"Western values" take a beating in Gaza

The over-arching underlying message from the Mighty Wurlitzer, forever and always, is that we, "Western Civilization," often shorthanded to American Empire, or even Uncle Sam's Club, are the "good guys." We are the Nations of Virtue. We are the champions of human rights and democracy and freedom in the world, and whoever is not with us is evil. The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel was undoubtedly a war crime. Targeting civilians and taking civilians hostage are war crimes. Israel is a charter member of Uncle Sam's Club, and the Mighty Wurlitzer reminds us constantly that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and has a right to defend itself. For 48 hours after the launch of the Hamas attack, Israel held the moral high ground, at least in Western perception. On October 9th, PM Netanyahu and Defence Minister announced a campain of mighty vengeance against Gaza, telling the world they intended to inflict war crimes against the people of Gaza. "We see your war crimes and raise you ten-fold." It's genocide poker. Those war crimes have been going on in full view of the world for four weeks now. What has been the response in our Western "Nations of Virtue," the champions of human rights and democracy? We make excuses and buy time for Israel's genocidal war against the Palestinian people. Israel has a right to defend itself. And if defending yourself means denying food and water to 2,000,000 civilians while mercylessly carpet bombing their territory, well, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.