Friday, February 7, 2025 at 11:21 PM
I read a letter in Amandala from one Christine Vellos, begging Belize to step away from the abyss, from its genuine conviction to oppose the reckless genocide, the ethnic cleansing, the total destruction of a state. Ms. Vellos suggests that Belize should withdraw its support from the lawsuit against Israel at the ICJ. She lectured us on how small and insignificant we are in the geopolitical arena, that the government is vainglorious and foolhardy, and could cause us to lose lives and treasure!
If that wasn’t enough, she went Biblical to defend her position, quoting Zechariah, while totally misrepresenting the history of Israel and Gaza! She then went on to lecture us on the close ties between Israel and Guatemala! She described the government’s decision to back the lawsuit, as being pushed by those with a certain agenda who believe that we can escape unscathed by our decision!
I don’t know if Ms. Vellos is a religious zealot, a Zionist apologist, or maybe she is just the most decent person with the best of intentions in her heart. I cannot judge her, because I don’t know her. I do know that her letter was very disturbing, to the point of being obsequious to the state of Israel!
She did not once in her letter mention the over 50,000 Gazans killed in the reprisals for Hamas’s invasion of Israel. She never once mentioned Netanyahu’s criminal orgy that seems insatiable, against a defenseless people. She never once mentioned the disease and starvation, the humiliation and degradation of 2 million Gazans. What people like Ben-Gvir, the ex-minister of national security in Israel, one of the most rabidly racist members of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), a Kahanist and anti-Arab party, have in mind for the people of Gaza! That is, their removal from Gaza and the West Bank, by any means necessary!
Ms. Vellos, no one had been a stronger supporter of Israel than I was, that is until Netanyahu, who let the events on October 2023 occur. Maybe it was a strategic decision; I don’t know. I do know that Hamas had a huge gaping window of 9 to 11 hours to invade, and massacre, and kidnap Israelis, with little or no pushback from the most secure state in the world! Israel lost my support after I witnessed the heavy-handed assault on the Gaza Strip, leaving a wasteland in its stead!
No, there is something called integrity! It is the moral compass that guides us to do our part, no matter how difficult, to stand up for the defenseless, not only in Gaza, but in Sudan and anywhere in the world where the slaughter of innocents might occur! We might be a small and fragile country with our own problems, but we can still express our deepest sympathies for those who are suffering, who are being oppressed by bullies who have the backing of the most powerful nation on earth! We have that vote, and it should be used for the good, not only for expediency!
I do not believe that the teachings in the Bible have anything at all to do with what is happening in Gaza. I believe that it is hate, then greed, and then misguided representations of false prophesies by little men with deadly intentions!
Maybe we should withdraw our case from the ICJ also, and let Guatemala have its way with us. I’m sure that the current government of Israel would defend us, vaingloriously!
Glen