Jalil Dabdoub | Absent and accountable: Jamaica, genocide, and the lie of neutrality

Jamaica once stood tall in the international arena – with a proud, principled advocacy for the oppressed and international law. But at the last UNGA, that legacy was abandoned.

On the resolution requesting that Palestinian President Abbas be allowed to address the UN remotely – after he was denied a visa to attend – Jamaica failed to vote. Not “yes,” not “no,” not even an abstention. Jamaica disappeared.

In October 2023, when the UN called for an “immediate, durable, and humanitarian truce” in Gaza, Jamaica disappeared – blaming a “technical glitch.” Twice is not an error; it is a pattern. That pattern signals a clear and dangerous shift: away from principle and international law toward a foreign policy defined by cowardice, complicity, and silence.

While international legal bodies – including the ICJ and the UN’s own commission of inquiry – affirm that Israel’s actions in Gaza is genocide, Jamaica says nothing, does nothing.

The numbers speak for themselves: over 66,000 Palestinians killed, nearly 150,000 injured in two years – mostly civilians, many children. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, aid deliberately blocked and essential medical care curtailed. These are documented facts, confirmed by the UN, WHO, and others.

Yet Jamaica, a signatory to the Genocide Convention and a nation that once advocated for Human Rights and International Law, refuses to even acknowledge the crisis.

Following Jamaica’s unceremonious failure to vote the PM delivered a speech that many view as insufficient in what has become a masterclass in national shame by this administration.

Few performances in international politics are as gallingly disingenuous – as Jamaica’s on the Israel-Palestine issue. Speaking with the moral clarity of a fog machine, Our PM in delivering the presentation in no uncertain terms “condemned” the Hamas incursion of October 7. He was not only morally tone-deaf but legally incoherent – a masterclass in diplomatic evasion when clarity was required.

EMBARRASSING CAPITULATION

It was an embarrassing capitulation by Jamaica. Referring to Israel’s Genocide on Gaza – as a “counter-offensive” raises legitimate questions about whether Jamaica’s leadership is fully engaged with the legal and humanitarian realities on the ground. That term alone exposes either ignorance or complicity. It parrots the language of justification while erasing the scale and intent of the violence inflicted on an innocent, besieged civilian population

Afterwards, our PM twisted himself in rhetorical knots to avoid even mentioning the word “Israel” in the context of war crimes despite such crimes being cited by the very body he was addressing.

Jamaica’s stated commitment to “diplomacy and dialogue” rings hollow it refuses to acknowledge the grotesque injustice, breaches of international law, the imbalance of power and suffering in this so-called “conflict”.

It takes a special kind of political cowardice to speak of Resolution 242 – without once calling out that Israel has spent over five decades violating it.

This administration ignores the fact that this is not just a political crisis – it is a legal one, with the world’s highest court now seized of it. Jamaica’s failure to reference the ICJ ruling was a conscious decision to remain silent on genocide, while delivering platitudes about diplomacy and ceasefires.

This administration chose to sanitize and sidestep, to echoing the language of occupation and impunity rather than justice. By refusing to even acknowledge the ICJ’s ruling, it has placed Jamaica in dangerous territory – morally compromised, legally negligent, and politically irrelevant.

That’s not diplomacy. It’s mealy-mouthed neutrality the kind that pretends both sides have equal capacity and equal blame – when clearly holds the military might and violates international law and human rights with unflinching political cover from allies like this administration.

In the end, Jamaica didn’t just fail to speak truth to power – we dishonoured the very principles of justice, international law, and basic decency that we so dearly valued.

MORAL COLLAPSE

Jamaica’s moral collapse was laid bare when Jamaica stood – shamefully – along with Trinidad as the only CARICOM nations that refused to walk out during the Israeli PM UN speech. By staying seated for a man indicted for war crimes by the ICC the administration shattered any illusion of neutrality. This is not diplomacy; it’s alignment with international outlaws.

It’s no coincidence: a government that stands with alleged war criminals abroad is the same one eroding constitutional norms at home. This administration doesn’t just ignore accountability – it emulates the architects of impunity.

Our Foreign Minister (FM) had the temerity to claim that Jamaica “always listens” and values being “present” in diplomacy – this is hypocrisy wrapped in arrogance.

Apartheid and genocide are not matters to “listen” or “ be present” for” or “have dialogue” about – they must be condemned.

If listening is truly a “foundational principle,” why did Jamaica disappear during the UN vote to allow Palestinian President Abbas to speak via video? Clearly, there was no interest in hearing the Palestinian voice. Yet the government had no issue sitting through the address of Israeli PM Netanyahu – a man indicted for war crimes and an open advocate for the expansion of Israel into so-called “Greater Israel,” a project rooted Apartheid.

This isn’t diplomacy. Its selective morality dressed. Jamaica ignored the oppressed and gave a platform to the indicted. That’s not neutrality – it’s complicity.

Jamaica cannot quietly support a regime committing apartheid and genocide, then claim “neutrality”. That is hypocrisy.

And the FM expects Jamaicans to swallow this contradiction without question, as if we’re incapable of critical thought. This isn’t just disingenuous – it’s insulting, condescending, and morally bankrupt.

Jamaica failed humanity – and itself. A position civil society, professionals and the opposition have condemned. This government appears more interested in appeasing allies than upholding law. That’s not diplomacy, its complicity. It places Jamaica – once a moral voice among nations – firmly on the wrong side of the law and history.

Jalil S. Dabdoub is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com