The world watched in silence

For nearly 20 months, the Gaza Strip has been turned into a graveyard. A genocide has unfolded in real time – witnessed, documented and broadcast globally. But the world, especially the so-called champions of human rights in the West, looked away. Or worse, cheered from the sidelines. The UN has once again placed Israel on its ‘blacklist’ of countries that perpetrate grave violations against children in conflict. Yes, this may be symbolic but it is one more searing indictment backed by harrowing data. According to Unicef, over 5,000 children in Gaza, between six months and five years old, were treated for acute malnutrition in a single month. This is a man-made famine, enforced by Israel’s systematic blockade of humanitarian aid. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war. Meanwhile, the daily toll of lives lost continues. Just two days ago, 92 more Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks – the latest victims in a death toll that now stretches into the tens of thousands. The pattern is no longer even debated: families are bombed in their homes, journalists are targeted, hospitals destroyed and children are obliterated by precision weaponry supplied by Western allies.

Yet the focus in much of the Western press and diplomatic circles has shifted – now spotlighting Israel’s aggressive strikes on Iran. Western governments as was expected have rallied behind Tel Aviv, praising its “defensive posture”, even as Israel escalates regional conflict. The same Israel that has waged a relentless war on a trapped population in Gaza is now being lauded as a bastion of security and stability. The double standard is really grotesque. The recent move by the UK, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia to impose sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for inciting violence may seem like a step in the right direction. But let’s be clear: it is too little, too late. These same countries spent nearly two years supporting, justifying and financing the very regime they are now attempting to distance themselves from with symbolic actions. Predictably, the US – Israel’s unwavering patron – condemned even this mild rebuke. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, echoing decades of policy, reminded the world that the US stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Israel. That message is loud and clear: human rights are secondary when it comes to strategic interests. There is no moral high ground when your tax dollars and weapons fuel the slaughter of civilians.

This conflict has not only laid bare the barbarity of Israel’s campaign in Gaza but has also exposed the West’s moral bankruptcy. We must never forget who stood on the right side of history and who stood by – or worse, facilitated this horror. We must remember every government that gave Netanyahu carte blanche to devastate Gaza. Every leader who rationalised the slaughter of children as ‘self-defence’. Every media outlet that downplayed the deaths of Palestinians or questioned the credibility of the victims. Every silence was complicity. And now, as Israel expands its aggression into Iran, a sovereign state, we are asked again to believe in its ‘security concerns’. The truth is not rocket science: emboldened by unconditional Western support, Israel continues to act without accountability. The people of Gaza – and now Iran – are paying the price for a global order that has abandoned its conscience. What needs to be done is also not rocket science: stop Israel.