The World’s Moral Authorities on Israel The Palestinian Authority, Qatar and Brazil’s Lula give Hamas a pass.
Three comments by leaders around the world on Sunday are worth noting as a sign of the global times. Each can help vanquish illusions.
First, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on Hamas to unite with the PA on the latter’s terms. “Russia has invited all Palestinian factions” to meet, he said, and “We are ready to engage. If Hamas is not, then that’s a different story. We need Palestinian unity.”
Asked about working with the perpetrators of Oct. 7, Mr. Shtayyeh replied, “One should not continue focusing on Oct. 7.” He later clarified on Al Jazeera, “Palestinian suffering did not start on Oct. 7” but with Israel’s creation. “Don’t deal with the cosmetics, you should deal with the roots of the problem.”
“Cosmetics” is a cavalier way to brush off Oct. 7, but why should Mr. Shtayyeh guard his tongue? Even as his PA glorifies Oct. 7 at home and compensates the killers, the Biden Administration insists that a new Palestinian state be created for the PA to rule.
Little wonder that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist chief rival, Benny Gantz, joined on Sunday to oppose unilateral U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state. That isn’t the plan, says U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. Perhaps he senses how out of step it is while most Palestinians support Oct. 7 and the PA seeks unity with Hamas.
Second, also at Munich, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said that the hostage issue has been “misused by a lot of countries—that in order to get a cease-fire, it’s conditional to have the hostage deal. [A cease-fire] shouldn’t be conditioned.”
Qatar has been mediating Israel-Hamas negotiations. Yet here its Prime Minister argues that Hamas should get what it wants, a cease-fire, without having to give up anything, not even the women it took hostage.
Qatari patronage hasn’t moderated Hamas over the years, despite the hopes even of some Israelis. Qatar’s statement on Oct. 7 held “Israel alone responsible” for Hamas’s atrocities. How’s that for an “honest broker”?
Third, speaking at an African Union summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva called the Gaza war a “genocide.” Erasing Hamas from the picture, he said, “It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”
Mr. da Silva continued, “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened—when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”
Though this masquerades as humanitarianism, Mr. da Silva is practicing hard-left politics. He equates Israel to Hitler, but asked at the same summit about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, he was unmoved. “A citizen died in prison, I don’t know if he was ill or had any issues,” Mr. da Silva evaded. “To make an accusation is to trivialize. I hope that a coroner will provide an explanation for why the individual died, that’s all.” A coroner indeed.
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