The daily massacre of Palestinians in Gaza has been going on for too long, and there is no indication of when it is likely to end. So massive and devastating has it been that the death toll is now reported to be more than 60 000.
The territory has largely been reduced to a wasteland with homes, schools, mosques, hospitals and other structures razed to the ground by Israeli bombs and bulldozers. Even the tents in which people have sought temporary shelter are under perpetual bombardment. There is no place to hide.
As if this is not enough, since March 2025, Israel has imposed a complete blockade of the enclave, so that no aid in the form of food, medicine, fuel and other necessities can enter. Considering that the people are constantly moved from one place to another and cannot plant crops or produce any food, they are being starved.
Recently, an organisation called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established, with the support of Israel and the US, to take the place of the UN agencies that used to supply the Palestinians with food, medicine and other necessities.
Even though both countries are complicit in the suffering of the Palestinians, the starving people have no choice but to accept the food offered by this dubious organisation. Yet, when they gather at the designated sites to collect food, they are shot by Israeli soldiers.
The magnitude and scale of this brutality are probably surpassed only by the Holocaust, which, in a twist of bitter irony, was perpetrated against the Jewish people, some of whose descendants are now committing the carnage in Gaza.
I say “some” advisedly because not all Jews support the actions of Israel, and many Jews have stood up to condemn the carnage.
The subject of this article is the attitude and conduct of the powerful nations of the West toward these events. I am here referring collectively to the US, Britain and EU member states such as France, Germany and the Netherlands.
These countries are the allies and supporters of Israel and are the only bloc that can stop the carnage.
They initially supported Israel’s assault on Gaza on the basis that Israel has the right to defend itself, following the attack in October 2023 by Hamas, which killed people and took hostages.
No one can quarrel with this, but surely, Israel’s actions have long exceeded the bounds of self-defence.
Judging by the reported utterances of some Israeli cabinet ministers, the Hamas attack of October 2023 provided Israel with the perfect excuse to achieve the long-cherished Zionist objective of forcing the Palestinians not only out of Gaza but out of all of Palestine, thus making it impossible for a viable Palestinian state to emerge.
The question that arises is: why is the West still supplying Israel with arms? Why are they not condemning the genocide, at the very least?
Though silent, Britain and the EU continue to supply Israel with military hardware. The only concern these countries are raising is the blockade of the enclave and the resultant starvation. It is tantamount to saying to Israel: you can kill them, but do not starve them! Even then, they are doing nothing to ease or stop the blockade. One wonders what has happened to the collective conscience of the West. Could it be because they do not regard Palestinians as human beings?
What is certain is that if the genocide had been committed against Europeans anywhere else, it would not have lasted for months. They would have put a stop to it.
The utterances by Donald Trump alleging that genocide is being perpetrated against Afrikaner farmers in South Africa come to mind. Though the accusation is plainly false, it is being used to justify his actions against our country.
This tells us that if the genocide was indeed being committed against white people, the West would be quick to intervene.
The probable explanation or rationale for this callous attitude is the role of the West in the creation of the state of Israel itself. In 1917, Britain, then the colonial ruler of Palestine, issued the Balfour Declaration that opened the way for Jews to settle in Palestine. This laid the foundation for the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Palestinians were expelled from their homes and their land taken. The West quickly recognised the new state and pledged support.
Some scholars contend that the West actively encouraged an exclusively Jewish state because they saw it as a solution to the so-called “Jewish problem” that plagued Europe and the US in the 19th century. Others contend that Israel is an extension of the West that serves its interests in the Middle East.
In these circumstances, the West has lost the credibility and moral authority to lecture other nations about human rights and the rule of law.
• Thekiso Musi is a retired judge
