Since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza, the gap between continents and geographical regions has widened, leading to increased tension and division within many countries to an unprecedented degree. Unfortunately, we are witnessing a clear decline in global values and common legal norms among humanity.
With this introduction, MediaPart began an article by Lebanese-French politician and academic, Ziad Majid, presenting an initial assessment of the most violent war documented and broadcast live. This war includes over 30,000 Palestinian casualties at the hands of the Israeli army, 60% of whom are children and women. This is accompanied by displacement, suffering, famine, destruction, water, fuel, and electricity shortages, inhumane health conditions, and the ordeal of patients, the injured, and amputees being treated with primitive means and undergoing surgeries without anesthesia.
Although these statistics, stories, videos, and testimonies are regularly published by various United Nations agencies, humanitarian organizations, human rights organizations, as well as courageous Palestinian journalists and photographers, most Western governments and TV channels have issued a decision stating that this tragedy is merely collateral damage of the “self-defense” war conducted by Israel following the deadly attacks by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
The Silence of Universities and Professional Bodies
In these circumstances, it is not surprising – according to the author – that certain segments of the western public, with little knowledge, understand this discourse condemning war crimes, crimes against humanity, and atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza. It is also not surprising that the trial of Israel by South Africa before the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide is incomprehensible to many in the West, while it has had significant repercussions in Africa, Asia, and South America, where tens of millions of refugees reside.
What is perplexing, according to the article, is the sight of the discerning and civilized sections, including stakeholders in universities, research institutions, hospitals, and press unions, drowning in a kind of slumber and disavowing their moral and civil responsibility towards the tragedy in Gaza, remaining silent or discussing, albeit timidly, the massacres targeting their Palestinian colleagues.
Majid questions, how can we teach humanities, international law, and journalism legally without at least having a legal or ethical stance on the daily killings of our fellow human beings? He also denies the ability to explain the negative and silent stance, citing the “scientific neutrality” claim of some European and American research centers specialized in the “Middle East” or international relations while the destruction of Palestinian research institutes is taking place.
According to the author, what is happening is not just silence and lack of anger, but many universities, schools, and sports clubs, in several cases, have exerted pressure and threatened to take coercive measures against any “support for Palestinians,” as seen in book fairs, artistic and sports events, which have witnessed bans on programs and guests due to their critical stance on Israeli crimes.
Gaza and the Future of Democracies
All this indicates, according to Majid, that we are witnessing a clear decline in global values and common legal norms among humanity, and that Western democracies, currently facing crises, and being influenced by increasing racist and populist political choices in some of their communities, have begun to lose credibility and tarnish the attractiveness of their political model, causing harm to them and the rest of the world.
Majid concludes by stating that the shameful stance of the vast majority of governments in these Western democracies – regarding the destruction of Gaza and its people – will remain an open wound that is difficult to heal for hundreds of millions of the world’s citizens. After the war machine stops, there needs to be a display of alarm at the double standards, stripping Palestinians of their humanity, and the unity of forces wherever possible to overcome the existing division, in addition to upholding a new global discourse and combating “the impunity of the powerful” and discrimination against war victims based on their affiliations and places of residence.
