. Meanwhile, allowing a war criminal Israeli leader who faces serious allegations (ICC warrant) full access and diplomatic courtesies undermines the principle that no one is above law.
If ICC warrants are only selectively enforced (or ignored when inconvenient), and if treaties / host country obligations are selectively honored, then the credibility of international law suffers. This breeds cynicism and resentment, especially in places already suffering severe injustice.
In diplomacy, law, and human rights, perceptions matter. When one side is treated harshly for state-building efforts or legal activism, while the other is shielded despite their commitment of genocide , starvation , it reinforces the view that international order is biased toward the powerful.
If the U.S. can deny visas to one side’s leadership because they attempt to engage in lawfare or pursue state recognition, what stops similar denials or restrictions being used elsewhere, for other international causes? Similarly, if ICC arrest warrants are not enforced or are shrugged off when it’s a well-protected leader, that sets precedent that legal accountability depends less on the law and more on politics.
What legal mechanisms exist for compelling the U.S. (or any country) to abide by treaty obligations like the UN Headquarters Agreement, especially when denying visas to those who are observers or representatives?
Why don’t more states enforce ICC warrants uniformly, particularly for criminal leaders of powerful allies? What political pressures, alliances, or security/foreign policy considerations prevent enforcement?
Is there a coherent policy basis for denying Abbas a visa, while allowing war criminal Netanyahu travel, beyond rhetoric about “statehood recognition,” “lawfare,” or “security concerns”? Are these just pretexts to serve political alignment?
How much do moral or legal principles matter when weighed against geopolitical alliances? And what are the long-term consequences of letting legality bend to political convenience?
In summary, the case of Mahmoud Abbas being denied entry to the U.S. to address the UN, contrasted with war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu continuing to travel and act on the international stage despite an ICC arrest warrant, encapsulates a striking example of hypocrisy in international relations. It demonstrates how legal obligations, moral responsibilities, and human rights can be subordinated to political alliances and power dynamics.
It’s not just about one visa or one warrant. It’s about what the international order claims to be — and what it allows in practice. When rhetoric about justice, diplomacy, human rights, and international law is not matched by consistent application, it undermines the credibility of those very values.
The war Israel is waging on Gaza is a continuation of decades-long policies of ethnic cleansing, dispossession, and repression. Since October 7, 2023, this conflict has targeted civilians with unprecedented brutality—cutting off water, food, and medicine, bombing homes, schools, and hospitals, and forcing mass displacement. The scale and nature of the violence echo the atrocities of the past, revealing a systematic strategy to break Palestinian resistance, erase identity, and secure control over land and resources.
Israel pursues two interlinked objectives: an immediate demonstration of military might to restore its image of invincibility, and a long-term plan to finalize its dominance over Palestinians through extermination, Judaization, and displacement. This strategy is compounded by settlement expansion, ideological extremism, and normalization agreements with Arab states, ensuring permanent control over occupied territories.
The West has largely enabled this campaign. The United States, Europe, and other powers provide military, political, and diplomatic backing while portraying Palestinians as aggressors, ignoring their basic rights. This complicity extends to the framing of Israel’s genocide as “self-defense,” while humanitarian crises in Gaza are disregarded.
Despite the suffering, Palestinians continue to resist with steadfastness. To counter Israeli policies effectively, the Palestinian leadership and global allies must insist on an immediate ceasefire, ensure humanitarian aid, strengthen governance, define the liberation goals of a future Palestinian state, engage new international actors, and hold Israel accountable for the destruction of Gaza. Without these measures, the cycle of violence, displacement, and oppression will continue.
Donald Trump has proven, once again, that he is not just a failed leader, he is a heartless accomplice to murder. As the Israeli war machine slaughters tens of thousands of Palestinians, wiping out entire families and turning neighborhoods into graveyards, Trump doesn’t even flinch. He does not see Palestinians as humans. Their cries, their shattered lives, their children buried under rubble mean nothing to him. Instead of calling for an end to the carnage, he feeds it, shipping weapons to the killers and giving them the green light to keep going.
Trump lies through his teeth about “peace,” but his every action screams WAR. His so-called peace talks are nothing more than war plans dressed up as diplomacy. He speaks of negotiations while fueling massacres, promising an end to violence even as U.S. bombs and bullets rain down on the innocent. This is not leadership. This is barbarity.
He has no empathy. None. Every dead child, every grieving mother, every desperate family is invisible to him because they are not part of his twisted worldview. Trump’s America arms the oppressors and silences the victims, and he smiles while doing it. This is what he calls “strength.” This is his legacy: rivers of blood and a trail of lies.
And shame, deep, burning shame on the Americans who elected this lunatic and still cheer for him. Shame on those who call themselves human beings while supporting a man who despises immigrants, mocks the suffering, and spits on the very idea of justice. Every vote for Trump is a vote for endless war, for cruelty without limits, for the death of conscience itself.
History will remember Donald Trump not as a leader, but as a war criminal in a suit, a man who armed killers, buried the truth, and turned his back on humanity. The blood of the innocent is on his hands. And it will never wash off.
Born in ’49, with a heritage profound, A history etched, in israeli ground. In Eldridge town, where tales are spun, A leader rose, Netanyahu by name, begun.
In 2014, a grim toll was paid, Gaza’s anguish, where thousands laid. Indictments followed, charges of trust, Bribery and fraud, a legal thrust.
