On Monday, 30 January 2023, the Strategic Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies hosted Jean-Pierre Filiu, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the Institute of Political Sciences in Paris (Sciences Po), who presented a lecture titled “From Syria to Gaza, via Ukraine”, moderated by the head of the unit, Omar Ashour.

Filiu began his lecture by linking the three contexts of Syria, Gaza and Ukraine, each of which is undergoing a different kind of war, noting that Benjamin Netanyahu should be grateful to Bashar al-Assad for three things. First, because, with the exception of two incidents in 2011, he maintained the ceasefire that had existed since 1974 between Syria and Israel, enabling Israel to annex Syrian territory in the Golan Heights. Second, because it plundered the thousand-year-old heritage of Aleppo and the rest of Syria, setting a precedent for the ongoing plunder of Gaza's thousand-year-old heritage. Finally, his chemical bombardment of the suburbs of Damascus with impunity in 2013 set a precedent for impunity for such mass crimes. Of course, Joe Biden, the guarantor of Israel’s impunity in the ongoing offensive against Gaza, was serving as Vice President to Barack Obama, the guarantor of Assad's impunity in 2013.

However, Filiu argues that Ukraine provides a contrasting example that campaigns to deny mass crimes can be defeated, highlighting the critical role of international media and journalists in conflict zones, and noting the courageous efforts of local journalists in Syria, Gaza, and Ukraine, who continue to report the truth despite facing extreme risks. They paid the ultimate price in Gaza, which serves as a reminder that behind every statistic and news report are people suffering unthinkable adversity.

In his comparison between Syria, Ukraine, and Gaza, Filiu highlighted how Assad, Vladimir Putin and Netanyahu used similar tactics to mislead and manipulate the media, noting that an understanding of these tactics by the international community is necessary to act more effectively. In this context, Filiu touched on the double standards and contradictory international reactions to similar atrocities in different regions, showing that these biases in international diplomacy and media coverage not only hinder the achievement of justice for a specific people, but also hinder international peace efforts. How the international community responds (or doesn’t) to a crisis sets precedents that govern its behaviour in future conflicts.