The moral compass

Since the Hamas massacres of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, the Israeli government has broken every moral rule and international norm. Its army has entered Gaza and bombed civilians. The Israeli government has accelerated settlement on the West Bank, invaded southern Lebanon and bombed Syria.

Hezbollah and Iran responded by launching missiles against Israeli cities protected by air defense. Their response to the slaughter of innocents is to slaughter more innocents.

Diplomatically, the United States was the only country on the Security Council to veto the UN intervention.

When journalists, humorists or politicians denounce exactions, they are systematically accused of being either Zionist or anti-Semitic. This blocks discussions on protecting the innocent.

The week the world tried to stop Gaza spinning out of control – Jason Burke – The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/22/the-week-the-world-tried-to-stop-gaza-spinning-out-of-control

The Israeli government has an electorate that wanted to assert itself and turn the tables. The people who voted for Hamas wanted to change things. They did not vote for genocide. A large proportion of civilians in Israel and Gaza did not understand that this was the path to violence. They did not have a good moral compass.

The West’s unconditional support for the Israelis also lacks a moral compass. Western states are incapable of having a fair definition of what is acceptable and what is not. They are unable to condemn the Israelis when they bomb Gaza, whereas they condemn the Russians when they bomb Mariupol. In both cases, there is a regular army bombing civilians. Moreover, France Insoumise refuses to denounce the actions of Hamas as terrorism in order to please its electorate. It no longer has a moral compass.

There is an important need to promote universal morality. We no longer dare talk about morality in the West because we are conditioned by thousands of years of confusing morality and religion. Nietzsche claims that we have killed God and that man without God has freed himself from morality, but this is not true.

Nietzsche (1844-1900): Beyond Good And Evil (1886) – https://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/engl_258/Lecture%20Notes/beyond_good_and_evil.htm

Might makes right – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Might_makes_right

It is true that religious moralities, from the Crusades to Jihad, have all failed to prevent massacres if they have not justified them. Even today, in Northern Ireland, it’s Catholics against Protestants, and in the Middle East it’s Muslims against Jews, or even Sebrenica. Religious morality is selective and does not allow peace.

At the start of the Second World War, George VI reminded people that they had to fight the primitive idea that force was the only right. Dwight Eisenhower in 1961 reminded people of a moral compass. They reminded people where right and wrong were and what force should be used for.

King George VI First Radio Address — “With God’s Help, We Shall Prevail”: https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/kinggeorgevifirstradioaddress.htm

President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address (1961): https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-dwight-d-eisenhowers-farewell-address

At the end of the Second World War, humanists like the Roosevelts and René Cassin looked at the horrors of two world wars and saw the need to found a new universal, non-religious morality that excluded no-one.

René Cassin – Conférence Nobel: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1968/cassin/26132-rene-cassin-conference-nobel/

The result was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention. This Declaration, now known as the “Universal” Declaration, was a historic event. It is the first moral and ethical monument that organised humanity has ever adopted. It implies immense efforts to change old mentalities through education. Emotional factors, and in particular the sense of justice, cannot be left to those who use them for hatred and destruction.

If you want to know whether it is right or wrong for Israel to ask a million civilians to leave northern Gaza, all you have to do is read the documents. If you want to know whether Hamas is committing terrorist acts, you need only refer to these documents. You can read these documents, which are universal, to find out whether a political party’s discourse for the next elections is good or bad. We need to promote these texts and their morality to help the citizens of the world make the right decisions for the good of humanity.

Convention de Genève 1949 – Human Rights: https://www.humanrights.ch/fr/pfi/fondamentaux/sources-juridiques/droit-humanitaire/conventions-de-geneve/?gclid=CjwKCAjwkNOpBhBEEiwAb3MvvSddgvyuIjRt3QUQ9XcuKurfuq3y6T89RvtCUAYUOPJ4aSo7cTlsPxoC558QAvD_BwE

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War:
– OHCR: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-protection-civilian-persons-time-war

La Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme 1948: https://www.un.org/fr/universal-declaration-human-rights/

Universal Declaration of Human Rights – OHCHR: https://www.ohchr.org/en/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Acting out of revenge is not moral. Justice must be the response to any criminal act. We have the right to defend ourselves, but we do not have the right to massacre civilians or displace them.

Since the end of the 2000s, Russia has played an important role in Africa and has claimed that this morality is colonialism. It is a pretext for destroying morality and justifying bloodthirsty dictatorships.

The West is not the champion of these universal values: Vietnam, decolonisation, the conflicts in the Middle East and support for dictatorships are proof of this. It is not the best standard-bearer. But it is not the worst. This morality is universal, and we all have something to learn from it.

We must punish war criminals and terrorists, and protect the innocent, because without justice there can be no peace. Indeed, how can we explain to the victims that the perpetrators of these acts are not punished? As is written on the pediment of the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the International Court of Justice,” Si vis pacem cole justitiam” which means if you want peace, worship justice. Military force must be at the service of this justice.

An example of justice would be if the Israelis opened their doors to the Palestinians, treated their wounded in hospitals and welcomed them with equal rights, and inflicted real justice on the Hamas terrorists.

Les lois de la guerre – Croix rouge:
https://www.croix-rouge.fr/droit-international-humanitaire-dih/les-lois-de-la-guerre-en-bref-2682

Victimes civiles des terroristes du Hamas:
https://youtu.be/bih97bEBlDY?si=1XNAqYWMwU3d_hAt
https://youtu.be/rvm27QAMnCk?si=vstAWqqPrtEuGA-S

Victimes civiles de l’armée israélienne en violation de la convention de Genève:
https://youtu.be/PeuNRaNGQr8?si=vfIj_nxmDUnRWKMr
https://youtu.be/QnZNltbLJrs?si=8C5EUn9Kj9xXjKo_

Conflit israélo-palestinien : Les extrémistes dictent leur volonté – France TV:
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/proche-orient/israel-palestine/conflit-israelo-palestinien-les-extremistes-dictent-leur-volonte-deplore-le-president-du-forum-international-pour-la-paix_4632553.html

Nevé Shalom, le village où Juifs et Arabes vivent en paix – INA:
https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/1988-neve-shalom-le-village-ou-juifs-et-arabes-vivent-en-paix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neve_Shalom

Les beaux parleurs – La chronique de Thomas Wiesel: Hamas et Israël – RTS : https://youtu.be/PCyZbem80gE?feature=shared