Has impunity paved the way from Sabra and Shatilla to Gaza today

JVL Introduction

September 16th 1982 saw the beginning of three days of murder in two refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon. The world knew then, as it knows now what is happening in Gaza but there remains a gap between knowledge and action. Indeed, things have worsened in some ways as in 1982, an investigation found Ariel Sharon, Defence Minister at the time, guilty of not stopping the massacre. He was forced to step down from his role – although he remained in Cabinet and, of course, later became Prime Minister.

Now as then, medical workers are at the forefront of telling the world what is happening; their eye witness accounts have been made into films and documentaries. More than 1580 health workers have been killed and many more injured. But the compulsion Israel felt in 1982 to investigate has disappeared.  “When these medics speak out in international media, Israel, in a characteristically hypocritical stance, simply responds by smearing them with accusations of antisemitism.”

The reality was that 44 years ago, Israel was able to act with effective impunity and this has marked its behaviour ever since; accountability then might have created a different reality today.

This article was originally published by Middle East Monitor on Thu 10 Sep 2026. Read the original here.