Lessons After One Year of Genocide in Gaza

News:

An entire year has passed since October 7th, 2023. A year with genocide and unspeakable crimes against the Muslims of Palestine witnessed by all with eyes to see. What lessons can we draw looking back on this bloody year and looking forward towards a brighter future for Palestine and the Muslim Ummah?

Comment:

Lessons in Courage and Resilience from the Muslims of Gaza

The Muslims in Gaza have demonstrated immense strength and resilience in the face of relentless oppression and brutality. Their courage is a reminder to all of us of what it means to stand firm in Iman and trust in Allah, even against overwhelming adversity. Their daily struggle against the Zionist occupation, without armies or support, shows an unbreakable will to resist tyranny. Gaza has become a symbol of the soul of the Muslim Ummah, which can never be crushed, and will remain willing to sacrifice, untill the promised victory of Allah is achieved. Furthermore, the brave Muslims of Gaza have exposed once and for all the frailty of the Zionist occupation, which – in spite of its overwhelming brutality - continues to be shaken to its core by resistance with simple means, and would never be able to stand up to a confrontation with a regular Muslim army.

Lessons in Betrayal from the Regimes in the Muslim Lands

The regimes in the Muslim countries have, without exception, failed Gaza and Palestine. Despite the clear injustice, the rulers in the Islamic world continue their treacherous cooperation with the Zionist occupation and servitude to the West. They have prioritized their own feeble thrones, earthly wealth, and treacherous servitude to their Western colonial masters over defending the weak and oppressed. While Al-Aqsa remains occupied, and Gaza is bombarded and starved, they continue to close the borders and issue empty statements instead of sending armies. Rather, some of them opened the borders only to let through supplies to the genocidal Zionists, while others showed theatrical enmity to the Zionists, without any steps to actually end the occupation or harm it in any serious way; thus only emboldening it to extend its crimes. This failure comes not just from a lack of will, but is yet another direct betrayal of the Ummah, revealing the loyalty of these regimes to the enemies of Islam.

Lessons About the World and the International Community

The international community has once again proven itself to be a hollow shell, driven by hypocrisy and double standards. While claiming to uphold human rights and justice, in Gaza we see that their laws only apply according to the political whims of the powerful, and their support only extends to those who serve their interests. The UN and other international institutions have been passive at best and complicit at worst while the genocide continues to unfold and expand. This teaches us that the liberation of Palestine will never come through diplomacy or international resolutions. These institutions and resolutions are not malfunctioning, rather, they were established with the very aim of preserving Western colonialist hegemony, of which the Zionist occupation is an extended arm.

Military Occupation Ends through Military Liberation

History and current reality teaches us that the military Zionist occupation can only be removed through military liberation. More importantly, this is the command of Allah swt. There is no other solution which is Islamically or rationally acceptable. Gaza is not an inexplicable humanitarian crisis; it is part of a war against the Ummah. Only sincere Islamic leadership, the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate), will break the chains of oppression and nationalist fragmentation and send armies to liberate all of Palestine. Any attempt to seek solutions through negotiations with the genocidal occupying forces will entail surrendering the Blessed Land of Palestine, and constitute a betrayal against Allah, His Messenger (saw) and the Muslim Ummah.

Lessons About Ourselves: Where Do We Stand?

We must also look inward and ask: Where do we, as an Ummah, stand? We bear collective responsibility to work for the liberation of the Ummah and the establishment of Islam as a system of life. Gaza has exposed not only our passivity and incapacity under the current treacherous regimes, but also our potential. We stand at a crossroads where we can either continue to accept our subjugation to the current political order or we can work for the re-establishment of the Khilafah that will liberate and unite the Muslims, and restore justice, security, and dignity.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Elias Lamrabet