The Irish Independent's View: Outrage is not enough to rein in Israel

Wars have rapidly overturned moral and geopolitical orders, making unconscionable actions mainstream. Physical and psychological violence has become routine, and the ability to sustain outrage has been misplaced. After October 7, 2023, the carnage in Gaza faded into background noise, even as 80,000 Gazans were killed and two million displaced. Territory seizures in the West Bank have accelerated, and offensives in Lebanon have intensified through expanding “buffer zones.” These developments are presented as evidence of disregard for law and human rights by the Israeli government. Treatment of protesters seized in international waters is described as terrorizing and demeaning, and Ben-Gvir is characterized as a product of an apartheid system rather than an isolated “bad apple.”

"It is unsettling to see how in just a few years the moral as well as the geopolitical orders have been so upended by wars. The unconscionable and unacceptable have become mainstream. We have been shunted into a brute-force era, seemingly permissive of all violations. The ability to sustain a sense of outrage, even in the face of the indefensible, also seems to have been misplaced. It is as if physical and psychological violence have been subsumed into the routine."

"The carnage in Gaza, following the events of October 7, 2023, disappeared in the background noise of the Gulf War. Yet 80,000 Gazans have been killed and two million displaced. But if our attention has waned, the deprivation and degradation have not. The taking of territories in the West Bank has accelerated. The offensive in Lebanon has also intensified, with insidious, ever-extending “buffer zones”."

"All are further demonstrations of the Israeli government's disregard for law and human rights. There was outrage at the deplorable treatment of protesters seized in international waters. That they were then terrorised and demeaned by a senior member of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government really should not shock us too greatly. Netanyahu has been impervious to the indiscriminate killing by the Israel Defence Forces."

"Nobody should be fooled: Ben-Gvir is not a bad apple - he is a product of an apartheid system He was equally dismissive of the 2024 arrest warrant issued against him, following an investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, by the International Criminal Court. But he blinked momentarily in the face of international condemnation at the behaviour of security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir towards the detainees, even issuing a mild rebuke. Yet as Kristyan Benedict of Amnesty International rightly has asked: "Where is the outrage about much worse treatment of Palestinian detainees? Nobody should be fooled: Ben-Gvir is not a bad apple - he is a product of an apartheid sy"

Read at Irish Independent