Gaza: The West's warning of concrete action against Israel rings hollow

After 17 months of appalling complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza, Western nations are finally condemning the horrors inflicted upon Palestinian civilians. Their sudden transformation from sociopathic bystanders to paragons of virtue seems too good to be true— though it is shocking, to say the least. Was this unexpected turn of events a spiritual reawakening, or does it signal the softening of their once stone-like hearts?

- By Ameen Izzadeen

For the past two weeks or so, there has been a significant and gradual shift in the stance of Western nations regarding Israel's actions. ProIsraeli British newspapers, such as the Financial Times, have published editorials critical of Israel. In its news bulletins, the seemingly independent but policy-wise pro-Israeli BBC has now placed the humanitarian disaster in Gaza at the top of its coverage, after relegating the issue to the backburner for months.

When Israel launched its war on October 7, 2023, in response to an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, most Western nations with imperialistic agendas wholeheartedly supported it. Even as Palestinian children perished by the thousands and innocent civilians were obliterated by 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, the West defended the massacres, insisting that Israel had the right to defend itself.

But, in a joint statement this week, Britain, Canada, and France warned Israel of what they called 'concrete action' if it failed to lift the blockade of Gaza—now into its third month-- and allow food aid into the besieged Palestinian territory. Too little, too late, it may seem. Their sudden compassion for the Palestinianswhether politically motivated or stemming from a genuine change of heart may appear as penance for their complicity in Israel's massacre of innocents: 20,000 children have died; thousands are unaccounted for and believed to be buried under the rubble; thousands of children have been orphaned; thousands of children have lost limbs, some both legs.

In an alarming warning, the United Nations' Humanitarian Affairs chief, Tom Fletcher, on Sunday warned that if aid did not reach the Gaza Strip immediately, at least 14,000 babies would die within the next 48 hours. As of yesterday evening, there was little evidence to indicate that an adequate amount of food relief and medicine had reached the Gaza Strip.