Faith in international law is dead, it was symbolically killed by Ursula von der Leyen. The President of the European Commission has become the face of hypocrisy and lack of morality of Western democracies that decided to close their eyes to the violation of International Law in the Gaza Strip.
The new escalation of violence in the Holy Land, which began on October 7th with Hamas’ incursion into the south of Israel and the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers, brought to light, in addition to all the victims, a painful truth for all of humanity. The countries of the West, the first world, the free or democratic world as they like to call themselves, are led by cruel Machiavellians who really live the idea that morality has no place in politics.
War crimes in the Gaza Strip
Numerous international human rights organizations, as well as the United Nations (UN), have warned that the actions of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip contain elements of war crimes. One of the first decisions was the complete siege of Gaza and the blocking of the flow of food, water, and electricity, and this was followed by a massive bombardment that claimed thousands of human lives, including hundreds of children. Hospitals and ambulances were also bombed, and white phosphorus was used over densely populated areas.
Not only did the actions of the Israeli army contain clear elements of a war crime, but so did the rhetoric of Israeli politicians and military personnel, which amounted to dehumanizing the Palestinians, from calling them animals to saying that there are no civilians in Gaza.
International law, but only sometimes
Neither actions nor statements were enough for the countries that are the loudest protectors of international law to clearly and loudly condemn the crimes, and only Josep Borrell warned that the blockade of Gaza is contrary to international law.
On the other hand, Von der Leyen went on a friendly visit to the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, on the very day when Herzog said that everyone in the Gaza Strip is responsible for the crimes committed by members of Hamas.
Even all the failures enumerated in this way do not give a full picture of the diplomatic coup d’état experienced in the past ten days by the politics of the Western democracies embodied in Von der Leyen. Namely, in October of last year, Von der Leyen absolutely correctly said that attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure are a war crime, but since it is absolutely clear to the world public that Israel is also attacking Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, the European Union (EU) spokesperson clumsily explained that it is not the same.
European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said that the comment about the terrorist act “that the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen made in connection with Russia’s actions in Ukraine in October 2022 was made in a very specific context when there was an unprovoked attack by a UN Security Council member country on a peaceful neighbor”.
“And now there is a situation where, I want to remind everyone, the attacks from Gaza on Israel are continuing, and therefore Israel is in a situation where it is defending itself in an extremely complex military theater. That is why we cannot now judge what actions Israel should take in order to be able to fight against Hamas terrorists who attacked its territory,” Mamer added.
The price of hypocrisy
Namely, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western democracies tried to present their support for the defense of Ukraine, which is right and moral, not only as a protection of Western interests but also as a defense of international law and humanity. Therefore, the request for support for Ukraine was not based on the story of interest, but on the story of the protection of humanity and human life.
The violation of international law and the ignoring of that violation in the Gaza Strip by countries that are not part of the “West”, may cause many countries in the Global South to ignore calls for help to Ukraine. Namely, with its silence and selective reference to international law, the West destroyed the value of the “international law” argument and gave the rest of the world the argument that the aggression against Ukraine is only part of the struggle between two different concepts of the world and that there is no moral responsibility of any other state to interfere in it.
The silence on the violation of international law that the Western democracies have allowed themselves will reverberate around the globe for a long time, and its consequences will be long-lasting and painful for the interests of both the West and the democratic view of the world. International law remains dead, and in the new world that is being born, how will democracies be consoled because the most sacred thing for them has bled before their eyes in the devastated Gaza Strip, who will wipe the blood from them?, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
