History Will Judge: Gaza Razed, the West and Arab States Unmasked

 There was a time when the West claimed to carry a universal message. Liberty, equality, human rights—these words formed a moral compass, a promise made to the entire world. Today, in the face of the Palestinian tragedy, that promise has turned into betrayal. History is recording, and it will judge.

Since October 7, 2023, an unprecedented spiral of violence has descended upon Gaza. What began as an Israeli response to a Hamas attack has morphed into a campaign of total destruction, documented daily by NGOs, humanitarian workers, journalists, and millions of witnesses around the globe.

Far from condemning this descent into hell, Western democracies have enabled it, armed it, sometimes even applauded it—betraying their own laws, values, and humanity.

Gaza: A City Erased from the Map

Nothing remains of Gaza as it once was. Entire neighborhoods have been bulldozed or pulverized by bombs. According to the UN, over 70% of civilian infrastructure has been destroyed: schools, hospitals, power plants, water networks. Strikes have spared neither places of worship nor UN-designated shelters. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights speaks of “indiscriminate destruction on a city-wide scale.”

UNEP estimates that between October 2023 and April 2024, the strikes generated between 37 and 50 million tons of debris, including hazardous materials, polluting the environment and poisoning Gaza’s future.

This is not a “blunder,” but a deliberate policy: to turn a territory into ruins to make life impossible.

Tens of Thousands of Civilian Victims

The numbers are chilling. Over 62,000 Palestinians have died since October 2023, more than half of them women and children. Hundreds more died trying to access humanitarian aid—over 2,000 since the offensive began. Infant mortality has reached levels unseen in decades. Entire families have been erased from records. Morgues overflow, bodies are buried hastily, sometimes without identification.

Not since the Vietnam War has such a disproportion been observed between military targets and civilian casualties.

Journalists and Medical Workers Deliberately Targeted

Journalists, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, humanitarian workers—all protected under international law—have been targeted. Over 180 journalists have been killed—a global record, more than in all 20th-century wars combined. Médecins Sans Frontières, the Red Cross, and UNRWA have denounced systematic attacks on their teams.

The message is clear: silence the witnesses, break the healers, neutralize those who could save or document.

An Engineered Famine

Famine in Gaza is not collateral damage—it is a weapon of war. Humanitarian convoys are blocked, looted, or bombed. Food stocks are destroyed. Water sources are targeted. The UN has officially declared a Level 5 famine—the highest level—affecting over 500,000 people.

Images of skeletal children evoke the darkest chapters of modern history.

Silencing Protest

As Gaza fades, those who cry out are silenced. On American campuses, mobilized students are arrested, expelled, threatened. Professors lose their jobs. In companies, employees are fired over a tweet. In the media, critical voices vanish from screens.

A leaden shroud covers the West: one may mourn Ukraine, but not Gaza.

Historical Parallels

What is happening today echoes the gravest crimes of the last century. The systematic destruction of a territory recalls Grozny under Russian bombs. The planned famine evokes the siege of Leningrad or colonial famines. Mass displacements, indiscriminate bombings, collective punishment mirror the darkest pages of colonial and ethnic wars.

The West as Accomplice: Abandoning Its Values

What does the West do in the face of this tragedy? Nothing. Worse: it arms, supports, justifies.

The U.S. has used its Security Council veto over 40 times to shield Israel, even from purely humanitarian resolutions. The EU, quick to sanction Moscow, limits itself to hollow statements.

In Germany, despite heightened historical awareness, arms sales and political support remained massive until public pressure forced a suspension.

In the UK, a late awakening led to some sanctions and symbolic aid, but arms exports continue, and support for Israel remains a geostrategic priority.

France is emblematic. Paris prides itself on being the homeland of human rights, the voice of universalism and international law. Yet, from the first hours of the offensive, the French president offered unconditional support to Israel, legitimizing its “defense” without mentioning the Palestinian civilians crushed under bombs. Later calls for a “humanitarian truce” came too late, too timid, and failed to leverage available diplomatic and economic tools.

Worse still, repression of debate in France reached alarming levels: banned protests, prosecuted pro-Palestinian activists, censored op-eds. In the media, apparent balance masks an editorial line equating any criticism of Israel with sympathy for terrorism. In claiming to protect free speech, the Republic tramples its founding principle.

France had a unique role: a permanent Security Council member, heir to an independent diplomatic tradition, it could have been a strong voice demanding civilian protection and respect for international law. Instead, it chose to align with Washington and retreat behind blind support for Tel Aviv.

This is a historic abdication that will weigh heavily on France’s credibility in the Arab world, the Global South, and even among its own citizens.

