COMMENT | Israel acts, Arabs react
An attack on a Gulf nation’s soil, an escalation after decades of slaughter in Gaza, should have demanded action. Instead, it ended in the usual script.
Fifty-seven leaders gathered, condemned Israel, and spoke of ethnic cleansing. A draft resolution was circulated. The language was fierce, but the outcome feeble.
No sanctions, no military plan, no breaking of ties; only the tired promise of a “re-evaluation of relations.”
Review? After 75 years of dispossession, occupation, and massacres under the open sky? Gaza starves, refugee camps become cemeteries, families are buried beneath rubble, and the Muslim world answers with another review...
COMMENT | The summit in Doha was called after Israel struck the Qatari capital, killing Hamas members and a Qatari officer.
An attack on a Gulf nation’s soil, an escalation after decades of slaughter in Gaza, should have demanded action. Instead, it ended in the usual script.
Fifty-seven leaders gathered, condemned Israel, and spoke of ethnic cleansing. A draft resolution was circulated. The language was fierce, but the outcome feeble.
No sanctions, no military plan, no breaking of ties; only the tired promise of a “re-evaluation of relations.”
Review? After 75 years of dispossession, occupation, and massacres under the open sky? Gaza starves, refugee camps become cemeteries, families are buried beneath rubble, and the Muslim world answers with another review.
Israel counts on Arab world’s inaction
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understood long ago that words alone are worthless. The year before, he had already stood before the US Congress, framing Israel’s war on Gaza as a battle between civilisation and barbarism.
That speech still echoes today: Washington remains locked into Israel’s war, repeating his lines as policy. Israel speaks with clarity and power, and America listens.
And once again, US leaders tie their nation’s destiny to Israel’s. They pour billions into bombs while their own citizens march in the streets demanding justice, while many struggle with poverty, homelessness, and rising costs.
When the strike on Doha shook the region, Netanyahu did not retreat. He vowed to strike Hamas “wherever they are.”
No hesitation, no apology. Israel acts, while much of the Muslim world hesitates.
The refusal to confront the US remains the greatest betrayal. Not one leader named the lawmakers who block ceasefires, or the congress member who approves endless weapons, or AIPAC, the lobby that keeps Washington complicit in Gaza’s destruction.
Everyone knows this is the heart of Israel’s strength, yet the OIC dares not speak it.
Iran, Yemen retaliate
And yet, while others look away, it is Iran and war-torn Yemen that have taken real risks.
The Houthis, despite enduring years of blockade and bombardment, have launched missiles and drones at Israel in open defiance, in solidarity with Gaza. Iran, too, has confronted Israel directly, absorbing strikes on its own soil and still answering back.
These nations, already bleeding from their own battles, chose action where others chose caution. Their defiance exposes the weakness of those who only gather to draft communiqués while Palestinians are slaughtered.
This pattern has repeated for decades. From Sabra and Shatila to every war in Gaza, the Muslim world has gathered, promised “re-evaluations”, and returned home with nothing.
Israel counts on this. It knows these nations hold the world’s richest energy reserves and a quarter of the world’s population, yet cannot unite on action. It knows some Arab states are now openly normalising ties with Israel, while others keep quiet dealings. Division is its shield.
Meanwhile, the streets tell a different story. Across the world, millions march for Gaza. From London to Madrid, ordinary people boycott and protest with more courage than entire governments.
The Quran commands believers to stand against oppression. The Prophet defended the weak and the voiceless. What excuse remains for leaders who hide behind hollow declarations while children die beneath rubble?
Israel thrives on words without deeds. The world is watching, Gaza is bleeding, and history will not forgive.
MAHATHIR MOHD RAIS is a former Federal Territories Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional secretary.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
Another indoctrinated mind who thinks that Oct7th is start of the conflict. Anyone who has studied history on the Middle East would know that the Palestinian conflict and continuation thereof is the direct result of the creation of Israel. The word OCCUPATION and the resultant misery and murders is not in the vocabulary of those who supports the Zionists. Unfortunately, the large majority of Palestinians who are have been abused, imprisoned and murdered over the years BEFORE Oct7 and AFTER are the innocent ones including children and babies. What Hamas did on Oct7 deserves condemnation but the disproportionate and genocidal and scorched earth response is even more so. The USA and Western nations chose to label Hamas as terrorists but Israel deserve this label even more. What Hamas and some Palestinians did on oct7 was a desperate reaction, out of frustration/anger and vengeance as their families and friends have suffered greatly or murdered under Israeli Occupation BEFORE Oct7. Israel which is supported by USA and Western nations both militarily and financially is a "David vs Goliath" conflict as it is a much more powerful adversary. HAMAS is just resisting and fighting back to remind the World on the Occupation of Palestine.