Support for child-killing monster to backfire
Global public opinion against ‘monstrosity of century’
perspective
International Desk
The number of casualties among the people of Gaza as a result of the Israeli regime’s aerial and ground attacks has exceeded 21,000. In recent days, a video has been circulated on social media featuring an Israeli soldier present in Gaza, revealing the peak of Israel’s brutality. He shamelessly admits to killing a 12-year-old girl, stating, “We search for children to target, but there are no more children left!” Perhaps the most poignant or authentic expression of Israel’s actions in Gaza has been articulated by Francesca Albanese, a UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Affairs. According to her, what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, especially in Gaza, is “the monstrosity of our century”. Israel’s nature over the past 70 years has, to some extent, become intertwined with this barbarism.
The historical oppression of Palestinians by Israel is not a new phenomenon, although in the Gaza war this oppression and atrocity have reached their zenith. However, amid this, two noteworthy phenomena have emerged that have both contributed to a better understanding of the nature of the Israeli regime for the global public and led to astonishment and indignation worldwide.
What has aided in the revelation of the Israeli regime’s nature is the role played by unofficial media during the Gaza war, breaking the monopoly of information and analysis. Official media outlets are predominantly supportive of Zionism, and the voice of Palestinian victims was either lost or minimally heard within this Western media empire that supports Israel. Now, with the help of social networks, this monopoly has been shattered, and the global public has witnessed images of the inhumane actions of Israelis against the people of Palestine and Gaza without the usual censorship seen in official media.
Simultaneously, what has caused global astonishment is the indifference and silence of Western governments in the face of this magnitude of crimes committed by a regime against its people. These crimes, without a doubt, include acts that leave no room for doubt, such as “genocide” and “war crimes”. This indifference, silence, and even support from mostly Western governments for Israel have undermined international institutions such as the United Nations, as efforts to pass a cease-fire resolution in the UN Security Council have so far yielded no results. Therefore, we are now faced with global astonishment in the face of significant silence from many world governments regarding the war crimes of the Israeli regime.
Although, by the prevailing international system, these governments play a fundamental role, during more than three months of Israeli attacks on Gaza, non-state actors or unofficial players have proven to be influential. It seems that the effects of the roles played by these unofficial actors will gradually become more apparent in the future. Among the most prominent examples of the role of these non-state actors are the large-scale protests worldwide, especially in Western countries, expressing solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians and condemning Israeli atrocities.
These protests, especially in Western countries, presented a clear contrast between the official positions of governments and politicians and the sentiments of the general public. In fact, Palestine and Israel have now become a central and debatable issue in Western countries, revealing a significant gap between governments and their people. Now, a much larger number of people in Western countries, especially in the United States, openly question why their taxes should be spent supporting Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people. These questions, and the serious ambiguities created about Western claims such as human rights values, may further widen the gap between governments and nations and manifest their results in elections and the broadening of protests.
From this perspective, a recent survey at Harvard University in the United States is noteworthy. The results of this survey confirm the claim that global public opinion, especially in the West and the United States, opposes their governments’ supportive positions toward Israel. According to this survey, 51% of American youths (18 to 24 years old) demand the end of the Israeli regime and the establishment of a Palestinian government. Moreover, over 60% of American youths, contrary to the explicit positions of their governments, have emphasized that the October 7 Hamas attack on occupied lands was a response to Palestinian dissatisfaction with Israel.
If such surveys were conducted in other Western countries such as the UK, France, Canada, Germany, etc., it is not far-fetched to think that the results would be similar to those in America or close to them. This statement reflects the reality that global public opinion and the governments supporting Israel follow very different paths. While governments, due to political and party interests, remain silent about the atrocities of the century, people are not indifferent. No rational and sane person can associate with the child killing monster in the uniform of an Israeli soldier.