I think we are millions who feel helpless when witnessing what is going on in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. It is outrageous, but apart from demonstrating in the streets there is very little people in US and the EU can do, as their Governments are backing Israel and couldn’t care less about the Palestinians. Personally I am reluctant to watch the news from Gaza because I find them heartbreaking and feel helpless in front of so much injustice. We are witnessing a genocide and the absolute indifference of the Western Governments. Depressingly, most Arabic Governments clearly don’t care either, while pretending to do so.

There are admittedly a few honourable exceptions, among these Ireland and Spain. But the countries that normally are most outspoken on human rights, as the US, UK, Netherlands and the Nordic Countries have declared that they stand steadfast by Israel, and keep silent about the atrocities (even if many European countries switched side and voted for a humanitarian truce in UN in December 2023). Pressed by the horrifying pictures and videos emerging from Gaza and the occupied West Bank, they meekly ask Israel to please limit the killing of civilians. To make a complete farce out of it, many Western Governments have stopped financing the UN relief agency for Palestine, UNRWA, the very agency that has served as an indulgence for the Western countries’ complicity in Israel’s occupation and ethnic cleansing.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu receives unconditional support from US President Joe Bien. But please don’t kill so many civilians Joe tells his friend Bibi. The photo is from a meeting at the White House in September 2023.

But isn’t it a bit strong to talk about complicity? No, silence and inaction towards something that is going on before the eyes of the world implies complicity. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was launched after the genocide in Rwanda and has been used to justify Western Powers’ interventions abroad, most notoriously in Yugoslavia and Libya. Here is an excellent case for US and the EU for a crystal clear R2P intervention. They can’t say they didn’t know what was going on. Israel is a close ally, so they have a chance to show to the world that R2P is not something they only use against their foes. What about sanctions packages, Russian style? Exclusion from international sport events? The Danish Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt, stated recently that “You can’t bomb innocent women and children and at the same time win medals at the Olympics”. So now is his chance to show that he means what he is saying. Of course, we all know, that this is not going to happen. As the saying goes: “If moral standards are good, then double standards are double as good”. US and the EU are firmly on the butcher’s side.

US and the EU should think about what happens, once Israel at some moment has finished killing women and children. I guess they cross their fingers that all this will soon be over and forgotten, and then it is back to business as usual. But they will have at least two problems.

Danish PM Mette Frederiksen is one of the most radical pro-Israeli European politicians and she refuses to condemn the slaughter in Gaza or to plea for a permanent cease-fire. The photo is a screenshot from a video published on her Facebook profile from when she visited her friend Bibi in Israel during the Covid epidemics in 2021 to discuss cooperation in the production of Covid vaccines.

The first is that when they, as usual, campaign for human rights in the Global South, people will probably shrug their shoulders. It is not only that US and the EU haven’t done anything to stop Israel’s atrocities. They are actively supporting the country while it is committing these atrocities. So don’t be surprised if the answer is: "Look who's talking", or “bring your own house in order first”. It must not be funny to be a European diplomat these days. Of course, at some moment the memory will be fading. But it may not happen as fast as they hope. And in the meantime it has real consequences.

The second is that it goes against many people’s sense of justice to witness civilians being slaughtered mercilessly in Gaza and the West Bank under the disinterested eyes of their governments. Several European countries initially banned pro-Palestinian demonstration citing fear of anti-Semitism, among these Germany and France, but they have had to back-track. The Danish PM has asked the Ministry of Justice to look into whether pro-Palestinian demonstrators can be put on trial for anti-Semitism or terrorist sympathies. Everybody not sharing the Western Governments’ support for Israel have to tread carefully, they are at constant risk of being accused of anti-semitism and being terror-sympathizers. At the same time, the blatant bias in favour of Israel has increased the already widespread distrust of mainstream media.

The Western powers are rightly afraid of radicalisation of their Muslim populations, or Muslims in general. When they pretend to combat radicalisation with unconditional support to Israel, skewed media coverage of the conflict, throwing suspicions of anti-Semitism and sympathies for terrorists at people demonstrating against the slaughter of civilians in Gaza, they are not combating it, they are fuelling it. The conclusion many will draw is that US and the EU only understand one thing, and that is raw power. If they really want to avoid radicalisation, then they should force Israel to stop the war in Gaza, and support the establishment of an independent Palestinian State (implying that the illegal settlers will have to go home). And, yes, they can force Israel to comply. Netanyahu’s grandstanding that they will not let anybody dictate to them, what they shall do, is hollow. Without the military and financial support from the US, they won’t survive for long.

And by the way, the continued big demonstrations in the Western countries, is actually one of the best remedies against radicalisation, as young Muslims can see that there are honest people in the West who don’t share their Governments’ complicity in the atrocities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. But it is no guarantee.

The popular sentiment in the Arab countries is strongly supporting the Palestinians, while their Governments are pretending to distance themselves from Israel. One of the few Arab countries that have taken a radical stance in favour of the Palestinians are the Houtis in Yemen. In the photo a demonstration in Sanaa. Photo is courtesy of the Houthi Media Centre.

Even Arab Governments, closely allied to the US, are starting having problems, as there is a massive popular sentiment in favour of the Palestinians. US key-ally Jordan is now prohibiting pro-Palestinian demonstrations and arresting the organisers in the wake of the public scandal over the transit of goods from UAE to Israel through Jordan (thus breaking the Houthis’ Red Sea blockade). Other Arab states wanting to “normalise” relations with Israel are in hot water because of the popular sentiments. Israel should start to worry. The pro-Palestinian sentiment in the Arab populations combined with the weakening of the US influence in the Middle East, may put into question the continued existence of Israel. They certainly have nuclear weapons, but using them will probably make the whole Palestine uninhabitable, including Israel itself. There is still time to find a way out, but at some moment time will run out.

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To read earlier articles on Gaza and the occupied West Bank, click on the links below:

1. What to do when you take other people’s land

2. Why do Israeli officials keep talking about Dresden?