The moral bankruptcy of European leaders is reflected in the continuation of their unwavering support for the State of Israel. Despite uttering some minor criticism, nothing has changed in substance. Some European leaders are now openly criticising the IDF’s cruel actions in light of the horrific images of deliberately provoked famine, as if, after two years of intense genocide, they are beginning to sense that a court may put them in the dock for complicity and support for genocide.
Let us hope that one day this will happen, and, if not, at least history will judge them.
While the IDF has already confessed that 83% of the deaths in Gaza are civilians, its “great leader” has announced his intention to escalate the invasion of Gaza. Bibi Netanyahu, whose cruelty and shamelessness know no bounds, recently blamed algorithms for the global condemnation of Israel for its actions. Meanwhile, his government is holding talks with various world leaders to have Palestinians expelled once and for all from Gaza and thus achieve the long-desired ethnic cleansing. At this point, it is difficult to remain indifferent or justify such displays of cruelty. This would explain why there is growing worldwide rejection of Israel’s crimes and demonstrations in favor of Palestine. Contrary to what Zionist propaganda claims, this is not due to algorithms.
Even in Israel’s “allied” countries, Italy and France, fierce resistance is beginning to emerge, with unionized dock workers blocking shipments of weapons to Israel. At the same time, three NGOs in Belgium have issued an open call to block all Israel-bound shipments. Even in Israel itself, voices are starting to rise up and denounce their government’s actions as “genocide”. The Israeli NGO B’tselem, which focuses on the occupied Palestinian territories, has published a report entitled “Our Genocide” Leaders of international Zionism are beginning to turn their backs on Netanyahu’s government, as in the case of Avrum Burg, leader of the Jewish Voice for Labour agency, who has called on Jews to denounce the Israeli government before the Hague for war crimes. In his article, he states:
“Here is how we can begin: We need one million Jews. Less than ten percent of the global Jewish population to file a joint appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. A collective legal complaint against the State of Israel for crimes against humanity committed in our name and under the false banner of our Jewish identity.
“It is time to say: enough!”
Understandably, Zionist leaders now fear that Israel’s criminal actions will increase “real” antisemitism throughout the world, as the government claims to act on behalf and in the name of “all jews“, which could lead to a worldwide rejection of Jewishness (and this is a real danger). It should not be forgotten that it has been largely anti-Zionist Jews who have raised their voices against Israel since the beginning of the military operation in Gaza. Israeli sociologist Moshe Zuckermann has researched how the accusation of “antisemitism” has been systematically used as a tool of control by successive Israeli governments to cover up their crimes and defame their detractors. Let us not fall into the trap of equating Zionism with Judaism or Jewish culture, let alone equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.
If we have to discuss and expose cognitive dissonance, Germany’s political class remains a case worthy of analysis. The current chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has at least had the “guts” to criticise Israel and its policy of extermination and to announce the cessation of arms and war material shipments that could be used in Gaza against the Palestinian population, a decision that earned him admonishment from the German sectors most committed to the state of Israel. At a recent press conference, German government spokespeople expressed concern about the Israeli army’s new intentions to invade Gaza and about the uncontrolled violence of fanatical settlers in the West Bank, but both “issues” were treated as if they were unrelated events and not part of a larger plan of colonisation and extermination of Palestinians. We can’t expect too much of this government, lest they be accused of “antisemitism” or of being “defenders of Hamas”.
Things may seem to be moving slowly on the European and international stage in terms of addressing the reality of genocide, but repression is swiftly intensifying . On the streets of Berlin, the “capital of Zionist repression, systematic persecution of pro-Palestinian protests is escalating. The Berlin police are using brutal techniques against peaceful demonstrators, while legal persecution shows that institutional violence against protesters, many of them students, foreigners, and immigrants, is growing. But the repressive actions of the Berlin state and police are no longer going unnoticed. Germany was recently the subject of criticism by the European Commission of Human Rights due to the severe restrictions on freedom of expression and police brutality within Germany.
The repression of protests, media defamation, and legal persecution of the so-called “antisemites” who dare to oppose the genocide—and Germany’s complicity with it—convey a clear message: Think twice before you post or publish something in favor of Palestinians or critical of Israel, and if you do, don’t complain if you are fired, your career is jeopardised, or you are arrested. Many cases of people who have been punished for not following the “right line“ of conduct can be found in the Archive of Silence, where the wide suppression of dissenting voices is well documented.
It’s already happening that people are afraid to speak loudly about Gaza and Palestine. State repression has solidified Germany as a fully fledged police state, where imposed censorship and self-censorship go hand in hand.
This might explain why a large number of Germans continue to support Israel tacitly or avoid speaking out against their government or Israel to avoid problems. After all, for years, the German population has been well disciplined and fed a good dose of complacency and moral superiority. The only difference from 70 years ago is that now they cannot claim they knew nothing—another genocide to add to this nation’s sad history.
In the so-called “West”, we are witnessing a spectacle where everything is falling apart under its own weight. What many people in this country do not seem to recognise is that the world has moved on and that Europe will no longer dictate its lessons in morality to anyone, least of all now. In fact, after 500 years of global colonial and neocolonial domination, Europe has lost its significance within this new multipolar world. And the silent support for the extermination of Palestinians is just one of the many signs of moral decline on this continent and its supposed “values”.
