Israel “punishes” Gaza residents with a long list of sanctions and complains about China merely enforcing its restrictive regulations on the sale of components...

...that can be used in the genocidal war against the Palestinians.

Israeli officials and importers are publicly expressing their displeasure that the Chinese authorities have finally begun to enforce long-standing regulations that prevent the import of dual-use products into Israel.

Dual-use equipment includes all products that can be used for both civilian and military purposes — a term with which the Israeli authorities are very familiar. In fact, the Israeli government has included thousands of products in the list of sanctioned dual-use products that cannot be imported into the Gaza Strip, such as concrete. Other banned products include pipes, gravel, cement, and steel products, which are essential for the construction industry and without which no buildings can be erected. Farmers are also denied fertilizers, which makes feeding the population even more precarious. Other bans include the import of new medical equipment and spare parts necessary for the maintenance of medical equipment, which has contributed to the paralysis of the health sector in the Gaza Ghetto. Here you can find a detailed report by Professor Alena Douhan on the “Impact of Israeli Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Right to Health of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip“.

Deliveries of dual-use components from China to Israel are now being delayed. However, the Chinese authorities and companies have not introduced any new forms or paperwork.

The Israeli daily Ynetnews reports that“it appears that there is no change in regulations, but rather enforcement that was not practiced in the past.”

It continues: “Some importers in Israel, who import products from China, have found a workaround by duplicating orders to distributors or their representatives in other countries, where the Chinese do not require an export license. However, importing through a third party leads to higher costs and delayed delivery times.”

Recall that the Western media makes a ruckus whenever North Korea, which is not conquering and annexing other countries and executing their people, but merely trying to survive under the threat of the same nation that annihilated 20 percent of its people in the Korean War and continues to refuse a final peace settlement, manages to evade crippling sanctions.

There are no natural gas or oil deposits in North Korea. Similar to other parts of the world, these goods are necessary for agricultural production and cannot be replaced. They were banned along with agricultural components and equipment, which led to a drastic decline in agricultural production from 2018. As a result, the sanctions have greatly increased the risk of starvation for those least able to provide for themselves, such as the elderly, children, the sick and low-income families, all of whom disproportionately rely on local food production. The New York Times and other media organizations are intentionally contributing to the ongoing misery of the people of North Korea by ensuring that oil and other vital goods are kept out of the country.

Some Israeli businessmen have gone so far as to claim that Beijing has imposed sanctions on Israel for enforcing regulations.

“The Chinese are imposing a kind of sanction on us. They don’t officially declare it, but they are delaying shipments to Israel,” an industrialist said.

Greater Israel’s all-out war against the Palestinians is causing death and total destruction in Gaza. Chinese electronics and components could be used in the carnage (New Straits Times photo)

China’s increased diligence in implementing the regulations could be linked to the daily war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In recent weeks, more than 20,000 people (mostly civilians, especially women and children) have been killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. In one of the latest massacres, dozens of Palestinians, mainly children and women, were killed and injured in the night from Sunday (Christmas Eve) to Monday (Christmas Day) when numerous houses in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip were indiscriminately bombed and erased.

So basically China is doing what any sensible country should do, but what the hypocritical Western countries, complicit in war crimes, are not doing in this terrible case.

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This article was first published by the Asian internet magazine Eastern Angle.