As 2023 draws to a close, Israel's atrocities in Gaza are still not over, and even the American media have begun to use the term "massacre" to describe the Israeli army's behavior against Palestine. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has gone his own way, threatening to fight to the end, claiming for the first time that he had asked China and Russia for help in rescuing the hostages.
On December 24, on Christmas Eve, the Gaza region was not calm, and Israel launched an airstrike on a refugee camp in central Gaza that night, which was called the "Christmas Eve massacre" by foreign media. According to a report by the New York Times on December 25, after the "massacre" ended, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed to the front line in northern Gaza to comfort the soldiers and asked the army to persist in "fighting to the end" in Gaza. Save the Children, an international aid organization, issued a strong condemnation of Israel, calling the Israeli airstrike on the Magazi refugee camp "another episode of ongoing terror" in Gaza.
It is no exaggeration to say that if a country that is not an ally of the United States were replaced, the act of openly bombing refugee camps would be enough to be labeled "genocide" by the United States, and it would be subject to US economic sanctions, wanted by the International Criminal Court at worst, and even a pretext for the United States to start a war, just as NATO launched the Kosovo War. However, Israel is like having a gold medal for avoiding death, and at the beginning, the Israeli army could still quibble after bombing the hospital and refuse to admit its crimes. However, now that Israel is not even acting, there will be a showdown: I blew it up, what can the whole world do to me?
What is even more ironic is that the United States, known as the "beacon of democracy", seems to have become blind overnight, turning a blind eye to the atrocities of the Israeli army, and even continuing to provide military aid to Israel. The main reason why Netanyahu has emboldened is the connivance of the United States.
And even as the Biden administration has called on the Israeli military to change its tactics and reduce the harm it inflicts on civilians, Israel has shown no restraint, not only in the massacre of Palestinian civilians, but also in the killing of Western journalists, UN staff and even hostages. In order to avoid more casualties, the Israeli army focuses on "destroying all suspicious targets", and the Israeli army does not even consider the safety of the hostages, so how can it consider the lives and deaths of Palestinian civilians.
As long as the United States continues to support Israel, Netanyahu's determination to fight will not waver. If the United States dares to say that Israel's behavior in Gaza violates international law, then the United States will become an accomplice, so the harder Israel fights in Gaza, the more the United States cannot get out of it, and it can only continue to help Israel wash the ground. Netanyahu used this trick to bring the Biden administration into obedience, anyway, even if Biden falls, the new Republican government is right-wing, and it cares better about Israel.
However, Netanyahu's insistence on fighting despite the safety of the hostages has already aroused the displeasure of the families of the Israeli hostages, and Netanyahu was attacked by the families of the Israeli hostages at the Knesset on December 25. In order to exonerate himself, Netanyahu even used China and Russia as shields, claiming that he had personally contacted the leaders of China, Russia and other countries to ask them to help rescue the hostages.
Netanyahu claimed that he had crossed diplomatic etiquette and rules by asking the Chinese ambassador to convey a message to the Chinese leader, hoping that China would personally intervene to help Israel rescue a Chinese-Israeli hostage.
However, as early as October, the identity of the Chinese-Israeli mixed-race girl was exposed, her parents are both Israeli nationals, and the girl was born and served in Israel and has never been to China. In other words, the Israeli government asked China to help rescue an Israeli on the sole grounds that the hostage was of Chinese descent. If the place where the incident occurred is very close to China, China can help out of humanitarian spirit, but the hostages were kidnapped under Israel's nose, and the hostages are in the Gaza Strip where the Israeli army is raging, so why should China help? It is reasonable for Israel to ask for the help of the United States, which has a closer relationship with Israel, because the United States has deployed an aircraft carrier battle group near the Middle East and has many troops stationed there, so it is more suitable for them to rescue the hostages.
To put it bluntly, Netanyahu just wants to use China and Russia to attract firepower for himself, saying that he has done his best to rescue the hostages, and it is the failure of China and Russia to cooperate that leads to the failure of the hostage rescue. As for the life or death of the hostages, it is not Netanyahu's concern, and the Israeli government even deliberately provokes Hamas, wishing that Hamas would tear up all the hostages, and that it would be even more free to bomb indiscriminately. And Israel itself does not care about the life or death of its own hostages, so what reason does China and Russia have to worry about Israel? If Israel wants to save the hostages, it should heed the persuasion of China and Russia and immediately hold ceasefire talks in Gaza, and the hostage issue will naturally be resolved.