The Tinubu administration on 11 and 12 August played host to an Israeli delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, with its hawkish ambassador in Nigeria, Michael Freeman, as part of the delegation. In official talks with the Nigerian State led by Minister of State Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Haskel said Israel was in the country to share perspectives on how to handle terrorism. It was an insult for a terrorist entity to claim it is sharing perspectives with us. It is like the Islamic State being given a red carpet reception.
Israel, under the Netanyahu regime, and shielded from international sanctions by countries like the United States (US) and Britain, has become like a rabid dog. Just on Wednesday, 10 September, it carried out a second attack, within 24 hours, on a flotilla in the Tunisian port, which is planning to break its aid blockade in Gaza.
|
|
The day before, Israel had attacked Doha, the very capital of Qatar, which plays host to ongoing peace talks on Palestine and is a key negotiator in ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. By the way, this may be a warning to the Gulf States sitting on the fence as Israel seeks to obliterate the Palestinians and seize Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and, possibly, Yemen.
Israel, a rogue state terrorising humanity, does not differentiate between enemies and friends. For instance, it is carrying out diplomatic sanctions against Spain just because that country has decided to stop supplying it weapons which it is using against defenceless peoples.
|
|
|
|---|
This is nothing strange; the Israeli dog can also militarily attack the USA, one of its main owners, which really feeds it. It actually did on 8 June 1967 when it deliberately bombed the US warship, Liberty. A total of 34 American crew men were killed in those attacks, which also saw 174 injured. The US merely made excuses and licked its wounds.
Israel is now taking on some of its Western allies. On 8 September, one of them, Spain, decided to impose some sanctions against Israel in order to “stop the genocide in Gaza”. Its Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, announced an arms embargo, stopped Israeli-bound ships and aircraft carrying weapons from docking in Spanish ports or entering its airspace, and banned the importation of goods from West Bank settlements.
Intemperate Israel accused Spain of carrying out anti-Semitic programmes. Its Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced sanctions on two Spanish ministers for allegedly crossing “every red line.” He referred to the Spanish government as “Sanchez and his twisted ministers” and claimed thus: “The government of Spain is leading a hostile, anti-Israeli line, marked by wild, hate-filled rhetoric.” Spain, in reaction to these verbal attacks, recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
The method used in this pattern of killing is unheard of in human history: starving people are lured out into the streets, like setting a trap for rats; once they go for the bait, they are killed. The Israeli military deliberately targets journalists for elimination, making Gaza the most dangerous place in the world to practise the profession. In the first 22 months of the Gaza War, 270 journalists and media workers were eliminated. These included journalists from Western media like AP and Reuters.
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing its genocide. It gleefully announced that it has now blasted over 50 high rise buildings in Gaza. Its weaponisation of hunger, as at 11 September, led to 464 Palestinians, including 141 children, dying of starvation. This excludes the over 1,400 Palestinians that the United Nations (UN) in a 1 August report said had been killed in food queues by Israel. The method used in this pattern of killing is unheard of in human history: starving people are lured out into the streets, like setting a trap for rats; once they go for the bait, they are killed. The Israeli military deliberately targets journalists for elimination, making Gaza the most dangerous place in the world to practise the profession. In the first 22 months of the Gaza War, 270 journalists and media workers were eliminated. These included journalists from Western media like AP and Reuters.
The United Nations, in its 16 July report, laid bare the bestial conduct of Israel in the Gaza War. While condemning the massacre of medical practitioners, the world body concluded that: “These strikes on medical professionals happened in a context where close to 200,000 Palestinians have been either killed or injured, the vast majority civilians and mainly as a result of Israel’s choices of methods and means of warfare, that raise grave concerns of a pattern of violations of international humanitarian law.”
Sadly for us Nigerians, shamefully for us Africans and the Black Race, the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose this period to engage in hot romance with genocidal Israel. At a time decent humanity is distancing itself from the Israeli leper, the administration is publicly embracing it.
The Tinubu administration on 11 and 12 August played host to an Israeli delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, with its hawkish ambassador in Nigeria, Michael Freeman, as part of the delegation. In official talks with the Nigerian State led by Minister of State Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Haskel said Israel was in the country to share perspectives on how to handle terrorism. It was an insult for a terrorist entity to claim it is sharing perspectives with us. It is like the Islamic State being given a red carpet reception.
The Nigerian Minister, accompanied by the Executive Secretary of the TETFUND, Mr Sonny Echono, and a representative of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Mr Bosun Tijani, told the Israeli delegation that: “Nigeria and Israel share common values and challenges…we can build a future of peace and prosperity for our people.” This is a false claim. We Nigerians do not share the Israeli values of genocide and carrying out crimes against humanity. No future for peace can be built in the Middle East or anywhere based on the seizure of peoples homes and extermination of human beings, irrespective of their origins.
Where does the Tinubu government stand in all these? It is not clearly stated in any formal document, but ten days after the Abuja meetings with the Israelis, Palestinians in Nigeria who dared to raise a voice against the Israeli genocide were seized. Since 22 August, the Nigerian government has detained without trial four of such persons. Abusafiah Ramzy Ibrahim, a Nigerian-Palestinian who has lived peacefully amongst us for 35 years, was seized by a secret Nigerian security organisation, and has virtually disappeared.
More disturbing and insulting is the celebration of “Israeli Heroism” by the Nigerian government, which went on to praise Israel for its alleged courage and resilience. What courage can be attributed to a nuclear power, backed by powerful countries, and is engaged in killing babies in incubators?
The Nigerian government tried to be smart by half in claiming it supports a two-state solution in the Palestine. What sincerity is in that when your guests are busy exterminating the inhabitants of the second state?
Where does the Tinubu government stand in all these? It is not clearly stated in any formal document, but ten days after the Abuja meetings with the Israelis, Palestinians in Nigeria who dared to raise a voice against the Israeli genocide were seized. Since 22 August, the Nigerian government has detained without trial four of such persons. Abusafiah Ramzy Ibrahim, a Nigerian-Palestinian who has lived peacefully amongst us for 35 years, was seized by a secret Nigerian security organisation, and has virtually disappeared. Also detained are Bala Usman, Ahmed Isah and Ali Mahmud ‘Gazali’ Mohammed. They are all being held in some secret location and denied basic rights, just like Israel is holding Palestinians in their tens of thousands in detention centres.
These detentions violate the fundamental rights of the victims and the basic principles enshrined in our Constitution. This is not who we are as Nigerians. That is why historically, while Israel supplied arms, intelligence services and, internationally, supported Apartheid South Africa, we Nigerians fought for the liberation of our continent.
Just as it did after nearly invading our brothers and sisters in Niger Republic, the Tinubu administration should walk back; walk away from Israel and its criminal ways. Nigerians have no inheritance in the House of racist Zionism.
Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
Discover more from Premium Times Nigeria
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