Then came October, a dark descent, Gaza’s attack, a fatal event. Gaza’s butcher, Erdogan’s mournful call, A title forged where compassion did fall.
Handala: (still with his back turned, voice calm but piercing) You call yourself a chancellor of peace, Olaf, yet your hands are drenched in the blood of children. Gaza bleeds, and you supply the knives. How do you sleep? Or do you not see their eyes?
Olaf Scholz: Germany stands by its allies. Israel faces threats—
Handala: Threats? My children are unarmed. My homes are rubble. You call that a threat? You punish one nation for crossing borders, yet arm another that bulldozes them. You call it diplomacy, I call it murder in a suit.
Olaf Scholz: We must maintain balance. One cannot equate historical guilt with present policy…
Handala: Balance? You preach morality selectively. You remember Auschwitz but forget Gaza. You jailed your own citizens for protesting, accusing them of anti-Semitism, while turning a blind eye to the genocide you arm. You punish voices for truth, yet shield those who commit crimes against humanity. How deep is your hypocrisy? Deep enough to drown millions of innocent lives?
Olaf Scholz: The situations are different… Ukraine is one, Israel is another…
Handala: Ah, yes, selective outrage. Ukraine is sacred, Gaza is invisible. One deserves sanctions, the other deserves bombs. One deserves protest, the other deserves arrest. One deserves your voice, the other deserves silence. How comfortably dangerous hypocrisy tastes when served as policy!
Olaf Scholz: We are navigating complex international realities…
Handala: Complexity! The children do not negotiate reality. Your “complexities” are excuses. Weapons in their hands, starvation in their stomachs, death in their streets—your policies write the ledger. And you call it strategy. No. It is betrayal. The deeper your hypocrisy, the louder history will judge you.
(Handala slowly steps back, his small figure an immovable monument of defiance. His words echo like a verdict.)
Handala: Remember, Olaf: power without justice is cruelty. Alliance without conscience is complicity. History does not forgive, even if politicians try to bury it beneath speeches and treaties. You chose which lives matter, and the world remembers.
(He turns fully away, leaving silence heavier than any political statement. The weight of moral truth crushes the empty rhetoric of hypocrisy.)
Ex-US🇺🇸 President Jimmy Carter on Israel’s occupation of Palestine🇵🇸:
‘The word apartheid is exactly accurate…within Palestinian territory, they are absolutely and totally separated, much worse than South Africa…the Israelis completely dominate the lives of Palestinians’… pic.twitter.com/xFfZrUXYZr
— Daniella Modos – Cutter -SEN (@DmodosCutter) March 12, 2024
For decades, Israeli apartheid has been a country of sharp political divisions, and has always been captured by a radical majority . Under the iron grip of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of ultra-nationalist, religious-right ministers, the state itself now appears more like the private property of extremists who are willing to gamble the nation’s future for their own survival.
Power for Power’s Sake
The ongoing war in Gaza—prolonged well beyond the point of any strategic necessity—has become the ultimate instrument of political leverage. While families of Israeli hostages plead desperately for a deal that would bring their captured soldiers home, Netanyahu and his far-right allies stonewall negotiations and reject ceasefire proposals.
Instead of prioritizing life, the government prioritises genocide and political optics: projecting “strength,” appeasing settler movements, and clinging to office amid corruption trials and collapsing public trust.
The War That Serves the Religious Lunatics
Ending the war would mean confronting hard truths—about the government’s failures on October 7, about the genocide and starvation Gaza, and about the need for a political settlement.
For Netanyahu, ending the war also means facing the music at home: a corruption trial, protests that once filled Tel Aviv’s streets, and a fractured Likud party ready to unseat him.
For the terrorist ministers—Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich—war is the perfect distraction and a vehicle for their twisted messianic and racist agenda: deepening settlements, expanding military control over the West Bank, and crushing any path toward Palestinian statehood.
Mediators Targeted, Hope Undermined
The recent assassination of key mediators in Qatar—a move widely interpreted as a deliberate sabotage of ongoing prisoner-exchange talks—exposes the government’s true extermination priorities.
Killing those trying to build bridges is not just reckless; it is a calculated act to keep the flames of conflict burning, ensuring that no deal can threaten the coalition’s grip on power.
A Nation in Chains
Israeli apartheid has never been democracy, but always held hostage by leaders who treat the state as a personal fiefdom. The terrorists from far right controls key ministries: finance, security, and justice. Policies of genocide, starvation, annexation, ethnic clean sing , are now simply the government doctrine.
Meanwhile, Palestinians bear the main cost: fascist occupation, starvation, ethnics cleansing, demolition of houses, hospitals, schools and universities, prisoners remain in captivity, tens of thousands of children and women die in an endless war, and global isolation of the apartheid regime deepens.
The Way Forward
Breaking this stranglehold will require courage from within—from Israeli civil society, opposition parties, and military leaders who recognize that Netanyahu’s survival strategy is not Israel’s survival strategy.
It will also demand unflinching pressure from allies, particularly the United States and Europe, to make clear that support for Israel does not mean support for endless war or authoritarian drift.
Until then, Israeli apartheid will remain what it has tragically become: a nation owned by its most extreme leaders, a property of fear and ambition, while the dream of peace grows ever more distant.
