meemsaf

Lately, I cannot stop thinking about how deeply complicit the United States, Britain, Germany and co. are in Israel's genocidal onslaught in Gaza. It would have become materially impossible months ago without these states (especially the US) keeping the weapons flowing.

This also pushes Israel to further pursue genocide: The genocidal far-right's biggest political weakness has (sadly) been how implausible its aims are: What they propose is not just abhorrent, but hardly doable. Unless, that is, the strongest states in the world give them the hardware and diplomatic cover to make it happen.

Without Western arms shipments, even with the Israeli public's overwhelming desire for vengeance, the onslaught against Gaza could not continue in this form, wreaking mass death and total destruction, for very long. The far right would have had to walk back its rhetoric, deflated, having lost all credibility.

In all previous conflagrations, Israel's genocidal far-right could save face in light of the unattainability of its vision by blaming others: Netanyahu was too cautious, the Americans pressured him, the “traitorous” left sapped public morale... None of these excuses applied in late 2023. But instead of throttling the flow of instruments of mass death and letting the far-right collapse under its own pretensions, the West has enabled it to actually carry out its monstrous aspirations and keep afloat.

And in doing this, they have also undermined voices of peace. For the mirror image of the right's implausibility problem is the Israeli “peace camp's” strongest argument, within a political system immune to moral concerns for its Palestinian victims: The right's course would ruin Israel's economy and security and lead to total international isolation.

In backing the extremist government and its manifestly criminal strategy in Gaza, the leading Western states have pulled the carpet from under Israel's meager internal conscience: They have shown that the right actually can “go mad dog” when in power and maintain international support.

Israel's apologists always ask the international community to support Israel so that its so-called “thriving democracy” has a chance to correct course. But this very policy of supporting Israeli crimes helps ensure this cannot happen, strengthening the genocidal camp and making fools of the moderates.

There is no prospect for deescalation, peace or justice when movements aiming for annihilatory “total victory” get carte blanche backing. In backing them, Western powers bring their monstrous, impossible dreams within grasp.

The horror cannot end without an end to Israel's impunity.