Yet Western democracies have tools:

• Political: suspension of bilateral agreements, recognition of the Palestinian state.

• Diplomatic: isolating Israel in international forums.

• Legal: systematic referral to the International Criminal Court.

• Economic: arms embargoes, trade sanctions.

These tools are used against Russia, Iran, and other regimes—but never against Israel.

This hypocrisy disqualifies the West.

Western Media: From Complacency to Complicity

We remember outraged headlines about Mariupol, heart-wrenching covers on Bucha. But Gaza? Silence, relativism, artificial symmetry.

Newsrooms echo Israeli talking points, downplay Palestinian figures, erase testimonies. Journalists on the ground, slaughtered by the dozens, are portrayed as “activists.”

And when voices rise, they are marginalized, accused of antisemitism, made invisible.

The unbearable images of famine in Gaza, widely shared on TikTok and other platforms, were deemed too subversive—leading to an American attempt to censor the platform under the guise of security, aiming to stifle pro-Palestinian mobilization.

The media coverage of Gaza is one of the greatest ethical failures of Western journalism since the Iraq War.

Arab Hypocrisy

If the West betrayed its principles, the Arab world betrayed its brothers.

For over seven decades, Arab capitals have proclaimed their “unwavering” support for the Palestinian cause. Yet when Gaza was engulfed in fire, when hundreds of thousands of civilians begged for a way out of famine and bombs, the curtain of hypocrisy fell.

Gulf monarchies issued statements, fiery declarations, calls for “restraint”—while continuing negotiations with Washington and Tel Aviv. The UAE and Bahrain, signatories of the Abraham Accords, never suspended their economic and security cooperation. Saudi Arabia, while posing as guardian of Islam’s holy sites, pursued normalization talks with Israel, retreating only under popular pressure.

Egypt, gatekeeper of southern Gaza, sealed the Rafah crossing, blocking evacuation of the wounded and entry of aid. Cairo, self-styled regional mediator, mainly sought to prevent a Palestinian exodus that could destabilize its regime. The cynicism of this stance shocked even Egyptian streets.

Jordan, on the front lines, adopted a balancing act: verbal denunciations on one side, continued security cooperation with Israel on the other—a duplicity reflecting its economic and military dependence on the West.

Morocco exemplifies blatant duplicity. In 2020, Rabat normalized ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords, in exchange for U.S. recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara. This diplomatic deal turned the Palestinian issue into mere geopolitical currency.

More broadly, the Arab League revealed itself as impotent—a forum where grand resolutions drown in power struggles. Extraordinary summits pile up, communiqués accumulate, but no binding measures—no embargo, no diplomatic rupture, no economic pressure—have been enacted.

The Arab street, however, was not silent. From Cairo to Amman, Rabat to Tunis, millions protested, expressing solidarity with Gaza and anger at their leaders’ inaction. But their voices met repression, censorship, bans.

Thus, Arab regimes proved prisoners of their own fear: fear of internal dissent, fear of displeasing Washington, fear of losing military alliances and energy rents. Gaza was sacrificed on the altar of regime survival.

This hypocrisy is not new. But in the age of social media, where every image from Gaza circulates in real time, it has become untenable. To Arab peoples, their leaders now appear as accomplices—not just through silence, but through calculated inertia.

History’s Verdict

When these years are revisited, the facts will be clear: Gaza will be remembered as the moment the West definitively lost its moral authority.

For there is no greater crime than arming the hand that strikes the innocent while reciting the gospel of human rights. No greater hypocrisy than invoking the rule of law for some and trampling it for others.

As Desmond Tutu said: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” The West was not neutral—it was complicit.

And the world sees this crime. In the capitals of the Global South, in African villages, in Latin American streets, the lesson is learned: the West is not the guardian of the universal, but a hypocritical empire that selects victims based on its interests.

Thus ends a myth. The West has abdicated its supposed role as moral beacon. Its silence, its weapons, its lies have condemned it. And when the time comes, history will not only remember the cry of the Palestinian people, but also the deafening silence—or vile support—of the democracies that swore to defend human dignity.

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References

Human Rights Watch, rapports sur Gaza (2023-2024).

Amnesty International, « Starvation as a weapon of war », 2024.

Médecins sans frontières, communiqués de presse (2023-2025).

ONU, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), rapports de situation sur Gaza, 2023-2025.

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), rapport famine Gaza, août 2025.

AP News, « Over 62,000 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7, half women and children », 24 août 2025.

The Guardian, « Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more journalists than any conflict in modern history », 16 août 2025.

Reuters, « UN experts censure Western support for Israel since Gaza war », 16 septembre 2024.

The Verge, « Gaza images, TikTok, and the attempt to silence », 2025.