The impact of these documented atrocities must be preserved

The war on Gaza has unfolded before the world’s eyes with unprecedented visibility. From the first day, its violence has been continuously broadcast in real time through images, video clips, and live streams. The assumption was that such exposure would awaken the conscience of the international community and prompt meaningful action from global leaders.

Even without relying on the most graphic or controversial footage, the documented evidence is overwhelming: infants pulled from rubble, children weakened by prolonged hunger, and hospital patients left untreated in facilities lacking basic medicine or equipment some of which are themselves subject to bombing.

The visual evidence from Gaza stands as proof against a world that has failed to take serious action in the face of atrocities that challenge international law, undermine the Charter of the United Nations and fundamental human and ethical principles, despite the outcry of multitudes angered by the genocide and provoked by the brutality. This evident failure justifiably raises difficult questions about the equality of life, dignity, and rights among human beings in this world.

Staged images and others ignored 

The ongoing brutal war of extermination unfolding in the Gaza Strip reveals a phenomenon of manufactured and exaggerated imagery, which coincides with a lack of concern for other documented realities, despite being indisputable and unambiguous.

There are many examples of this, such as a fabricated image promoted by occupation propaganda, claiming to show the charred body of a child allegedly burned by Palestinians in a settlement near the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023.

This fabricated image and others like it were used as ammunition in an aggressive incitement campaign to justify the execution of a brutal extermination war in Gaza and to strip the Palestinian people of their humanity. Meanwhile, the same political and media platforms, many of which are prominent and influential globally, showed little concern for the vast number of documented scenes in which the occupation army burned the bodies of children and infants across the Gaza Strip, where charred bodies accumulated in scenes that deeply shock the human conscience.

Bias in this context is not limited to the duality of fabrication and exaggeration on one side and turning a blind eye and indifference on the other. It is also connected to the denial of the Palestinian victims’ right to recognition and to the reality of their suffering in general. When that suffering is acknowledged, it is often isolated from the perpetrator who caused it, leaving incidents without a doer, or in the passive voice, especially when the perpetrator is Israeli. This is reflected in headline wording that is usually subdued: “death” instead of “killing,” for instance. It contrasts markedly to the relatively heightened attention given to Israeli casualties, even when the harm is merely assumed.

The bias is also evident in the reluctance to draw attention to the reality of Palestinian children and civilians being burnt alive; their fragile bodies scorched by the army’s fire raining down on their tents around the clock. This is linked to the protected status of central propaganda narratives monopolised by the occupying power, which often excludes any mention of Palestinian children being burnt, even when images and videos of them are widely circulated from the field.

This contradiction cannot be understood without considering the reality of globalised Western centrality, which through its institutional mechanisms and influence, effectively monopolises global concern for certain events and selectively generates sympathy according to its own familiar biases.

And even when certain images or developments force themselves into global view, they are met with carefully measured sympathy, nowhere near the outpouring of grief and emotion that would follow if the victims were from the occupying population or from other, more privileged groups, such as Europeans or Westerners generally.

It has become clear, based on many available comparisons, that the logic of Western central bias places the lives of some people above others in terms of concern and sympathy. This globalised bias, by its influence, reach, and persistence, provides long-standing moral cover for the violation of Palestinian lives, dignity, and humanity, year after year, in full view of the world.

This occurs with increasingly deceptive practices: reducing global concern for what is happening to them, suppressing public outrage, and offering pre-emptive justifications followed by weak verbal responses once the scale of the brutality is exposed. There remains a consistent refusal to call things by their names: what is happening is rarely labelled as genocide, atrocities, ethnic cleansing, or starvation policy, let alone described as terrorism.

Horror from the starvation camps

Pale faces and emaciated bodies gather in large numbers in search of a piece of bread, a sip of water, or a simple meal to keep them alive, though often in vain after hours of exhausting waiting. Children and infants die from hunger while others await their turn on a growing list of impending death, all within the sight and hearing of the world. Pregnant women in critical conditions are left without basic care, newborns go unattended, and premature babies lack essential protection.

These escalating horrors are not the result of a natural disaster or drought, but rather the visible effects of a deliberate, carefully programmed policy designed to strip a vulnerable population of the means of survival. They are robbed of food and basic dignity while bargaining with them over their rights, their land, and their very existence.

Could anyone had imagined that a government or army in the world would dare to wage a prolonged starvation warfare against an entire population located at the heart of the planet, along the Mediterranean? Could anyone had imagined that the perpetrators would do so publicly, insistently, and even proudly? This has been coupled with continued military support, political endorsement, and generous economic backing from Western capitals, along with conspicuous neglect in the Arab world.

