When the world allows a criminal like Benjamin Netanyahu to act with impunity, the result is the devastation of a bomb the size of a nuclear weapon falling on Beirut’s southern suburb, vaporizing the bodies of more than three hundred Lebanese, according to estimates.
This is exactly what happened yesterday. In fact, as the massive Israeli bombs rained down, representatives of the world at the United Nations were likely gazing at Netanyahu with admiration as he delivered his speech. His address was part of the same scene as the explosion that rocked the capital, much like the Beirut port explosion did before.
Netanyahu’s visit to New York was nothing more than a ploy to buy time while his recently acquired U.S. jets were preparing to strike. Could the elements of this crime be any clearer? Is there any act of murder more transparently sanctioned, stamped with the seal of the United Nations?
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General was not the target, nor were these bombs dropped without the world’s knowledge. The only ones caught off guard were the residents of the southern suburb, oblivious to the fact that the man standing on the platform in New York was awaiting news of the crime’s success.
Netanyahu was face to face with the world, while at that very moment, the bodies of dozens of Lebanese were being vaporized. Just hours after the catastrophe, his spokesman announced new targets in the southern suburbs, as we huddled behind our windows, watching thousands of families run in all directions with their children in tow. We heard the gasps of those fleeing, and scattered words that offered no meaning, while the bombings left behind a haunting silence, as darkness began to blanket the dust.
No, what we witnessed on that night of vaporized bodies was not a war. It was a scene reminiscent of World War II, a nuclear-like event. Buildings turned to sand scattered over a vast area, beneath which dozens, maybe even hundreds, of people melted. As people rushed to hospitals searching for the remains of their loved ones, the Israeli military spokesman continued to name new targets, while Netanyahu finished the final act of his performance in New York and boarded a plane back to the scene of the crime to sign off on it himself.
The phrase “the world has abandoned us,” which we’ve often invoked during wars waged against us, doesn’t quite capture the betrayal that led to Israel’s crime in the southern suburbs. Abandonment implies passive complicity, but what happened here was the world’s active participation in the crime. The world that turned its face away from the sight of thousands of families fleeing the streets of the suburbs after the official spokesperson of the Israeli air force threatened that the vaporization of bodies would extend to their children if they didn’t leave within minutes. We are witnessing a complete act of genocide. The crime of warning civilians to flee, following the bombing of Haret Hreik, was not hidden behind any pretense. The message was clear: Learn the lesson from what you’ve just seen. And we in Beirut, trembling behind our windows, in our usual naïveté, awaited a voice to tell us that what we were witnessing was nothing more than a passing nightmare.
There is no debris on the surface of the ground leveled by the missile, only a layer of scorched earth covering bodies that were dissolved. Not far away, families are fleeing in desperation, with no idea where to go. This scene is unlike anything we have experienced in the many wars we’ve witnessed. Death has never felt this close to us, and now it’s drawing even closer. Just as the bomb dissolved bodies, it erased distances. What difference does it make whether you’re in Haret Hreik or on the Corniche al-Mazraa when a near-nuclear bomb is chasing you?
