"I was shocked to hear about the terrorist attack in your country that claimed many victims. On behalf of the Chinese government and its citizens, I want to express my condolences." This is not part of a letter sent by the Chinese president to the Israeli prime minister after the massacre carried out by Hamas on 7 October, but a letter he sent to the president of Iran the day after the explosions in the area of Soleimani's grave. In fact, not only did the Chinese president not use such powerful words to describe the massacre, he did not even bother to send a letter to the leaders of the State of Israel.
This is not accidental or accidental. Although Xi stressed in his letter to the Iranian president and on other occasions that China "opposes all forms of terrorism and strongly condemns terrorist attacks," its attitude toward terrorism is flexible and influenced primarily by its own interests, rather than facts. She convinces herself that she is "objective" and balanced, but in practice she compares a terrorist organization that invaded the homes of innocent people, murdered, raped and kidnapped them, and the state that tries to protect them and the rest of its citizens.
What China defines as "balance" and "objectivity" is considered such by very few. At first, she completely ignored the Hamas attack, and the next day responded to a question at a press conference about her position in the current conflict, which is "claiming many casualties on both sides," that China is "concerned," that "all sides need to exercise restraint," and that "the lack of progress in the peace process cannot continue."
As noted, China defines the term "terrorism" according to its interests, and the conclusion of the answer to the question illustrates this. The thousands of murdered, wounded and abducted are nothing more than pawns in the Chinese-American chess game, in which one side does not miss an opportunity to blame the other side for the situation, in this case through the stalled peace process, which is being brokered by the United States.
Alongside China's official statements, the comments on the Chinese social network Weibo, the censored alternative to Facebook, are also not encouraging. There, users write, "I wish your (Palestinian) soldiers would destroy the terrorist state Israel and bring quiet to the Middle East," and "I hope the U.S. fades and Israel dies!" Sometimes the posts are downright anti-Semitic: under the heading "Jewish Family" a picture of a soap was posted.
An Israeli reader expects such texts not from Chinese, but from hostile audiences in the Middle East. The very fact that they are published on censored and well-controlled networks makes it clear that the Chinese regime views them favorably. The regime's responses so far are more suited to hostile administrations than to a large economic partner of Israel that claims to be its friend.
After the war, Israel will have to reconsider who our allies are and who are not; Who sees the good of Israel, even if not only it, before their eyes, who is indifferent to it and who is against it. This choice is not theoretical: a few days ago it was reported that weapons originating in China were found in the Gaza Strip. I don't think China sent weapons directly to Hamas or any of the other organizations in Gaza, but the reasonable assumption is that the weapons reached Gaza through one of China's allies, such as Iran.
What China defines as "balance" and "objectivity" is considered such by very few. At first, she completely ignored the Hamas attack, and the next day responded to a question at a press conference about her position in the current conflict, which is "claiming many casualties on both sides."
This was also the case in the past, when Chinese munitions or designs were used by Hezbollah and harmed Israel in the Second Lebanon War. While the United States, for reasons of international security and more, established and is leading a multinational task force to deal with the Houthi threat, China, for its own reasons, chose not to take part in it, and its ships even ignored distress signals from ships that were attacked.
This does not mean severing ties with China, which are of great benefit to Israel, but it is impossible to act as if nothing happened. A correct first step was the announcement by the Israeli embassy in Beijing, which called China's response to the terrorist attack "disturbing" and pointed to China's double standard regarding terrorism. From now on, respect and suspect him. We will trade, but we will not trust with our eyes closed. The war in Gaza proved once again that the world is divided into camps: the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea camp, and the U.S.-West-democracies camp in Asia. Israel is in the second camp, where moral standards are high.
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