TEHRAN - Israel and its Western allies are desperately attempting to sweep the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes in Lebanon and Gaza under the rug by spewing propaganda against regional resistance groups.

The Israeli army has assassinated multiple high-ranking Palestinian and Lebanese political and military officials since declaring war on Gaza in October last year. 

The Israeli army said on Thursday that its forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah during a firefight on the ground. 

German police used dogs to disperse demonstrators who took to the streets of Berlin to condemn the ongoing Israeli carnage in Gaza and Lebanon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to attribute responsibility for the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza to Sinwar. Netanyahu has suggested that Sinwar’s demise would hasten the end of the war.

Netanyahu, known as Bibi, made similar comments when Israel assassinated Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on July 31 and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on September 27. 

But Bibi’s mudslinging campaigns seem to have fallen flat amid persistent protests against the atrocities that Israel is perpetrating in Lebanon and Gaza. 

Europe protests 
Meanwhile, people took to the streets in several European countries at the weekend calling for an end to Israel’s brutal wars in Gaza and Lebanon. 

Israel has slaughtered more than 42,600 Palestinians, including about 17,000 children in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

The death toll from Israel's ongoing onslaught on Lebanon that started more than a year ago has also topped 2,400, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Israel and Hezbollah began trading fire a day after Israel declared war on Gaza. The regime also began a massive bombing campaign in Lebanon nearly a month ago. 

German FM remains under fire for suggesting Israel can kill civilians in Gaza to “defend itself”.Tens of thousands of people held rallies in towns and cities in Britain on Saturday. They denounced Israel’s massacre of Palestinian people in Gaza and called for an end to the onslaught. 

In London, protesters blamed the UK government for failing to halt the flow of weapons from Britain’s arms firms to Israel.  

Similar rallies were organized in Belgium. People in Brussels demanded that their government push for a complete international military embargo against Israel.

In Germany, police used dogs to disperse demonstrators who came out in the capital, Berlin, to denounce the Israeli carnage in Gaza and Lebanon. 

The demonstrators marched, chanting slogans such as “Freedom for Palestine.”

German police demanded that the demonstrators break up their protest under the pretext of non-compliance with the laws and harming public security. 

Officers resorted to violence against the protesters and made many arrests. 
People in Europe call for an arms embargo on Israel and an end to the regime’s war in Gaza and Lebanon. 

German cities have witnessed large protests against Israel’s war on Gaza since October last year. Activists in Germany say police have become increasingly aggressive towards anti-war demonstrators posting videos on social media that appear to show officers beating protesters.

Nonetheless, comments made by German officials indicate that they have no scruples about abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

Whitewashing genocide 

Addressing the German Parliament on October 14, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock suggested that Israel can kill civilians in Gaza to “defend itself”.

“Self-defense means not only attacking terrorists but destroying them. When Hamas terrorists hide behind people, behind schools …

civilian places lose their protected status because terrorists abuse it,” Baerbock said as she tried to justify Israel’s massacres. 

Her comments came the same day several people were burned alive due to Israeli attacks on a northern Gaza hospital and tent encampment.

The statements drew widespread condemnation. Hamas called Baerbock’s comments “impudent” saying they “give cover to the occupation to commit more genocidal crimes.”

Germany perpetrated genocide in Namibia, while Israel is currently engaging in similar actions in Gaza.“We express our deep disapproval of this statement, which reveals a Zionist mentality devoid of all human values and principles …  we call on the International Court of Justice to consider the statement of this German minister as additional evidence of her government’s participation in the war of genocide,” Hamas said. 

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad also came down on the German foreign minister. 

“These statements represent a dangerous justification for targeting civilian sites under the pretext of the presence of armed elements in these sites, cover up the crimes of the occupation that targets civilians, and provide an immoral justification for indiscriminate attacks,” the resistance movement said in a statement on October 16.   

UN officials and world leaders from across the world also denounced Baerbock’s statement.

But a German Foreign Ministry official doubled down on the foreign minister’s position saying Berlin sees “no sign of genocide” in Gaza.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its atrocities in Gaza. 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his war minister Yoav Gallant for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Earlier this year, Nicaragua filed proceedings against Germany at the ICJ. It accused Germany of facilitating Israel’s genocide by supplying the regime’s military with arms. 

Germany's shameful legacy

Germany stood on the wrong side of history in the Second World War under Adolf Hitler. Again Berlin is repeating that mistake. Germany’s support for Israel’s genocide will go down in history and make an indelible impression on humanity which can never be removed. 

Nicaragua filed proceedings against Germany at the ICJ in March accusing it of facilitating Israel’s genocide.Germany has officially acknowledged committing genocide during its colonial occupation of Namibia.

German colonizers killed tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people there in early 20th century massacres.

For now, Germany and Israel currently share a significant similarity: both have been involved in acts of genocide.

Germany along with some other European countries, notably the UK, and France as well as the United States regard Israel as their close ally in West Asia despite the regime’s barbarism in Gaza and Lebanon. 

They have also attempted to silence voices of dissent to cover up their complicity in Israel’s massacres. 

Israel does not want to end the war on Gaza and Lebanon while Western countries are acting as mere apologists for the apartheid regime.