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Michael Young, an analyst with deep knowledge of the Middle East, on Wednesday summarized the current situation in Gaza for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He wrote: “For the last 19 months, one of the most powerful armies in the world has been dropping the heaviest ordnance available on areas populated mainly by destitute, homeless civilians, most of them women and children … Israel has destroyed most schools, universities and hospitals in Gaza, and all institutions required to safeguard the territory’s social fabric.”

Israel’s disproportionate and inhumane reaction to the similarly atrocious and unacceptable Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, has been clear from the beginning. But only now are some of the world’s liberal democracies beginning to react and finally push back against Israel’s actions.

In contrast, the conscience of the world did not require any further convincing as to what Israel’s acts constituted from the beginning. The damage to Israel’s reputation around the world will be lasting and it will sadly only make life for Israelis and Jews more tense and difficult. In the Arab world, we have lived in despair for the last 19 months, unable, despite our best efforts and without the assistance of the West, to bring Israel to realize not only the inhumanity of its actions but also the lasting damage it has been doing to its own future.

The Europeans have finally reacted, announcing on Tuesday that the European Commission would review the EU-Israel Association Agreement governing political and economic relations between the two sides. Article 2 of that agreement spells out that it can be suspended in cases of serious human rights violations. On Monday, France, Canada and the UK also issued a joint statement threatening “targeted sanctions” and “concrete actions” should Israel pursue its Gaza offensive, continue to block aid and expand its settlements. The British called the situation “monstrous,” Israel’s escalation of violence in Gaza “morally unjustifiable” and its withholding of humanitarian aid “cruel and indefensible.”

As fellow Semites, we Arabs oppose antisemitism wherever or whenever it may rear its ugly head. 

Hassan bin Youssef Yassin

In the meantime, in the US, student activism in support of the Palestinian people continues and more students have unjustifiably been expelled or had their diplomas withheld as a result. A student at George Washington University was barred last weekend after her address at a graduation ceremony, while a diploma was withheld from a student at New York University for the same reason. At Columbia University, students protested during a graduation ceremony and burned their diplomas outside. This turn of events is deplorable, in large part because a sensible, open discussion of what is happening in the Middle East has been essentially prohibited in the US.

As fellow Semites, we Arabs oppose antisemitism wherever or whenever it may rear its ugly head. Moses is also one of our prophets, we believe in the same God and the same values of compassion and dignity. But in today’s world of openness and direct communication, we are all simply humans sharing the same humanity, compassion and respect for each other.

As an Arab, I want to extend my hand to every Jew in the world, to my fellow humans with whom I share an age-old tradition and a related faith. Our desire for coexistence must be a permanent struggle within and without. We cannot afford to live in the past, to bear ancient grudges that will only continue to poison all our lives. The Jewish people have suffered tremendously over the centuries and the Middle East has also suffered a great deal from the consequences of European decisions.

I would today like to honor and reestablish the profound links that existed between Jews and Arabs living as neighbors. 

Hassan bin Youssef Yassin

I would like to evoke here the long-standing relations of mutual respect between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East that existed for centuries before the establishment of the state of Israel. Not only in Al-Andalus and the shared figure of Maimonides, for centuries Jews and Arabs lived side by side in respect in the Middle East. This diversity was particularly strong in Iraq and Egypt, but also in Yemen and Morocco, where Jews served as important ministers, respected businessmen and even as adulated singers.

Many forget that, in the 21st century, a Jewish woman, Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, served as Bahraini ambassador to the US. Unfortunately, the number of Jews living in Muslim countries has dwindled since the establishment of the state of Israel from 1 million to 30,000, and more than a third left in the three years after 1948. A large number of Egyptian Jews left the country after the 1956 Suez Crisis and many Lebanese Jews left after the 1967 and 1973 wars.

I would today like to honor and reestablish the profound links that existed between Jews and Arabs living as neighbors. I believe that we all just want to live in peace together, to see our children grow up in a region of promise and mutual respect. What we need is an atomic bomb of peace, loaded with the firepower of love, to put all this behind us and simply live together in peace.

As the conscience of the world has been awakened, it is in Israel’s interest to mend fences and stop the madness that can only threaten its own future. The Israeli people, I am sure, are ready to adopt the power of love and decency instead of fanning the fires of hatred that risk turning into a volcano. As an Arab who cares deeply for peaceful coexistence, I call upon us all to grow the tree of life together with the water of love, ensuring that its fruits will be shared by all.

• Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked closely with Saudi petroleum ministers Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani from 1959 to 1967. He headed the Saudi Information Office in Washington from 1972 to 1981 and served with the Arab League observer delegation to the UN from 1981 to 1983.