Crocodile Tears: Gaza And The West’s Indifference

UN Chief Calls For ‘Immediate’ Ceasefire In Gaza: A Warning That Falls On The Collective Deaf Ears of Western Politicians

The utter hypocrisy of Western leaders regarding the crisis in Gaza is appalling. As Israel bombards the besieged territory for over 100 days, killing tens of thousands, the so-called civilized world stands idly by. This feckless inaction in the face of what can only be called genocide exposes the moral bankruptcy of countries that lecture others about human rights.

Yet again, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has pleaded for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Though his voice carries little weight with Western powers that enable Israel’s onslaught, Guterres condemned the “unbearable” humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, rightly calling the situation “beyond words.”

Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered this latest escalation in this 75 years of conflict resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 132 of whom Israel says remain in Gaza, including at least 25 believed to have been killed.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a relentless military campaign that has so far disproportionately killed at least 24,100 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made fresh calls today for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, as the fighting between Israel and Hamas passed the 100-day milestone.

“We need an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. To ensure sufficient aid gets to where it is needed. To facilitate the release of the hostages. To tamp down the flames of wider war because the longer the conflict in Gaza continues, the greater the risk of escalation and miscalculation,” Guterres said at a press briefing in New York.

Today the UN says more than three months of fighting have displaced roughly 85 percent of the territory’s population, crowded into shelters and struggling to get food, water, fuel and medical care. Guterres condemned a humanitarian situation in Gaza that he said was “beyond words.”

The “vast majority” of the UN’s Palestinian staff have fled their homes and 152 staff members have been killed since October 7, Guterres said — “the largest single loss of life in the history of our organization.”

With aid deliveries struggling to get through to a “traumatised people,” Gaza now faces “the long shadow of starvation.”

“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guterres said.

Massacre in Slow Motion: Gaza’s Descent into Hell

In a medieval siege of over two million people, this spiral of destruction is constantly escalating. Israel cut off food, water, medicine and electricity to Gaza. Now disease and famine have followed war. Yet Western leaders cheer on the slaughter pretending it is done in the name of “self-defence.”

I suppose at this point you can call it what you want – massacre, slaughter, ethnic cleansing, genocide. The proper term for Israel’s actions hardly matters now. The results are the same. What matters is that the civilian population of Gaza faces extermination at the hands of a modern military armed by the West and carried out with the blessings of the West.

If these horrific acts were committed by any nation disfavored by the West, leaders would be tripping over themselves to condemn and punish them. Yet Israel gets a free pass. The same countries that swiftly imposed sanctions on Russia and provided arms to Ukraine stay silent about Palestinians dying under Israeli bombs. The double standard is staggering.

This hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed in the developing world. It is no coincidence that support for a case alleging Israeli genocide brought by post-apartheid South Africa comes largely from the Global South.

Last week South Africa brought a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice for genocide in Gaza. But this monumental challenge to the international order is ignored by the media and Western politicians. Instead, minor attacks on shipping lanes by Houthi rebels in Yemen dominate headlines. The message is clear: only Israel’s enemies deserve condemnation for violence.

Make no mistake, Israel and its backers want the Palestinians gone, using brute force to stamp out life, to make existence unlivable is the end game. While gutless leaders mouth empty platitudes, children die. Food, water, medicine and power are cut off. Israel has turned Gaza into an abattoir, nowhere and no one is safe.

The only redemption the West have comes from ordinary citizens, people worldwide who are not fooled. Huge protests have erupted globally demanding real action to stop the killing. If morality and human rights mean anything then we must use the power of protest. The world must cry “enough” with one voice until Israel halts its bombs and lifts its chokehold over Gaza. Palestinians’ basic right to exist free of occupation must be fulfilled. Until then, history will remember the West’s enabling of these horrors as a profound injustice.

The world pleads through screams of the dying for immediate action stopping this horror. If global institutions and power brokers still retain any honour, now is the time to end the historic injustice before Palestinians are eliminated as demographic obstacles.

Only urgent action can redeem the soul of humanity shuddering under these apocalyptic skies. If morality and compassion still retain meaning, we must cry “enough” in unison until the last shell stops falling onto innocents held hostage to geopolitical agendas. Instead, our doomed eyes are turned away by our craven leaders and another midnight passes into irrevocable history.