For the said day, October 7 was not only a devastating strike on the state of Israel but a brawl with the apathy of Western society. Hamas fighters breaking out of one of the most defended areas anywhere hit at the very essence of a global regime. Western powers believed they had locked in for the foreseeable future. Western powers have made efforts to dominate the non-Western world for a long time, assuming that the world will not defy their dictatorial systems of oppression. Hamas’ attack took this confidence to the edge by daring to attack deep into Israel, a nation reputed to be a powerful force in the region.
What emerged from the event that was evident more than anything to anybody watching was not only the frailty of the Israeli state but the inherent duplicity within the political, media, and religious systems in this Western world. These elites have for long painted themselves as benevolent gendarmes of enlightenment, human rights, and liberalism. But in the reaction to the Hamas attack on the civilians, the real face of the Western nations emerged — the lovers of a world order that tolerates brutality in case it serves its purpose.
Hamas’ attack demolished the illusion that there were moral differences between right-wing leaders in the West and others they painted as left-wing leaders. When Israel embarked on its vicious counter-attack on Gaza, which saw them denying the people water, food, and electricity to 2.3 million civilians, the West was unanimous in support of Israel’s action. The right to “self-defence” became the battle cry while the ongoing suppression of Palestinians for so many years is simply buried under the carpet. Whether by omission or commission, Western leaders endorsed Israel’s efforts to eradicate Palestinian existence by supplying the former with equipment to do the job.
What is even more worrying is the fact that the so-called ‘civilised’ Western countries that are known for their concern for human rights and international law do not hesitate to discard those same principles whenever it comes to dealing with the state of Israel. Instead of condemning the genocide unfolding in Gaza, Western governments branded mass protests as antisemitic, willfully ignoring the real issue: They say that Israel is waging a war on the Palestinian people.
“The Saturday of the National will go down history not only as the defining moment in the conflict between Israel and Palestine but also of the entire Western world.” It removed the unreality of the West’s barbarism by suggesting that it was something that had been neatly tidied out of sight and made anonymous by being assimilated into the faceless bureaucracies of vast multinational corporations and distant military commissions. The truth is now out in the open: what goes on in other countries is an extension of the seaminess inherent to the Western modes of governance. The attack forced us to confront an uncomfortable truth: the suffering, other war crimes, or global exploitation that are familiar to us are a part of these very systems that we maintain. Until Western society’s own dirty hands are washed, they will continue to perpetrate such heinous acts.
