The Narratives – Mohamed Miah

By Mohamed Miah | The Narratives

Thirty Years Since Srebrenica — And We Have Learned Nothing

It’s been thirty years since Srebrenica — the name that haunts every Muslim who knows what it means to be abandoned by the world.

In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in a supposed UN “safe zone.” They were separated from their families, executed in fields and warehouses, and dumped into mass graves. The killers called it justice. The world called it a tragedy. We all said:

“Never again.”

But again is here.

Again is Gaza.

From Mass Graves to Mass Craters

Srebrenica happened quietly.

Gaza is happening live, on every screen, in every home — and no one is stopping it.

Over 100,000 Palestinians killed or wounded, mostly women and children. Hospitals reduced to dust. Children buried in football stadiums. Mothers writing their children’s names on their arms before airstrikes.

They’re drinking salt water. Starving. They’ve been stripped of electricity, fuel, food, medicine — and still the bombs fall. This isn’t war. It’s annihilation. And just like Srebrenica, Gaza is a place with nowhere to run.

But this time, there’s no excuse. The evidence is in the open. The graves are still warm. And the silence is even colder.

The UN Was Powerless Then — It’s Been Crushed Now

In 1995, the UN peacekeepers in Bosnia were outnumbered and politically handcuffed. They watched as genocide unfolded.

Today, the UN in Gaza has been dismantled deliberately. UNRWA — the main aid agency supporting Palestinians — was defunded and accused of being tied to Hamas, without evidence. Israel and its allies found it inconvenient, so they discredited and defunded it.

Now, aid is being delivered through a U.S.-built pier — bypassing international systems. It’s militarised. Politicised. And humiliating.

Palestinians are being shot while running toward flour. Aid is not aid when it becomes a weapon. It’s part of the siege.

What Is Genocide, If Not This?

The UN Genocide Convention defines genocide as:

Killing members of a group.

Inflicting conditions designed to destroy them.

Causing serious bodily or mental harm.

Preventing births or forcibly transferring children.

Gaza meets every one of those criteria.

Israeli officials have called Palestinians “human animals,” promised to “flatten Gaza,” and declared it will “never return to what it was.” That is genocidal intent, publicly stated.

This is not defence. This is not retaliation. It is the calculated erasure of a people.

And like in Srebrenica, they want the world to believe it was all an unfortunate necessity. But no — it’s deliberate, and it’s being done with full impunity.

The ICC Is Silent — Because the Powerful Told It To Be

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for Putin within a year.

But with Israel?

It’s been over a decade of documented war crimes, and still — nothing.

Why?

Because the United States threatened the ICC when it tried to investigate Israel. Because Western governments — including the UK, France, and Germany — are complicit.

If the ICC calls it genocide, it implicates not just Israel, but those who armed, funded, and shielded it. They don’t fear the law. They are the law — and they bend it around their interests.

Crimes Against Humanity Are No Lesser Crime

Let’s not pretend genocide is the only horror. Crimes against humanity are just as wicked.

Syria bombed its own civilians to maintain power. America and Britain invaded Iraq and Afghanistan — not for democracy, but for revenge. And in that revenge, they turned wedding parties into craters and cities into ruins.

You killed civilians to teach them a lesson. And then, when those same civilians — scarred by war, PTSD, and unimaginable loss — came to your countries for refuge,

your own citizens said:

“Why are they here?”

You act dumb. You forget it was your bombs that made them homeless. Your invasions that made them orphans. Your wars that taught them hate.

Some come now with nothing but trauma. Others come with rage. Because they saw everything they loved — parents, children, homes — destroyed in the blink of an airstrike. You taught them revenge. And now you fear it.

But like Gandhi said —

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.”

And that’s what we are now.

Blind. Deaf. Dumb.

The West’s Hands Are Not Just Bloody — They’re Unhinged

Some Western soldiers are now being tried for war crimes. Not all were heroes. Many were murderers with uniforms.

There are verified cases of:

Taking souvenirs from dead civilians Raping women in war zones Posing with mutilated bodies Handing out Viagra to armed men to encourage mass sexual violence

Search the facts.

This isn’t fiction — it’s filed in international court records. And what about torture?

Abu Ghraib.

Guantanamo Bay.

CIA black sites.

They experimented on Muslims. Tortured them. Humiliated them.

Sleep deprivation.

Waterboarding.

Sexual degradation.

All done in the name of “security.”

And when whistleblowers spoke out?

Edward Snowden — exiled. Julian Assange — imprisoned. Chelsea Manning — tortured. In this world, if you kill innocents, you’re promoted. If you expose the truth, you’re punished.

Silence Is Complicity — Including Yours, Including Mine

Let’s stop pretending this is someone else’s responsibility. If you’re reading this and saying nothing, doing nothing — you are complicit.

That includes you. That includes me. That includes every neighbour who looks away, every colleague who jokes, every leader who sits in silence. We are not innocent bystanders. We are witnesses who chose not to scream.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:

“Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; if he is not able, then with his tongue; and if he is not able, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.”

(Sahih Muslim 49)

So speak with your tongue.

Write. Protest. Share. Argue.

Do not bury your voice in fear. Do not comfort yourself with neutrality. Because neutrality in the face of genocide is not peace — it’s betrayal.

And Yet, They Still Stand

Despite the bombs. Despite the siege. Despite the betrayal — the people of Gaza remain.

They bury their dead with dignity. They write their children’s names on their arms, in case their bodies are unrecognisable. They whisper du’as in the rubble. They hold their identity like fire in their hands.

And like the mothers of Srebrenica, they say:

“We will not forget. We will not forgive. And we will not disappear.”

Allah Is Watching — And History Will Remember

The courts may fail. The politicians may lie. The media may distort. But Allah sees.

And on the Day of Judgment, there will be no veto powers.

No immunity. No propaganda. Just truth. And justice. And accountability.

So make sure, when that day comes, you weren’t on the side of silence.