How the West lost Its moral compass in Gaza

There is a brutal reckoning with Western complicity as Gaza shatters its illusion of morality and reveals the true reflection of empire, writes Yuki Lindley.

PALESTINES UNDERSTAND what Israel means when it talks about a ceasefire; This is not the end of genocide, but a return to the slower version that has displaced Indigenous Palestinians from their land since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

We see that Western powers are now struggling to repair Israel’s image as a beacon of democratic values in the Middle East. They talk about a return to the two-state solution, which means a return to the status quo, before losing control of the narrative.

They ask us all to ignore this genocide, to individualize the problem as one of a few bad actors, and to ignore what has now become undeniable to those paying attention: that a society built on an identity of national victimhood, growing in a phase of global impunity, is showing the world the worst impulses of Western imperialism and colonialism.

Reeling from losing control of the carefully crafted narrative of tech-savvy young Palestinians documenting their own genocide, Western media are trying to convince the world that Israel is salvageable; He says a return to October 6, 2023 is an acceptable outcome and muddies the waters with talk of peace agreements and a two-state solution.

Abraham Accords there was never a peace agreement; This was an arms deal between the West and the oligarchs of the Arab world, and returning to this fantasy is a betrayal not only to the Palestinians but to all of us who have witnessed the atrocities committed in our name.

What Palestine showed the world was how invested the global elites were in Israel’s project, and Israel showed the world how much it could get away with. record snow For Israel’s military and surveillance technology industries through 2024.

As a historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe The Gazafication of the world is well under way, with Israel exporting biotechnology and surveillance technologies that have been “battle-tested” on Palestinians to world leaders intent on hardening its borders to contain growing numbers of desperate people with little to lose. Israel has opened up a new horizon for what world leaders think they can get away with in the public eye.

But it is unimaginable not to see this genocide in the Western imperial center for an entire generation. As a Palestinian academic Tarik Baconi He notes that those within the movement no longer argue about two-state solutions or peace agreements, but instead talk about the colonization of Palestine, repatriation, and the dismantling of the apartheid state of Israel.

Under unimaginable fear, a singular purpose has crystallized, and it is this seed of radical unity that we must hold on to. There can be no return to the fragmentation of Palestinian resistance as before; We must remain firm or sumudIn our commitment to eliminating the root causes of the Palestinian genocide, as the Palestinians say: Israel’s settler colonial project.

Like all colonialists, Zionism sought to fragment Native Palestinians geographically, ideologically, and interpersonally. It separates families through walls and checkpoints, forcing Palestinians to make impossible choices every day: seek life-saving medical treatment for their children or remain firm and not hand over their friends to the Israel Defense Forces.IDF)?

Now, with the onset of crushing hunger and starvation, the generosity of spirit, the notorious Gaza hospitality and collective care are beginning to crumble. This has always been Zionism’s long game: to destroy the unity and spirit of Palestinians who, if they renounce their Palestinianness, may assimilate as second-class citizens or see their livelihoods slowly disappear. This, as Mbembe explains necropolitics – the politics of death – is the politics of both the slave plantation and the Native reservations, and the politics of settler colonialism.

Palestine is the key to understanding the forces shaping our global, capitalist, colonialist world. It became a unifying cry for liberation from the inhumanity of colonialism that resonated around the world, a collective awakening and growing solidarity among indigenous resistance to empire worldwide.

Finally, Western imperialism was unmasked for those living comfortably in the West; Facing police lines on campuses around the world, students cannot ignore this genocide and what it reveals to them about capitalism, imperialism, and what is being done in their name.

There will be a reckoning, because Palestine has shown the world what colonialism looks like in real time, and it is the duty of those who bear witness to ensure that the work of decolonizing the world is not allowed to be buried in the endlessly repeated hasbara noise in the Western media.

Zionism has never been weaker; This is a fragile ideology that can never stand up to any level of scrutiny; so he spent decades ensuring that it remained unquestionable by equating questioning Zionism with the crime of antisemitism. This mass brainwashing project succeeded due to a long history of anti-Arab prejudice in the West; This prejudice has allowed many to remain indifferent to the genocide, colonial violence inflicted on the Palestinian people for decades.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu He is a war criminal who has been live-streaming a genocide for two years, and any suggestion that we forget this and return to business-as-usual politics must be opposed. Talk about disarmament of Hamas and rebuilding Gaza serves to distract us from the essence of what Palestinians have been demanding for so many years: their right to return to their homes and have sovereignty over their land.

A free Palestine requires the dismantling of Zionism, and we must continue to challenge the legitimacy of Israel’s continued existence as an apartheid state. The world is now talking about sanctions and arms embargoes in ways that were previously unimaginable. The narrative window on Palestine has changed, and Palestinians have an opportunity to show the world that it is not okay to displace a people and take their land with impunity.

The West demonstrated its commitment to imperialism in all its inhumanity in Palestine. Could we one day look back at this moment as the exciting moment when the world imagined and fought for a decolonized future?

How we navigate the next few years will determine whether we allow ourselves to lose all of our humanity and allow the Gazaization of the world to continue unchallenged, or whether we ensure that the seeds of anti-colonial resistance are nurtured and bear fruit for years to come.