Western hypocrites fiddle as Palestine and Yemen burn

Israel and Saudi Arabia have a couple of things in common: they both have very thin skins when it comes to criticism. And they are both in a blood-drenched league of their own when it comes to mass murder.

Tens of thousands of children as well as innocent men and women in Yemen and Palestine have been killed as a result of the carpet bombing and starvation policies adopted by the Zionist and Saudi regimes. Yet both are also backed to the hilt by America and other Western states whose leaders queue up to lend their reassurances to Tel Aviv and Riyadh. If this unconditional support sticks in the craw of US President Joe Biden, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, British Premier Keir Starmer, French leader Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, they hide it well, not least from the millions of their own citizens who’ve taken to the streets to protest against the genocide in Gaza and the plight of innocents in Yemen.

Now, in the biggest display of what Israelis would call chutzpah — audacity — Saudi Arabia is bidding for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. Believe it or not, it may well succeed due to the lack of integrity on the part of the Fickle Five and their arbitrary use of “shared Western values”.

Seemingly unaware of its shameful reputation overseas, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is controlled by its de facto ruler, the murderous Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. It was Bin Salman, remember, who the CIA concluded had ordered the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul on 2 October, 2018. No sanctions followed the killing. He is also alleged to have forged his father’s signature to authorise the Saudi war on Yemen.

The Saudi regime continues to sentence many people to death, including children.

Among human rights group Reprieve’s clients are Abdullah Al-Derazi, Youssef Al-Manasif and Abdullah Al-Howaiti. All three are currently at risk of execution, says Jeed Basyouni, the Head of Reprieve’s Death Penalty Projects in the Middle East and North Africa.

READ: Saudi executes 3 on terror charges

“Whilst Saudi Arabia vies for a position on the UN Human Rights Council, our clients’ families are being kept in the dark, receiving no communication from Saudi Authorities on their sons’ cases. The families of other child defendants have had to learn about their child’s execution via social media,” explained Basyouni.

Abdullah Al-Derazi’s family told Reprieve: “We are desperate. Every day we wake up thinking about Abdullah. Fear has intensified in recent days since we heard of the execution of another young man accused of participating in the protests. We hear rumours, but we can’t get to know for sure, it’s terrifying. Abdullah is a young man who pays a high price for his life, and we know that his protection and return home is possible because he did not harm anyone.”

Saudi Arabia is clearly not a country fit to uphold human rights on the world stage and should not be elected to the UN Human Rights Council because of its appalling execution record and human rights abuses.

Launched in 2005, the Saudi Human Rights Commission (SHRC) was set up to promote and protect human rights in the country. It is mandated to undertake a number of human rights-related tasks, including addressing human rights complaints, engaging in legislative work and monitoring detention facilities. In theory, it stands as an independent entity, capable of holding the government accountable and advancing human rights on the ground. It’s a façade.

Three months after becoming US President, Joe Biden ordered US visa restrictions on Saudi officials and suspended the sale of weapons because of the Kingdom’s role in the war in Yemen, a war that America initially supported. Biden later humiliated himself on the world stage when he went cap in hand to the prickly crown prince for two favours, one concerned with oil and another to do with human rights. He left empty-handed on both counts. Military aid is required by US law to be dependent on adherence to human rights, but Washington overlooks such inconveniences to advance its own interests.

READ: Biden administration grants Egypt $1.3bn in military aid despite rights requirements

Biden’s top diplomat, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, had an equally humiliating encounter with Bin Salman just a few days ago. Both Blinken and Biden, of course, continue to send billions of dollars’ worth of arms and bombs to Israel so that it can continue its genocide of the Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia has already executed 172 people this year, the same number that it executed in all of 2023. Western diplomats keep quiet, no doubt seeking to grease palms and the wheels of massive arms deals. Moreover, the Saudi regime continues to lie to the international community about its actions.

Despite its claims to the UN Human Rights Council as recently as July that it only executes individuals for the “most serious crimes”, that’s simply not true. Reprieve claims that, as of 27 August, more than one in three executions this year did not meet the “most serious crimes” threshold, defined in international law as intentional killing.

Lying and hypocrisy are not the sole preserve of the Saudis and Israeli, of course.

Biden, Trudeau, Starmer, Macron and Scholz continue to dare to lecture us all about so-called “shared Western values” whenever they head to Tel Aviv or elsewhere in the Middle East. The truth is that they will sacrifice whatever it takes on the altar of human rights just to win the favour of the monstrous Bin Salman, and God alone knows what hold the evil Benjamin Netanyahu has on Western leaders, but he and his cronies in apartheid Israel are allowed to act with impunity and, quite literally, get away with murder.

Seeing the ongoing carnage and genocide in Gaza and across Yemen, I wonder what it will take for the West to uphold the values of which it boasts to the rest of the world. Countries in the Global South know that Western claims demonstrate hypocrisy at its worst, and so such values are meaningless; they’ve seen through the lies and look on in disgust.

The Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned, and Western hypocrites shirk their responsibilities and throw international laws and conventions under the bus in order to protect and promote Israel and Saudi Arabia while occupied Palestine and Yemen burn. Biden, Trudeau et al should remember that Nero was eventually declared to be a public enemy by his people and condemned to death in absentia. He fled and committed suicide.

Learn from history, guys.

In years to come, historians will look back and wonder how today’s Western leaders salved their consciences and actually slept at night after bathing in the blood of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children all because they could not stand up for international law and protect Palestinians and Yemenis from the worst designs of Israel and Saudi Arabia. We can help the historians of the future by asking pertinent questions now, demanding answers and pushing for change. If we don’t, then we deserve to stand in the dock alongside them when history passes judgment. And that won’t be pretty.

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