It’s not unjustifiable to consider Israel as the absolute incarnation of fraudulence, relentlessness and brutality. Since its establishment, the Zionist regime has carried out actions which contravene international humanitarian law. Even a precursory look into the account of Israel’s bloody interaction with the Palestinian people over the past few years reveals that this illegitimate regime does not deserve “the right to exist”, as the U.S. and European officials put it.

Monday’s assault by the Israel Defense Forces on the flotilla of humanitarian aid that was heading to the besieged Gaza Strip from Turkey left at least 10 dead and several others wounded. Never mind that Israel’s criminal actions violated the 4th Geneva 1949 Convention. Just imagine for a single moment that Iran had carried out the carnage instead of Israel. Simply replace the two names and then read the news as reported by CNN: “The Free Gaza Movement, one of the organizers of the aid, said that Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of one of the ships early Monday and immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians.”

Since September 2000, Israel has killed more than 6,300 Palestinians, most of whom were children and defenseless civilians. Israel has also demolished more than 25,000 Palestinian homes since 1967. It possess up to 200 nuclear warheads in contravention to the United Nations Security Council resolution 487. Interestingly, it receives around $7 million of military aid from the U.S. every day. At least 7,383 Palestinians are being kept in the prisons of Israel. The racist regime of Israel has built 223 settlements on the Palestinians’ confiscated lands. Over the six-year period between September 2000 and February 2006, 36,589 Palestinians were injured by the Israeli forces, of whom 3,530 were permanently disabled or maimed. Shockingly, this six-year period witnessed the confiscation of 249,680 km2 of Palestinian lands. Israeli forces even refused to overlook the Palestinian trees as they uprooted 1,187,762 Palestinian trees from 2000 to 2006. This shows the nature of the brutal regime of Israel which is even at odds with the natural resources and trees, let alone the human beings.

Although it’s practically unthinkable, try to replace Iran and Israel, imagining for a single moment that Iran is the occupying state that kills at least two civilians a day, beleaguers some 1.5 million people who don’t have any access to the barest necessities of daily life, who live under the continual threat of military assault and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Would the so-called international community tolerate it? Would the UN Secretary General suffice to a simple “expression of concern” with regards to such an incessant viciousness, if it had not been Israel?

To be honest with ourselves, Israel is enjoying an unconditional impunity from international law, acting like a rogue state that does not live up to its obligations and responsibilities. After the dissolution of South Africa’s apartheid regime, which, it was recently revealed, made a nuclear deal with Tel Aviv in 1957. Israel is the only apartheid entity that remains on the world map, and the unyielding support of the world’s superpower perpetuates this state of affairs.

The United States and its European allies never abandoned their support for Israel and backed the atrocities of Tel Aviv even in the most crucial confrontations, such as Operation Cast Lead of  (December 2008 – January 2009,) which led to the termination of Israel’s diplomatic relations with four countries: Venezuela, Bolivia, Qatar and Mauritania.

The international reactions to the latest brutality committed by Israel, – a pre-dawn attack on a humanitarian aid flotilla, which included 700 peace activists of different nationalities, was predictable, and at the same time, unpardonably deplorable.

The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has several times attacked Iran over its nuclear program, has simply expressed his regret over the deaths and injuries which “occurred”, shrugging off the responsibility of the atrocious perpetrator and architect of the massacre. “Canada deeply regrets the loss of life and the injuries suffered. We are currently looking for more information in order to shed light on what exactly happened,” the ridiculous statement of the Canadian Premier reads. Canada is still looking for information about what has happened! Maybe the Israel Defense Force can answer the question well!

The reaction of the other countries was not much better. Some of them summoned the Israeli ambassadors for clarifications; some regretted the death of civilians and sympathized with the families of the dead; some expressed their “serious concern” over the happening; and the rest remained indifferent as the Israeli officials gave their strong backing to the massacre, leaving thousands of unanswered questions andloads of ambiguity regarding the modality of international relations that makes Israel so impervious to international law.

The NPT 2010 review conference, in which 189 countries unanimously called on Israel to put its nuclear activities and facilities under the comprehensive IAEA safeguards, was similarly responded to arrogantly by Tel Aviv, which effectively said, “We are not an NPT signatory and thus we don’t need its supervision! We want to possess our nuclear weapons to use them whenever necessary!”

The “international community”, the usual euphemism for the United States and its European allies, who helped give birth to this illegitimate child, should accept responsibility for the great mistake they made over 60 years ago. From the very beginning, it was clear that the establishment of the “Jewish State” would be tantamount to insecurity, anxiety, and disorder in the Middle East. Now Israel is expanding the frontiers of its aggressiveness and even when European and American civilians are killed by the Zionist regime, as in the case of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, there is no accountability.

Again, I return to the question: What would happen if my country, Iran — a country that has not attacked or occupied any lands over the past century —had carried out such a vicious action? Would Iran have been treated the same way as Israel?