COME to think of it, what makes Israel so special when in fact it is one of the world’s non-achievers in every sphere of human endeavour? Israel is 8,000 square miles, a number which is a small part of Guyana’s territory.

It has no large population — a mere nine million.
Israel has given the world no achievements whatsoever. Take Jamaica with a population of two million. Jamaica has produced the incomparable in a global context – Usain Bolt and Bob Marley. Jamaica has given the world some of history’s best sprinters; it has invented formidable musical forms – the ska, rock steady and reggae. It has birthed some of the world’s brilliant cricketers whose legacies will live on once there is cricket.

So what has Israel contributed to the world in science, literature, technology, arts and entertainment? In a region known as CARICOM with four million people, it has produced three Nobel laureates, Sydney Poitier, Rihanna among others. Cuba invented its own COVID-19 vaccine. What has Israel ever invented? If the multi-billion American aid programme stops, Israel would cease to exist.

Against this background of non-achievements, why the leaders of some of history’s great nation-states are so infatuated with Israel? As soon as the Hamas attack occurred in Israel on October 7, the American and French Presidents flew over to Israel to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu, indicted for corruption.

They were followed by the Prime Ministers of Holland and the UK and the German Chancellor. Those who couldn’t make it, sent their foreign ministers.

On November 26, 2008, a group of terrorists originating from Pakistan staged 12 coordinated attacks in Mumbai, shooting and bombing people and places at random. The horror lasted for 60 hours in which a special Jewish place was attacked and people killed. In all, 175 people including foreign nationals died and 300 were injured.

None of the leaders of the great former European empires of the world and the US travelled to Mumbai to show solidarity with one of history’s phenomenal countries – India. This was in 2008, at a time when India constituted one of the most important nations on the globe — and still does.

It is an act of intellectual vulgarity to compare Israel and India. Western leaders did not fall over each other to reach India to offer sympathy. But they did for a non-achieving nation named Israel with a mere 8,000 square miles of land space and a mere nine million people.

One of the superb civilisations of history is Russia. It is a resource-rich country that is the largest in the world. It has one the best militaries in the world and is a nuclear power. Its population is 143 million.

Two years ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. Western countries secured an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for President Putin for the alleged abduction of a number of Ukrainian children and their transfer to Russia.

Mr. Putin can be arrested by a majority of the world’s countries. By contrast, the armed forces of a land of 8,000 square miles with nine million people have committed some of the worst war crimes since the Nazi era of Germany in a land named Gaza.

Israel within the space of two months has openly committed genocide in Gaza. The Nazis committed genocide. The Hutus in Rwanda committed genocide, but not in the space of two months. In two months, the Israeli army has destroyed the hospital infrastructure and school system in Gaza. Some 21,000 Palestinians have been murdered with 70 per cent of that figure being women and children.

There has been no war in human history where in the space of two months over 13,000 women and children have been killed.

The armed forces of a country of 8,000 square miles with a population of nine million are committing war crimes on a daily basis in Gaza and remain untouched. But the leader of an important country in the world – Russia – is facing an arrest warrant, not for killing anyone, but for forcefully transferring children from Ukraine to Russia.

The leaders of the historic nations of Germany, France, the UK, Holland, the US have to date not only refused to call for the end to Israeli bombing, but openly side with Israel. This nation of a mere 8,000 square miles and nine million people has refused to adhere to a Security Council resolution for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

This country of a mere 8,000 square miles with just nine million citizens is treated by the world’s most powerful countries as a special nation that must be protected. This country has annexed part of Syria, occupies the lands of the Palestinians, refused to join the ICC, among other things. Israel is the most untouchable nation in world history.