AS the world remains fixated on the US-Iran conflict, elsewhere in the Middle East, Israel is consolidating its grip on occupied Arab territory, while key officials within the Israeli regime are advocating a Gaza-like genocide in the West Bank. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the Zionist state will “annex” the territory it has occupied in Gaza and Lebanon. But his plan for the West Bank is even more chilling. The far-right provocateur has called for a “war” in the occupied territory, and to “do there what we did in Gaza”. Though some might say this is election-related rhetoric — Israel goes to the polls next month — considering Tel Aviv’s bloodstained track record in Gaza, these grim plans for the West Bank should not be easily dismissed. Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country will not vacate occupied land in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
The international community’s disgust with Israel’s anti-Palestinian pogroms and its regional warmongering was on display last week when Mr Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly. As he took the rostrum, most of the delegations headed for the exit. Those who left, including Pakistan, mostly represented the Global South, although some European states also joined the boycott. Expectedly, the US, Israel’s European friends, as well as India and the UAE, among a few others, stayed to watch Mr Netanyahu’s macabre act. The global majority — common citizens as well as governments — have had enough of Zionist butchery and land theft. The need is to transform this solidarity into action. Israeli leaders have announced what they intend to do in the West Bank; it will be an unforgivable crime if the comity of nations allows Tel Aviv to repeat the genocidal violence it carried out in Gaza in the West Bank. Moreover, the world must stand firm that Israeli occupation of Arab land will never be accepted. Unless Israel stops this reprehensible behaviour, the global majority must end all interaction with it.
Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026
