The genocide is still far from being condemned in the West’s rhetoric

While more rhetoric but barely any pressure is raised against the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) and Israel using the distribution hubs as kill zones, the genocide in Gaza reflects an earlier trend of pinpointing violations into manageable disturbances. That way, Israel’s violence can remain unchecked and the genocide in Gaza becomes just as normalised as other international law violations were normalised earlier.

Israel has killed over 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and the majority of these individuals are not recognised except for statistical purposes. However, if mass graves are discovered, or as is happening more lately, Palestinians are killed while trying to access food, the international community issues warnings on the specific violations. The genocide itself, however, is normalised.

UN Secretary Antonio Guterres stated that aid operations in Gaza are “inherently unsafe”. Israel’s foreign ministry said the military “never targets civilians”. Over 165 international charities and rights organisations have called for the GHF to terminate its operations. The UK’s political coordinator to the UN Fergus Eckers called the GHF’s operations “inhumane”. And UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric mellowed the UN’s tone by stating “We’re not saying that GHF should not operate. What we’re saying is that whether it’s GHF or others, they need to operate in ways that are safe.”

Dujarric’s tone represents what the UN has adhered to throughout the entire Zionist colonial process. Legitimising colonisation but pointing out specific violations as contrary to international law is part of the structure that has protected Israel throughout the decades. Israel’s violations have never been addressed as part of colonialism, because Israel is not recognised as a settler-colonial entity by the UN. And nowhere is this more evident than in the wording of UN Resolution 194, which calls the settler-colonial entity “neighbours” and places the entire burden of the Nakba upon the Palestinian people. Not only has this resolution remained unchallenged, but it is also championed as a right even though it exists only to protect Israel’s colonial interests.

The same has happened with Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is easier to deplore the GHF, the mass graves, Israel burning Palestinians in tents, but not the entire genocidal structure that led to these schemes and atrocities. What has the international community done to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza? To prevent Israel from burning people alive or blasting them into the air as bombs detonate? What has the international community done to stop Israel’s genocide? Nothing. It supplies Israel with various tools for committing genocide, though. Just as it supplied Israel with the means – resolutions included – to maintain its colonial presence in Palestine.

Meanwhile, any atrocity that becomes newsworthy is followed up by Israel stating it will investigate and international law experts stating that the attack was “almost certainly unlawful and may constitute a war crime,” as recently reported regarding the al-Baqa Café in Gaza, upon which Israel dropped a 230kg bomb, killing and injuring Palestinians on location.

The West loves commenting and feeding its hesitant expertise to the public, just as much as Israel is committed to its genocide in Gaza.

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