More than ten months have passed since the start of the genocidal war waged by Israel against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem; indeed, all of the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel has killed and wounded well over one hundred thousand Palestinians, with thousands more missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of their homes. Most of the casualties are children and women.
Observers generally agree that the rogue state of Israel is the spearhead of a broader alliance that includes major Western regimes which have adopted the idea of genocide and backed it in every way, most notably the Biden administration in Washington.
The support that this “genocide alliance” provides to the occupation state is not only limited to media platforms, but is also evident in what Israel has been given during its systematic killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem since last October, as the world has witnessed an escalation of Israeli aggression and horrific massacres.
Most Western countries, including the US, UK, France and Germany, rushed to adopt the Israeli narrative in the name of “self-defence”.
That’s a misnomer, of course, but, nevertheless, they provided extensive military and financial support, so that Israel could continue to wage its barbaric war on the Palestinian people with the aim of annihilation, displacement and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and everything else necessary for life in Gaza. These countries are not just complicit in genocide; they are partners in the killing of Palestinians around the clock.
The genocide alliance seeks to strengthen colonial domination and interests in the region. Israel is backed in international forums where colonial states use their veto power to block any resolution condemning its policies against the Palestinians. These colonial policies are nothing new. The UN, for example, was forced in 1991 to revoke its 1975 General Assembly Resolution 3379 which determined that “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”
The Biden administration has used its veto in the Security Council four times in the past four months, during which it blocked draft resolutions that would have condemned the massacres and genocides committed against the Palestinian people. All of this is an extension of a colonial approach that has been ongoing since 1948 and is deeply rooted.
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The genocide alliance uses the media to spread falsehood by presenting issues from a pro-Israel perspective and ignoring legitimate Palestinian positions. During the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza, media reports emerged on platforms such as the BBC and CNN showing that the rockets from Gaza posed a major threat, while ignoring or downplaying the atrocities committed by Israel as it bombed Palestinian civilians across the enclave. More than 40,000 civilians have been killed by Israel since last October, with another 100,000 wounded and missing, most of them children and women.
The priority when covering such events in an unbalanced manner is to show Israel as the perpetual victim defending itself. This ignores the reality, the facts and the human tragedies on the Palestinian side.
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Moreover, these colonial countries, especially the US, play a decisive role in supplying the Israeli army with weapons, arms and military equipment enabling it to continue its genocide of the Palestinians. Billions of dollars are being spent on reinforcing Israel’s air defences and providing so-called bunker-busting bombs to devastate whole blocks in Gaza and kill whole families with every bomb.
This is not just a passing phase. It is a deadly expression of the depth of the colonial connection and explicit support by the US administration for Israel.
The crimes committed today in real time on social media have exposed the painful reality and show that now, more than ever, there is an urgent need for decisive international action. The world must accept the fact that Israel is a racist state that has passed the threshold for classification as an apartheid state — as confirmed by B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International — and is acting as a rogue state treating international laws and conventions with contempt. In all of this it is aided and abetted by the genocide alliance. International silence or indifference is no longer an option; indeed, it’s totally unacceptable.
Working to isolate Israel and its supporters goes beyond being a response to injustice; it represents a direct challenge to the colonial structure that has allowed these acts to spread and ignored the suffering of the people. As such, this pressure will be a fundamental step for all countries of the Global South to end Western colonial influence around the world.
This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 18 August 2024
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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.