Untold Facts

Mr Gates’ statement about Turkey-Israel relation and a BBC report

According to a BBC report titled “US Defence Secretary Gates blames EU for Turkey ‘drift’” (Wednesday 9 June 2010, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10275379.stm), the American Defence Secretary Robert Gates recently said that the strain relationship between Turkey and the Zionist state Israel was caused by EU’s denial to give Turkey its membership. We all understand that EU’s political stance on Turkey’s entry is influenced by Europe’s prejudice against Muslims and Muslim states and we all believe that Turkey’s inclusion in the EU is long overdue.

However, what is surprising is the fact that Mr Gates failed to see any other good reasons for Turkey’s diplomatic strain with Israel. Routine killings of Palestinians by the Israelis, usurpation of Palestinian land and dispossession of the Palestinians, the Israeli genocide of 2008 that left Gaza in tatters and killed over 1,400 people including women and children, the blockade of Gaza by Israel since Hamas was elected to power, the recent Israeli attacks on humanitarian aid flotilla that left 9 dead and dozens injured and so many recurrent human rights violations by Israel are no credible reasons to Mr Gates for which a country or individual can and should hate the Zionist state!

As members of the larger human community worldwide, it is time for us to stop and think about what we stand for. Has human life become so cheap and insignificant? Has diplomacy replaced our sense of humanity and concerns for human life? How long will the language of power dominate that of moral and ethical values? Is it so difficult for the western governments to consider Muslims as equal human beings?

Mr Gates really baffles us and offends our human conscience, as he could not condemn Israel for such continuous, blatant human rights violations and for all its murderous acts; he rather seems to be more concerned with the practices and practicalities of diplomacy. BBC’s report is no less baffling. It begins the said report with “Turkey’s growing hostility to Israel”. What hostility has Turkey shown or done to Israel? Isn’t it Israel that humiliated Turkey’s ambassador to the country and isn’t it Israel that killed Turkish citizens? How long shall we have to read such biased reports? I don’t know what God’s plan is. But what I believe is that these injustices by the Western governments and distortions of facts by the media should stop for the sake of our common humanity.

Author: Shimul Chaudhury