It has been 582 days since Israel began its full-scale genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people—backed not only by silence, but by active funding and diplomatic shielding from global powers. At this point, any pretence of neutrality or concern by Western states rings hollow.
The latest in this long-running theatre of cruelty is Donald Trump’s somewhat performative distancing from Netanyahu. His upcoming visit to the Middle East has raised murmurs of possible discussions around the Palestinian cause. But history offers little comfort here. Every recent US president has played this same script—casting a shadow of “concern,” making vague calls for restraint, and then proceeding to either ignore or accelerate Israel’s apartheid tactics. It’s a tired formula, and there’s no reason to believe it will change this time.
Meanwhile, Israel has dropped even the semblance of subtlety. It now openly declares plans to annex Gaza, forcibly pushing its people into a fenced-off, famine-stricken corner of the Strip. The language of “security” has given way to pure colonial violence, proudly broadcast to the world without shame or consequence.
And still, the global order remains unmoved. International law, once heralded as a framework for peace and justice, has now become a ghost—hovering uselessly over war rooms, UN chambers, and campaign rallies alike.
We hope that change is possible. We hope that words will one day be matched by action. But for now, one must remain sceptical. Statements are not strategies, and gestures are not justice. If the international community continues to watch in silence—or worse, with complicity—the cost will not be limited to Gaza. It will be a collapse of the very values the world claims to defend.
