The West's Willful Blindness on Gaza

There is no similar head-scratching in Western capitals when there are other genocidal campaigns against target populations.

This anonymous Western official’s comments perfectly capture the willful blindness of most Western governments about the war in Gaza:

In response to questions about Britain’s arms ban, the official told The Times: “This is such a tightrope walk for all the western democracies: imperative to show support for Israel in this tragic moment of need, but the civilian casualties, the rules of engagement, the relentlessness and ferocity have made this so difficult to manage for Israel’s allies.

“Ultimately, the way Israel has prosecuted the fight will make it less safe in the world and for a country that can and has been so stealthy about striking back at its enemies, it continues to be a head-scratcher for me why the leadership there thinks this scorched-earth policy is the best way to manage it all [bold mine-DL].”

It is not a mystery why a government that can precisely strike targets chooses to lay waste to an entire territory and kill tens of thousands of civilians. It has been very clear from the first days of the war that the Israeli government intended to punish everyone in Gaza, and through relentless bombing, forced displacement, and deliberate starvation that is what they have done. The Israeli government has done this because it wants to inflict death and destruction on all Palestinians, and it has done it because it knows that Western governments aren’t going to try to stop it from happening.

There is no similar head-scratching in Western capitals when there are other genocidal campaigns against target populations.