Israel is once again proving to the world that it is a rogue state, one that does not think it is answerable to international law and human rights standards. The heaviest and most aggressive bombardment of the Gaza strip in five years — in 2009, Israel’s ‘Cast Lead’ offensive saw aerial pounding and troops on the ground in Gaza, resulting in as many as 1,400 dead Palestinians and 13 dead Israelis — started after the bodies of three Israeli teenagers were found on June 30, after reports that they had been kidnapped. This resulted in the revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager at Israeli hands, sparking a war that is beginning to set aflame the entire region. There have been smaller aggressions by Israel, which continues to construct illegal settlements in Palestinian territories, but these offensives have never been of this magnitude. The count of fatalities in this latest offensive is being tallied at 123 in the Gaza Strip, of which many are children. The casualties on the Israeli side are few and far between. That is because Israel is equipped with all the tools of modern warfare whilst the Palestinians have no more than crude homemade rockets, which, even when they do fire towards Israeli territory, the Israeli Iron Dome Defence renders them impotent. Where is the fair play in any of this? It is all too clear that this rigorous and merciless bombardment by the Israeli military forces on the orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is only to square off with Hamas, the only Palestinian organisation willing to resist the Israeli might. Where is the world’s premier peacekeeping body, the UN? Where are the US and the rest of the world community who harp on about peace and security — countries that threaten to launch military action if they suspect there are human rights abuses anywhere on the globe? And what about the Muslim world? Where is the monarchy in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the self-anointed ‘caliph’ in Baghdad and even the zealous right-wing here in Pakistan when it comes to standing up for our Palestinian brothers and sisters and their children? There is eerie silence and a bucket load of hypocrisy. The UN must step in and bring Netanyahu back to his senses. He insists that he will not back off from shelling the Palestinians. In a Middle East already rife with carnage and strife, this cannot be allowed to go on. *