This atrocity has become a visible reality, in full colour and through live footage, as the Israeli occupation subjects the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, or more precisely, a society composed mostly of children and mothers to a tightly controlled campaign of extermination and starvation. The residents, their stomachs empty, are bombarded constantly in what has become an open-air killing field, under live global broadcast.

These daily images demand serious questions from news outlets, media platforms, and political and civil institutions around the world.

It is now evident that the world is prepared to tolerate all these horrors, show leniency toward them, and look away from them.  Besides, the perpetrators are granted time and space to continue and intensify their barbarity, so long as they only affect a specific population and are carried out by those who are granted immunity from accountability and placed, in practice, above international law and its institutions. The difficult conclusion is that the global response to such crimes is not objective; it depends on the identity of the perpetrator and the victim.

READ: Killing Palestinian children rises to an industrial level 

There was once an assumption that capturing brutality on camera, sharing it through live broadcasts, and documenting it in reliable reports would be enough to shock the world into action and deter the perpetrators and pressure their backers to stop.

But this documented brutality found eager supporters some of whom repeatedly issued threats to “open the gates of hell.” Genocide, destruction, displacement, and starvation were all accompanied by pre-emptive justifications under the claim of “Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Deception reaches its peak through continued leniency, silence, and indifference, all expressed in vague concern, soft appeals, or lukewarm responses. These stand in stark contrast to how the world would have reacted had such horrors targeted other populations such as westerners, whites, or those from the privileged regions of the planet. Surely, the reaction would have been different had perpetrator not been the occupying settler regime in Palestine.

When the impact of documented atrocities begins to erode

A contradiction can be observed when reviewing past moments in this same place. Iconic footage once prompted significant reactions during previous Israeli offensives on Gaza: such as the bombing of the Al-Fakhoura School in northern Gaza during the winter of 2008-2009, the killing of four Bakr children playing on the beach in the summer of 2014, or the destruction of the Al-Jalaa Tower during the 2021 assault, which housed global media agency offices.

In those moments, the camera captured horrific scenes that provoked global outrage and put pressure on Israel to curb its aggression, despite pre-existing justifications.

But the sheer volume of horrific images during this prolonged campaign of extermination has stripped such scenes of their exceptional status, making them appear “ordinary” or more “tolerable,” so long as they involve people outside the privileged sphere of global attention.

This critical observation raises difficult questions about whether global visual culture can become desensitised to certain atrocities over time, losing the power of rarity and shock. It is as though the occupation has “trained” the world to grow accustomed to these horrors, which continue to escalate before global audiences, even though a single “rare” image in the past was enough to shake the world and prompt declarations of sorrow and shock.

When leading political and media platforms show indifference toward these visible atrocities and fail to give them due emotional or editorial weight, the public may come to believe, naively, that such horrors do not merit attention, are not enough to stir emotions, and do not call for urgent action or moral reckoning.

This is the logic of “acceptable brutality,” as it manifests in the constant stream of atrocities that were already pre-justified, openly supported, and lavishly funded by governments and institutions that pride themselves on being part of the “free world” and claim moral high ground, without acknowledging their role in encouraging the mass killing, destruction, and relentless starvation.

It is crucial to resist the logic of repetition and desensitisation which dulls public concern. But even though repetition may undermine the impact of shock, certain narrative strategies can still realign public perception with human conscience and moral clarity.

One approach is to focus on specific stories, highlight individual experiences, and bring to light names and faces, thereby humanising the suffering and restoring emotional engagement.

Ultimately, the real hope lies in mobilising immediate responses and generating active public pressure, regionally and globally, to awaken consciences and demand action. This kind of pressure is essential to confront decision-makers and those who wield power and hold them accountable for their silence, complacency, or inaction that enables ongoing brutality.

It must be acknowledged that the brutality of extermination and starvation warfare has its backers, those who directly or indirectly support it, justify it, or remain complicit through silence or weak statements.

Even mild criticism and soft appeals contribute to enabling this brutality and clearing the path for its continuation, while offering superficial disavowals of the extermination, accompanied by hollow statements of condemnation.

Sustained complacency emboldens the occupation to escalate its brutality, reinforcing the impression that these visible horrors do not warrant serious consequences. Instead, they are met with perfunctory expressions of “concern” and feigned focus on “the difficult humanitarian situation.” The genocidal government interprets such complicit or timid reactions as a green light to continue its policies with no serious challenge or deterrent.

READ: Trump’s hypocrisy: Peacemaker in Ukraine, genocide enabler in Gaza 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.