After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.
He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”
Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”
Accusations of Western ‘double standards’ Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.
Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.
An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.
Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”
It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.
Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.
“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.
Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:
“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”
Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”
Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.
And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.
Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.
Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.
After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.
Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.
I don't think allowing people who elect Hamas as their government into Israel proper is a good idea. We have seen what happens when that happens.
My point is...when you make people desperate enough...what else can be expected but violence? Palestine, and Gaza I particular...seem to have no other recourse, other than Israel just deciding to right the wrongs that have been done of their own volition. A decision they have clearly gone the other way on since the 90s at least.
And my point is, if you support genocidal terrorists who relentlessly attack the people in practical control of your fate, you're going to have a bad time. It's called biting the hand which feeds you.
I am far more sympathetic to the people of the West Bank, who have put Fatah in charge of things. Fatah is much more moderate. Hamas? No good person could support them. There's no path to peace until Hamas is killed by the people of Gaza. That's the choice they have to make.
From what I understand, conditions in the West Bank are not as bad as in Gaza. Though the Palestinians living there still have little to no rights under Israeli law. I also think expecting unarmed civilians to overthrow a violent terrorist regime is a little naive. I doubt every person living in Gaza is a supporter of Hamas, as it seems the group only makes life harder for them in the long run. But again, it would seem they have nobody else to turn to. Personally, if I were living in Gaza under constant fear of getting blown to shit without warning, I'd grow to hate my oppressors as well. Who wouldn't? I reiterate, Hamas seems to be a symptom of a human rights problem that is perpetuated by Israel and ignored/enabled by the Western World at large.
Hamas is the government of Gaza. If I was a Gazan, I might hate Israel, too, but I wouldn't support Hamas, which has as its mission a genocide of all Israelis. I would also understand that for any chance of peace, opposing genocidal monsters is absolutely essential.
There is no solution to the problem of what to do with Gaza until Hamas is dead. And no people can choose to make that happen until the Gazans choose to stop supporting them. Until that happens, the most reasonable course of action for Israel is to deny Hamas the means to murder Israeli civilians.
Bombing innocent civilians in Gaza seems like it will only incite more otherwise non-radical people to join Hamas. Where are Palestinians supposed to go when the bombs drop? No iron dome defense on their side. Toward the walls? The sea? I'm willing to bet Hamas will only be weakened when the Israeli government starts recognizing Palestinians as humans with equal rights and stops treating them as undesirables in their own land.
They should probably get Hamas to stop hiding behind those innocent civilians, then. FAFO.
I doubt the people of Gaza have much sway over what armed extremists choose to do or not do unless they wanna get killed themselves. In any case, I'd like to see Western governments stop sending funds and arms to Israel when it's just going to use them to kill and further subjugate innocent people without actually attempting to actually solve the underlying problem.
They elected Hamas in the first place, my dude