Why is the West so passionate about stopping the war in Ukraine yet oblivious to the starvation and mass killing in Gaza?

Why is the West so passionate about stopping the war in Ukraine yet oblivious to the starvation and mass killing in Gaza?

    Saturday, August 23, 2025   No comments

Within weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western leaders spoke with one voice in condemning Moscow’s actions. Within months, many even described the events as “genocide.” In record time, the International Criminal Court indicted Russia’s president for the “unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children,” and Western governments applauded the move. They invoked the principles of self-defense and the prohibition of war crimes to justify sending billions in weapons to Ukraine to resist “Russian aggression.”

Contrast that with Gaza. After nearly two years of one-sided war, 80% of homes have been reduced to rubble. More than 18,000 children have been killed (not transferred), alongside over 47,000 civilians. A man-made famine is now unfolding. And yet, Western leaders still refuse to call what is happening in Gaza “genocide”—despite UN experts and Israeli human rights organizations themselves acknowledging it as such. Instead of supporting the ICC, the United States has gone so far as to sanction the judges and staff of the Court for indicting Israeli leaders accused of war crimes.

The double standards could not be clearer. Recently, when Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin in Alaska, he hand-delivered a letter from his wife urging the Russian leader to address the plight of Ukrainian children. This prompted Turkey’s First Lady to write to the American First Lady, asking her to do the same for the children of Gaza. Will she? Unlikely.

Because morality, in the Western framework, has never been universal—it is a function of power. Suffering only matters when it happens to those whom the powerful can identify with. It is not about children dying or disappearing—it is about which children are dying and disappearing. And in this equation, the children of Gaza do not count.

Such a value system—perverse, selective, and driven by selfishness—is precisely what will accelerate the decline of Western civilization: its complete failure to live up to the very values it once claimed, and weaponized, to dominate others.

  

Media Review: "As Israel Starves and Kills Thousands in Gaza, It Destroys Itself", Haaretz

Media Review: "As Israel Starves and Kills Thousands in Gaza, It Destroys Itself", Haaretz

    Monday, August 04, 2025   No comments

In a powerful and scathing op-ed published by Haaretz, Israeli writer Iris Leal delivers a searing critique of her country’s actions in the Gaza Strip, warning that the atrocities being committed there are not only devastating to Palestinians but are also dragging Israel into a profound moral, political, and diplomatic abyss. Leal’s article, titled "As Israel Kills and Starves Thousands in Gaza, It Destroys Itself in the Process", lays bare the human cost of the war and the devastating implications for Israel’s future.

A Nation’s Self-Destruction

Leal argues that Israel is systematically isolating itself from the global community. The bridges that once connected it to the democratic world are being “torn down one by one.” She emphasizes that anyone associated with the decision-making apparatus of the war—be it political leaders, military commanders, or intelligence heads—is now becoming increasingly aware that international travel may pose legal and personal risks due to accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

At the center of her warning is the staggering humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. According to credible international reports cited by Leal, including data from UNICEF and The Washington Post, over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, among them at least 18,500 children. Many of these children were killed in their sleep, while playing, or even before they learned to walk. The death toll reflects not incidental wartime casualties but a consistent pattern of destruction that Leal unequivocally describes as a "war of extermination."

Starvation as a Weapon

One of the most damning parts of Leal’s argument is Israel’s alleged use of starvation as a weapon of war. She writes that the Netanyahu government knowingly allowed infants to face starvation by failing to ensure the delivery of infant formula and basic humanitarian aid. Hospitals—already bombed or rendered dysfunctional—are unable to operate, and medical personnel themselves are suffering from hunger and exhaustion.

Even worse, Leal suggests that these outcomes were not unintended side effects, but foreseen and tolerated, under the assumption that the international community would remain silent or impotent in the face of such horrors. The Israeli leadership, in her view, has wagered that the deliberate starvation and killing of children would not result in meaningful diplomatic consequences—a gamble that, she implies, is both immoral and catastrophically shortsighted.

A Crisis of Legitimacy

Leal’s article ends by posing a deeply uncomfortable question to the Israeli public and the global community: Are the people leading Israel today—its ministers, generals, intelligence chiefs—morally and legally fit to make decisions on behalf of the nation? Given the scale of the violence and its apparent intentionality, she contends that these individuals are likely complicit in war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and potentially genocide.

The underlying message is clear: Israel is not just committing atrocities—it is losing its moral compass and destroying the very foundations of its legitimacy in the eyes of the world and its own citizens.

A Global Atrocity in Real Time

Leal’s voice is a rare and courageous one within a landscape that often suppresses internal dissent. Her article should serve as a wake-up call, not only to Israelis but to anyone who believes in the principles of human rights and international law. The reality in Gaza today—of mass death, child starvation, and humanitarian collapse—is not abstract. It is a documented and unfolding catastrophe that demands accountability.

