What is the difference between Ariel Sharon and Slobodan Milosevic, now on trial for war crimes? Apart from the fact that one killed Bosnians and Albanians while the other kills Palestinians, the answer is none whatsoever. At least, that is the answer heard across the Arab and Muslim world. Now, across the West too, the same judgment is heard. Public opinion has started to regard Sharon as a war criminal.
Over the past couple of weeks, the scales have fallen from millions of eyes. No longer is it seen in the way it has long tired to present itself, as the underdog, the plucky little David battling against an Arab Goliath that seeks to destroy it. Rather, it is the Israelis who are seen as the jackbooted thugs, the Palestinians as the defenseless victims.
If any one thing has changed Western views — and they have changed even in the US — it is Jenin. Taking the lead from the media, which has never been so uniformly hostile and critical of Israel, Western public has been visibly shocked and sickened by reports of innocent Palestinians civilians being slaughtered or being left to bleed to death and their newborn infants to perish because they were prevented from getting medical attention. There is still repugnance for the suicide bombers and little affection for the Palestinian leadership. But there is unprecedented sympathy for the Palestinians, mirrored by anger at Israel and disgust with Sharon.
This is new, and its significance should not be underestimated. For example, for one of Britain’s leading Jewish politicians, former Labor government minister Gerald Kaufman, hitherto a strong supporter of everything Israel does, to describe the Israeli prime minister as a "war criminal" as he did in Parliament last week, is an unheard-of development. The shift is seen in other ways. When, again in the UK, the French ambassador was recently reported to have described Israel as that "shitty little state", there was little condemnation or outrage, other than from overtly pro-Israeli sources. Indeed, it now seems as if many concur, if not in words then in sentiment.
Israel’s onslaught tops the news throughout the Western world, even in France which, with its presidential election just days away, might have been thought to be otherwise preoccupied. In London, Paris, Amsterdam people can be heard starting conversations with questions such as "What do you think about the Israelis?" (the inference being "Who would have believed it, or more bluntly: "Are the Israelis insane?"
From an Arab perspective, coming at a time when the news is otherwise depressing and cause for the deepest anger, this development is immensely encouraging. Already, the EU has floated the idea of sanctions against Israel. It may not happen; but Israel is fast assuming pariah status. The possibility that Sharon will one day be brought to international justice for his crimes certainly becomes daily more credible.
For years, Arabs and Muslims have told an unreceptive world that Israel is a racist, militaristic state. Finally people are listening, thanks to Sharon. Just as Milosevic’s bigoted warmongering all but destroyed Serbia, he has ironically done more to undermine and destroy the credibility of Israel than any Palestinian. It is encouraging.
