The Quartermaster and Patron Claims Credit in Gaza
I am writing something non-violent and factual that will get me barred from entering the United States. The media reporting on the much-overdue ceasefire in Gaza sustains a narrative of one-sided tragedy and loss. It can only be countered by the independent words and actions of private individuals.
What began as unbelievable carnage — the mass murder, sexual violence, and abduction by Hamas of 1,200 civilians and the kidnapping of 250 more — has turned into one of the most one-sided military actions in decades. A modern, highly equipped military has systematically pounded a trapped population, killing tens of thousands of civilians. I have watched with horror as the country where I once volunteered on a kibbutz near the Lebanese border has systematically overdrawn its account of international sympathy and historical guilt. Neither a silky-smooth nor angry spokesperson can justify roughly 1,600 Israeli deaths (including October 7 and military losses) versus more than 65,000 Palestinians killed. The ratio speaks for itself.
This modern-day devastation has been carried out by Israel with the United States acting as quartermaster and patron — supplying arms, funding, and diplomatic protection. Now we must watch the awful spectacle of the same government claiming to be the peacemaker. The inversion is complete.
Washington now seeks credit for ceasefire efforts in a war it financed and sustained. This, from an administration that came up with a moment of grotesque economic opportunism — talk of “Gaza beachfront property” — when the bombs and artillery shells were in full flight. With such statements it has felt since the beginning of this horror that only the Israelis counted as human; that it did not need even passing reference, much less empathy, for the people in Gaza. We have seen buildings and homes destroyed to kill snipers and other combatants, with the occasional admission of error. The error was the strategy to use overwhelming military power and ordnance in a space overflowing with people. Such is the detachment that flows from moral exceptionalism.
Oh, for this to be truly over. With this ceasefire, that tiny flame of hope rekindles. Can it survive the next weeks? Can it survive the pompous huffing and puffing of people more interested in self-promotion than human life? Note how Western media coverage still centres on Israel: every interview with a traumatised former hostage outweighs the fewer words written about tens of thousands of traumatised civilians. That imbalance is not accidental; it preserves a hierarchy of empathy that mirrors the hierarchy of power of the patron and the historical narrative of modern Israel.
The need for balance is even higher now. This is not over for the victims — not the traumatised Israelis nor the shocked, homeless, starving Palestinians. The media coverage and the US administration will continue with their one-sided, morally vacuous statements and reporting. This is precisely why personal voices matter. When institutions and media have abandoned proportion, only individual conscience can insist on seeing the whole field of suffering, not just the side backed by our governments.
