IF there is ever a nation that deserves the adjective "horribilis", Israel must be it. "Gens horribilis", to put it in Latin.
On Saturday, the Zionist regime's air strikes on a religious school and a mosque killed more than 100 Palestinians and wounded dozens more. Which regime but a genocidal one strikes a school where the Palestinians were sheltering? Compelled to go there for a planned slaughter later? How could the Zionists, who claim to be descendants of victims of the Holocaust, commit such a grievous inhumane act?
Malaysia and other nations have rightly condemned Israel for continuing its genocide despite two international courts ordering Tel Aviv to halt its atrocities against Palestinian women and children.
Ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, the International Court of Justice, the world's top court, ordered Tel Aviv twice — once in January and again in July — to stop its slaughter of Palestinians.
In July, the ICJ ruled that the continued presence of Israel in Palestine was unlawful and it should be ended as "rapidly as possible". On both occasions, the Zionist regime, bent on wiping out the Palestinians, ignored the ICJ rulings.
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a choice: either stop the atrocities against the Palestiniabs or face an arrest warrant.
He chose the latter, knowing fully well that his powerful allies will blunt the move by the ICC. Sure enough, Netanyahu got his wish.
On the same day Khan applied for the arrest warrant — May 20 — United States President Joe Biden made it clear that his administration was against the ICC issuing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. Double standards like this promote Israeli impunity.
Netanyahu didn't wait a second more to threaten Khan and the ICC. When asked by Israeli media if he was concerned about travelling given the impending warrant, Netanyahu responded like hubris was his other name: "No, I am not concerned about travelling. It is the chief prosecutor who should be concerned about his position." This is the epitome of Israeli impunity, sponsored by his allies no less.
A page from Pharaoh's book, Netanyahu? Reflect on his end, we advise.
But there is hope yet for a humane world. And a rules-based one, too. A place and a time is making this dream — we must call it this for now — possible. Gaza and Oct 7.
There and then onwards, Israel's atrocities against the Palestinians were live streamed to every home: bloody images of body parts strewn all over schools, hospitals and refugee shelters.
A call to act against Israel slowly began to grow globally, from the voices of a hundred to hundreds of thousands. Even in places as hostile to Palestinians as the United Kingdom, the US and Europe.
In the UK, pro-Palestinian voters ended the political careers of some politicians. A similar movement is sweeping the US. Who will be axed is a narrative for November. Spain, Ireland, Norway and few more are changing Europe by recognising the right of Palestinians to have their own state.
Tomorrow is too early for a rules-based world order, but the future is of many tomorrows. God willing, the world would become one in the earliest of tomorrows.