The Hypocrisy of the West, Laid Bare in Gaza

The Wire

a day ago

Israel has killed more than 240 journalists in Gaza, but the West has remained silent. There is no 'Je Suis Anas.'
Over the last several months, I, like millions others, have struggled to come to terms with Israel's genocidal campaign in Palestine.
In the most recent instance, Israel killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas al Sharif while he was in a journalist tent outside Gaza's Al Shifa hospital.
Israel did not even deny targeting Anas. In fact, the Israeli Defence Forces posted a celebratory '🎯' bingo and called Anas 'head of a Hamas cell' without presenting any credible proof.
The strike that killed Anas also killed three other Al Jazeera journalists who were in the same tent. Israel has not even attempted to provide a justification for their killing.
That is the level of impunity that Israel knows the world will allow it to operate with.
It has killed more than 240 journalists since October 7, 2023. But world leaders have said very little. The condemnation, if any, has been subtle and conditional.
Contrast this with 10 years ago when Algerian Muslim terrorists targeted journalists of a magazine, Charlie Hebdo. The magazine had published cartoons that allegedly mocked Prophet Mohammed. The terrorists opened fire in the offices, killing 12 people.
World leaders were quick to condemn. Paris saw one of its largest ever street mobilisations with an estimated two million people protesting the killing.
At the head of the Paris 'Unity March' walked dozens of heads of state and government – François Hollande, Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Matteo Renzi and even Benjamin Netanyahu, among others. They walked arm in arm and said that any assault on journalists would meet a united, unequivocal response and declared ' Je suis Charlie ( I am Charlie)".
Fast forward to Gaza. There is studied silence on the targeted killing of journalists by Israel. No world leaders have walked arm in arm. There are no viral hashtags. The very same Netanyahu who marched for 'press freedom' is the commander-in-chief ordering the killing of journalists.
There is no ' Je suis Anas'.
In the past two years, the hypocrisy of the West has not been hard to miss. Two major wars have dominated headlines, Ukraine and Gaza. In both, civilians have been bombed, journalists killed and international law repeatedly violated. Yet the West has taken opposite positions. What it condemns Russia for in Ukraine, it excuses – and enables – when done by Israel in Gaza.
India stands out as Israel's only major non-Western ally. In fact, when it comes to both Ukraine and Gaza, India may be the only country more closely aligned with the aggressor in each case.
As for the West, one continues to be surprised, as one should, that it isn't standing in solidarity with the Palestinians. But, how can the West stand in solidarity with Palestinians? It is not a neutral bystander. It is an active enabler and a belligerent in this genocidal campaign.
Also read: Why the IDF Chief of Staff Cannot Stop the Killing of Gazans Seeking Food
Arming Israel
The United States has approved at least $30 billion in arms sales to Israel over 19 months. This includes laser guided missiles, F-15 jets, 2,000 pound bombs, 500 pound bombs. Much of this was approved not by Donald Trump but by Joe Biden.
There is also evidence that shows US-made bombs have been used to target civilians. This New York Times story shows visual proof that US manufactured GBU-39 bombs were used to kill at least 50 Palestinians living in a camp for displaced people in Rafah.
Biden also used special legal mechanisms to protect Israel from US human rights laws and to continue sending arms to Israel.
Germany has been the second largest supplier of arms to Israel. Between October 2023 and May this year, it provided export licenses worth $564 million.
The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada have all provided significant military support to Israel, either through direct sales, dual-use components or military intelligence.
Notably, among Israel's arms suppliers, India is the only major non-Western country. It has exported rocket engines, explosives and drone components — 'returning the favour,' as some officials have put it, for the weapons Israel supplied during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.
Also read: May This Image Be the Last: Praying for, and With, Anas al-Sharif
Diplomatic support
India, under its current right wing regime, has broken away from its historical position on Palestine. It has repeatedly abstained from United Nations General Assembly votes calling for ceasefires and humanitarian truces.
Once the first non-Arab country to recognise the Palestinian state, India has now become Israel's main non-Western ally. This shift owes much to the ideological affinity between Hindu nationalism and Zionism — but that's a story for another time.
The US has been by far the biggest diplomatic iron shield for Israel. It has vetoed five UN Security Council draft resolutions demanding a humanitarian cease fire.
Europe has supplied its own brand of cover. Any attempt by Brussels to issue a common demand for a cease-fire has been stymied by Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.
Then there is the issue of refusing to comply with international law and arresting Netanyahu, who is wanted for war crimes.
On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Rather than pledge cooperation, Washington retaliated: in February 2025 the White House imposed economic sanctions and visa bans on four ICC judges and senior staff, arguing the court had 'no jurisdiction' over Israel.
France announced that 'immunities apply' to Netanyahu because Israel is not an ICC member.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz went even further, saying that he would 'find ways' for Netanyahu to visit Germany without being arrested, effectively signalling that Berlin would not enforce the warrant either.
Ironically, Berlin now finds itself aligned with Budapest — a government it usually clashes with over rule of law and LGBTIQ rights. When Hungary banned the 2025 Budapest Pride march, German officials condemned the move. German citizens organised protests, and some even travelled to Budapest to defy the ban. Yet when it comes to offering safe passage to an ally wanted for war crimes, Germany and Hungary stand firmly on the same side.
Germany has also moved aggressively to clamp down on Palestinian solidarity on its streets. Authorities have banned several pro-Palestine organisations and imposed temporary bans on demonstrations.
Four activists received deportation notices for having attended a sit-in protest at the 'Free' University in Berlin.
A stamp issued India in 1981.
So, of course, these nations are not going to condemn the killing of journalists because they are complicit in it.
An Israeli might have ordered the strike on Anas, but weapon transfers by the US, Germany, India made it possible. The repeated vetoes and the refusal to demand a ceasefire made it possible. The brazen flouting of international law by finding ways to not arrest Netanyahu made it possible.
It wasn't Israel alone who killed Anas.
The West has long lectured the Global South about 'press freedom', 'rule of law', 'civilised norms', the sanctity of 'rules based international order' and position themselves as the moral compass of the world. But it has done as much to damage belief in these ideas as any 'banana republic' or Islamic regime.
Gaza has stripped that illusion bare.
The truth is that for the West, rules apply only until one of their own breaks them. When an ally is accused, the law is suspended, the court is punished, and the victims are forgotten.
Also read: Mourning a Friend Killed by the Israeli Occupation
Now, as the horrors of starvation and mass killings in Palestine, become inescapable for the citizens of these nations and as the public mood has begun to shift ever so slightly, these countries, except the US and India, are beginning to give the appearance of doing something.
Germany has said it has halted arms transfers. Several European countries have said they will recognise the state of Palestine. But it's too little and it's too late.
Of the 193 UN member countries, 147 already recognise the state of Palestine. The so-called western liberal democracies are in a minority who don't.
Plus this bureaucratic recognition will do little to avert the immediate and existential crisis that people in Palestine are facing.
The fate of nearly four million Palestinians now rests in the hands of Netanyahu. He made that painfully clear when he said:
'If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.'
He has clearly thought about it.
Kabir Agarwal is a journalist covering political economy, climate change and food security.
This article was originally published in the author's newsletter, 'Unequal'.
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