The Palestinian Ambassador to London clashes with the West's narrative

The Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hossam Zomlot, excelled in his responses to some Western media outlets that hosted him to comment on the course of events in Occupied Palestine, thinking that they would extract an instant statement from him condemning the Palestinian resistance’s operations against the Israeli occupation, so that they could quickly circulate it among themselves. This would cause the Palestinian diplomacy to appear ashamed and meek but, instead, the Ambassador clashed verbally with the outlets several times and left them shocked, until now, after he exposed the hypocritical media’s true bias in favour of the Occupation. His actions were met with joy and support on social media.

The verbal clash that took place was not only between Hossam Zomlot and a present, but it was a clash between two narratives, the first of which is the narrative of the Palestinian refugee in Europe, which highlights the protests of the Palestinian people in the face of the injustice of the Occupation and its criminal mentality based on killing, displacing, besieging, starving and arresting. The second narrative is the Western media narrative that is not fair to the Palestinian people, even when they are under barbaric bombing that has left thousands of martyrs and wounded and caused massive destruction to the infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip, which is left today without even the most basic needs for life – and suspicious silence from the international

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Hossam Zomlot’s desperate defence of the rights of our people, and his exposure of the true face of Western positions, became apparent only days later, as the British Home Secretary demanded, in a clear public manner, the suppression of pro-Palestine demonstrations and their dispersal, even by force, under the pretext that they raise the slogan “Palestine from the river to the sea.” According to the British Home Secretary’s belief, this calls for the elimination of Israel and is veiled anti-Semitism, hurting the feelings of the Jews who live in her country. However, the Palestinians in her country have no feelings as they watch their fellow countrymen suffering under the barrage of missiles.

Hence, the Palestinian Ambassador was fully aware in advance of the policy of the European country in which he lives, and he was aware that those who granted the Balfour Declaration as a free promise to the occupiers and served it on a silver platter would not permit the Palestinians on the other side to condemn Balfour’s children themselves, who were born from that false promise on our land.

Hossam Zomlot and his anger represents the anger of all the Palestinians of Europe, who are forbidden from speaking out, and are held accountable for a mere tweet on X or a post on Facebook, while hundreds of French soldiers mobilise to fight alongside the Israeli occupation. This is also while the American aircraft carrier, Gerald Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, is deployed openly, followed by another carrier, both moving towards the waters of the Middle East to strike the besieged Gaza Strip and finish it off with heavy weapons. Meanwhile, you, Palestinian residing in Europe, must watch the scene closely and observe without lifting a finger, and you must control yourself to remain “moderate” and not cause any inconvenience or harm to others. Otherwise, you will find yourself accused of supporting terrorism or being anti-Semitic, you are free to choose which of the two charges you get.

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In this context of the Western double standards revealed by Hossam Zomlot, I wonder: Why is it okay for European countries to come to the rescue of the Ukrainians in the face of the war launched by Russia against their country, and support them with weapons, equipment, political platforms, asylum and support, while Qatar, for example, is asked to play a role in preventing the entry of other parties into the ongoing conflict between the Palestinian resistance and the Israeli occupation, even though areas inside Palestine, such as the West Bank, are classified by international law as Occupied Territories? What right does the Israeli occupation have to threaten Egypt with bombing relief trucks in broad daylight if they attempt to enter the Gaza Strip to provide food for the hungry and besieged people there? How can human rights organisations and countries supporting human rights remain silent in the face of this Israeli thuggery and arrogance?

That is not all. There are statements issued by the leaders of the Israeli occupation that prove the magnitude of their thuggery and logic, as the “human animals” that their Minister of fear, Yoav Gallant, referred to are lions who trampled over the status and prestige of the occupation before the eyes of its citizens and the world, making the “invincible army” an army of prisoners, missing persons, distressed and the dead. Even the Israeli intelligence agency, which they have gone on and on about over the years, has become an agency of junk radios that are only suitable for listening to the “rule of justice” programme every Tuesday afternoon. This is why the Israeli lawyer, Revital “Tally” Gotliv, a Likud MK, called for the use of nuclear weapons and violent retaliation in response to Hamas’s attacks, and the international community heard her making this statement about nuclear weapons without objecting to it. They only objected to the Palestinian Ambassador to London not condemning Hamas.

No one protested when the Ambassador said that he was there to represent the Palestinian people, because in his clashes, he represents all of us, indeed. We pray to God that all the Ambassadors of Palestinian diplomacy would have the same level of courage, composure and steadfastness in such situations.

READ: Besieged Gaza is the open-air prison resisting Israel’s colonisation of Palestine

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 11 October, 2023.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.