“If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppression –Malcolm X
At a time the world is bleeding and crying over the genocide in Gaza, Muslim leadership in Ghana are partying and enjoying a cozy relationship with apartheid Israel. As at the time of writing this piece, almost 200 innocent civilians have been killed by bloodthirsty Netanyahu and his cronies with thousand others seriously injured. The disabled, schools and hospitals are not spared from this massacre.
Despite this shameful situation, clerics in Ghana have received bags of rice and sugar from the Israeli embassy in Ghana. Hajj Umar of AIhu Sunnah Wal Jama’ah thanked them for the good gesture and encouraged more of such gestures. It is refreshing and heartwarming to hear the office of Sheikh Dr. Sharubutu refuting of ever receiving such gifts.
History tells us that the Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine have been condemned by right-thinking people, be they Muslims or non-Muslims. In fact, Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah was very critical of the illegal occupation and has on numerous times condemned it. Until very recently, Israel has no embassies in several African countries. The silence of African leadership on this apartheid has been condemned by Professor Ali Mazrui, who in 2002 said, “It is unfortunate that African leaders cannot follow the good example of Nkrumah but have rather remained quiet on the Middle East affair”.
Hugo Chávez, the revered late leader of Venezuela severed relations with Israel and said, “Venezuela is Palestine…..and Palestine is Venezuela”.
The current president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro had this to say on his twitter account when Israel started its aggression and bloodbath, “SOSPalestina for life and the right to exist, mobilise public opinion to cease the slaughter against the people of Gaza-basta ya”
The United States, who together with its Western partners and the erstwhile Soviet Union of Josep Stalin imposed this wicked and heartless state on Palestinians finally got fed up with Israel’s refusal to accept to a two-state solution and John Kerry, the US Secretary of State have to call Israel an apartheid state in April this year.
Malcolm X, a Us Human Rights Activist and a role model of my humble self and President Obama had this to say in the 1960s against Israeli aggression and occupation of Palestine, “Did the Zionist (Israel) have the legal or moral right to invade Arab Palestine, uproot its Arab citizens from their homes and seize all Arab property for themselves just based on a religious claim that their forefathers lived there 1000s of years ago? Only a 1000years ago the Moors (Muslims in present day Morocco) lived in Spain. Would this give the Moors of today the legal and moral right to invade the Iberian Peninsula, drive out its Spanish citizens, and then set up amorocan nation where Spain used to be, as the European Zionist has done to our brothers and sisters in Palestine?”
Again after the Second World War, Albeit Einstein, a Jew himself had this to say, “It would be my greatest sadness to see Zionist do to Palestinian Arabs much of what Nazis did to Jews”. The shame is that what is happening to Palestinians today is worse than what perhaps happened to the Jews with the only difference being that, nobody stands for the Palestinians.
Undisputedly the greatest Peace activist from the 19th Century till date, Mahatma Gandhi also spoke on the Palestine issue, thus, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English and France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs…surely it will be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored partly or wholly as their national home”.
Another peace activist, our own Nelson Mandela said this about the apartheid in Palestine, “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”.
With such glaring facts and show of support from people who are always against oppression and injustice without looking at their religious colour, it is therefore at the highest height of irresponsibility and shame for our clerics to go for these peanuts. The worse our clerics could have done was to organise a peacefully legal protest against the Israeli aggression, bloodbath and occupation and not to take a thank you, well done bags of rice and sugar from the bloody Israeli government. Are our clerics saying they are pleased with the killings of the people of Gaza? Any bag of rice or sugar consumed by any Muslim from the Israeli embassy is a blood of a Muslim of Palestine served on their tables!
Our clerics have disgraced us and its better they stop these actions to save us from further embarrassment. They should have rather organized themselves and plead with government to summon the Israeli embassy to explain their aggression and perhaps also plead with the presidency to ensure that salaries are paid to public sector workers early so that Muslims can have money before July 28, to celebrate their Eid-ul-Fitr.
I rest my case here with pain and disappointment in my heart…
Fuseini Abdul-Fatawu
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