What makes this atrocity even more chilling is the premeditation behind it. When a state with one of the most advanced militaries in the world deliberately withholds aid, targets civilian infrastructure, and tolerates the mass death of children, it cannot be brushed off as a tragic byproduct of war. This is systematic, intentional policy—and it represents the moral failure of a nation’s leadership. 

Meanwhile, the international community’s response remains fragmented, weak, and in some cases complicit. Leal rightly questions whether Israel’s leaders will face consequences, but the more urgent question is: Will the world act before even more lives are lost?

Silence, in this context, is not neutrality—it is complicity. As Leal poignantly concludes, Israel may believe it is winning a war, but in reality, it is tearing itself apart, sacrificing not just the lives of its enemies, but its own soul and standing in the world.

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Sources: Haaretz, UNICEF, The Washington Post.
Link to original article: Haaretz Opinion - Aug 4, 2025

Media Review: The Starvation of Gaza and the Decline of Western Moral Authority

Media Review: The Starvation of Gaza and the Decline of Western Moral Authority

    Monday, August 04, 2025   No comments

The deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza is not just a humanitarian catastrophe—it is, as Professor Robin Andersen argues, a direct assault on our shared humanity and a defining moral failure of our time. As images of emaciated children and starving families flood global media, this slow and intentional genocide has begun to crack even the long-standing pro-Israel consensus in Western political and media circles. Yet, the shift comes late—far too late for many—and exposes the deep complicity of Western powers that continue to enable this crime through silence, arms sales, and diplomatic cover.

For over 21 months, major Western media outlets and governments defended or downplayed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. According to Andersen, who teaches at Fordham University and writes extensively on media ethics and political violence, even mainstream outlets like CNN and MSNBC are only now beginning to report more critically—prompted not by sudden ethical clarity, but by the undeniable horror of starvation. Hunger, she points out, is a weapon that lingers: unlike bombs, which kill in an instant, starvation is prolonged, visible, and unbearable to witness—especially when its victims are children.

In Gaza, Andersen reports through the voice of Palestinian journalist Hiba Al-Makadmeh, “hunger has become Israel’s most brutal weapon, more devastating than bombs.” This is not incidental. It is policy—explicitly declared by Israeli officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said: “We will not allow a single gram of aid into Gaza until the people kneel.” Statements like these, far from being fringe rhetoric, reflect the open intent behind the siege, which Andersen identifies as forced starvation: a war crime and a form of genocide.

Andersen emphasizes how deeply starvation strikes the human psyche. Drawing from cultural reflections by actor and writer Stanley Tucci, she reminds

 readers that food is central to human connection—something we all instinctively relate to. Watching someone eat makes them more human to us; seeing someone denied that basic right strips both them and us of our shared humanity. The imagery of skeletal children and desperate families, still alive but wasting away, is a wound to the conscience of the world.

Yet while ordinary people are beginning to rise in protest—raising Palestinian flags on statues, blocking Israeli cruise ships, and marching in cities from New York to London—Western governments remain largely inert. Their recent expressions of “deep concern” ring hollow. Andersen rightly questions why leaders like U.S. President Biden or UK Labour leader Keir Starmer are only now finding the courage to speak, after months of providing political and material support to Israel. This belated outrage, she suggests, is not moral reckoning but reputation management—what journalist Max Blumenthal calls “reputation laundering.”

Moreover, Andersen draws attention to the growing condemnation by human rights organizations. While some, like Amnesty International, spoke out early, even formerly cautious groups such as B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel have now labeled the starvation and mass killing in Gaza as genocide. These are not symbolic declarations; they represent a shift in the global consensus and an indictment of those who still refuse to act.

Throughout her analysis, Andersen returns to one core truth: this is not just a crime against Palestinians. It is an attack on the very idea of humanity. And those who watch it unfold without intervening—those who could stop the famine and choose not to—are morally accountable. “We don’t need pity,” says Hiba Al-Makadmeh, as quoted by Andersen. “We need pressure on those who are preventing food from reaching us.”

This starvation campaign, Andersen concludes, is not only an act of genocide—it is a mirror held up to the West. And what we see reflected is not strength or leadership, but cowardice and complicity. Unless Western nations take real action—cutting off arms, demanding ceasefire, and ensuring humanitarian access—they will be remembered not as defenders of rights, but as enablers of atrocity. History will not forget who watched and did nothing.

Joint Statement by the United Kingdom, France, and Canada on Israel's actions in Gaza

Joint Statement by the United Kingdom, France, and Canada on Israel's actions in Gaza

    Monday, May 19, 2025   No comments

 Joint Statement by the United Kingdom, France, and Canada on Israel's actions in Gaza

"We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response. We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. Israel must halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians. We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions. "