Except for condemning, almost all Muslim-majority states maintain a passive stance regarding Gaza. While they criticize Israel’s ongoing slaughter in Gaza, they are well aware that mere criticism is ineffective. This condemnation is often seen as an attempt to appear proactive, masking their inability to take significant action. In fact, they are sincere and serious in their criticism, but they do so to cover the shame of being unable to do more. From its dictator to its elected leader, nobody likes Israel; they attack only with words.
In the context of the Arab world, some authoritarian regimes see Palestine as a burden. They do not want to do more for Palestine as they think it negatively affects their relations with the great powers. If Israel had occupied all of Palestine, very few would be upset. Because as long as the conflict continues, they are subjected to pressure from their people. Thus, they prefer to wait for the conflict to end without their intervention.
Acting is better than remaining idle, but it seems that they are not aware of this. If they clash with Israel, or at least become more vocal, they will be heroes among their people. Perhaps regimes do not have good relations with their people, but if they act to protect the security and honor of the Arab people, the latter will certainly appreciate them. But no one has thought or dared to do so.
The silence of Arab regimes also shows that as long as the people are not in power, there will be no solution to the Palestinian problem. The people are not concerned about losing the state’s power or resources. Besides, their love of the Palestinian people is real and compels them to take action. It can be said that the Palestinian cause would be better than its current status if the people had been in power in the Arab world.
On the other hand, the genocide in Palestine is obviously a problem for every Muslim state. Unfortunately, other Muslim countries did not show the expected reaction, either. The anger in the language could not turn into action because their situation is no different than that of Arab states. Either they do not see Palestine as their own issue, are preoccupied with domestic issues or they are afraid of the forces behind Israel. It seems that every Muslim country, both Arab and non-Arab, is waiting for Israel to stop fighting.
Military aspect
There is a significant military aspect to the issue as well. While Pakistan is the only Muslim-majority nation with nuclear capabilities, it is geographically distant from Palestine. Conversely, neighboring countries lack nuclear weapons, raising questions about whether this was a deliberate choice or if they were prevented from acquiring such arms. The existence of atomic bombs in Israel’s arsenal emboldens the occupier state to commit genocide with impunity.
Israel may not be able to use atomic bombs in Gaza because then it would suffer casualties itself, and the country would be uninhabitable, but it can drop atomic bombs on other countries without hesitation. As Muslim countries know this, they do not want to mess with Israel. Otherwise, the conflicts of the last few months have shown that an Israeli army without nukes would be easily defeated. However, the presence of nuclear weapons acts as a deterrent.
Hence, the problem is the lack of nuclear weapons. Both Arab and non-Arab Muslim countries are lagging behind in terms of obtaining nukes. Atomic bombs should have been secretly produced long ago. Israel also secretly produced them and never declared their existence. Muslim countries could have done the same. If they had done so, perhaps the Palestinian problem would have been solved.
Nuclear weapons are indeed deterrents. For example, the only reason North Korea is not attacked is its nuclear weapons. If the United States and its allies fight North Korea, they will win, but if North Korea manages to drop one or two atomic bombs before it is defeated, there will be no point in fighting. That is why they cannot go after this country. Therefore, nuclear weapons are more necessary than ever, and they are not as difficult to produce as they used to be. Let the great powers impose embargoes because of nukes, which cannot hurt more than the shame of watching what is happening in Gaza.
