By Qamar Bashir
Instantly, both Israel and the United States have turned colorblind, deaf, and heartless, refusing to see the rivers of blood in Gaza or hear the cries of its dying children. They ignore the wailing of mothers clutching lifeless infants, the screams of youth writhing in agony as their limbs are amputated, their bodies shredded, their reproductive organs destroyed by sniper fire. They look away from children dying not only from bombs but from starvation, as two million people are herded from one ruined shelter to another, promised food only to find death. This is not war. This is a calculated slaughterhouse, a genocide carried out under the shield of “self-defense,” and the world knows it.
Yet Washington and Tel Aviv expect everyone else to mimic their silence—do not see, do not hear, do not speak. They want to render humanity numb to horror. But their dominance is fading. Donald Trump’s transactional diplomacy, where allies are insulted and international partnerships are reduced to trade-offs and arm-twisting, has driven even America’s closest friends to break free. Nations once compelled to echo U.S. narratives are now openly defying them, charting their own course, and rejecting the moral bankruptcy of shielding Israel’s crimes.
As French President Emmanuel Macron declared at the UN conference on Palestine, “The status quo is no longer acceptable. France will recognize a Palestinian state because peace cannot be postponed indefinitely while children die every day in Gaza.” Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock echoed this, saying, “Humanitarian law is not optional. No ally, no matter how powerful, can expect us to be complicit in mass starvation and endless occupation.” Even the United Kingdom, long America’s most loyal partner, now openly calls for an “irreversible pathway to Palestinian statehood,” signaling a break from Washington’s veto of justice.
Meanwhile, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, tore through decades of diplomatic hypocrisy with unprecedented clarity: “Statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward… Gaza has descended into a cascade of catastrophes—tens of thousands dead, virtually the entire population displaced many times over, the shadow of starvation looming over everyone. These are not preconditions for peace. They are the foundation of it.”
Yet from Washington, the response is chillingly different. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mocked the 140 nations pledging to recognize Palestine: “They can’t even tell you where this Palestinian state is… At the end of the day, Hamas is sitting there saying: We’re winning the PR war. The Palestinian statehood side is the Hamas side.” In one sentence, Rubio dismissed the will of nearly the entire planet, equated Palestinian self-determination with terrorism, and gave Israel another blank check to continue its war crimes.
This arrogance exposes the deepening isolation of the U.S.-Israeli axis. On one side, 140 nations, the UN, humanitarian agencies, civil society, and millions in the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, and New York demand ceasefire, statehood, and accountability for atrocity crimes. On the other, two governments defy global law and morality, veto every path to peace, and unleash a narrative so grotesque that even mainstream U.S. media is cracking.
When Israel’s ambassador recently suggested that countries supporting Palestinian statehood should “take the Palestinians into their own lands,” Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade sarcastically asked, “Why doesn’t Israel migrate instead, leaving the land to its original owners, the Palestinians?” Such questions were once unthinkable in America but are now inevitable because the brutality is undeniable.
Europe’s defiance is not a sudden act of courage but the result of exhaustion with U.S. unilateralism. Trump’s foreign policy has humiliated allies, reduced partnerships to mere transactions, and insulted leaders across NATO. The last straw is Gaza: a live-streamed massacre defended relentlessly by Washington. Macron said it plainly: “The international order cannot survive if a superpower shields an occupying force from law while condemning others for far less.” Canada, once in lockstep with U.S. policy, now calls for sanctions on Israeli officials over settlement expansion and starvation tactics, defying its largest ally.
The tide is turning because the truth can no longer be buried. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s occupation, annexation, and forced displacement are illegal. The UN General Assembly passed resolutions demanding ceasefire and humanitarian access, only to be vetoed or ignored by Washington. Civil society, from London’s streets to Jakarta’s mosques, is united under one banner: Stop the genocide. Free Palestine. Social media has shattered propaganda walls, showing unfiltered images of bombed hospitals, starved infants, and mass graves. The world sees what America refuses to: deliberate extermination disguised as war.
Even within the U.S., voices of conscience rise despite political fear. Senator Bernie Sanders declared, “We cannot stand by while a whole people is bombed, starved, and erased from history under our funding and protection.” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese described Israel’s actions as “a war of extermination against an occupied people,” earning U.S. sanctions for telling the truth. The line is now clear: stand with humanity and be punished by Washington, or stand with Washington and be complicit in atrocity.
This strategy is failing. U.S. power, once unquestionable, is now bought off with trade deals and investments as nations build independence from its dictates. Trump’s recent EU trade deal has been interpreted not as strength but as a payoff for European defiance over Gaza. The old world order, where America dictated morality, is dead. In its place is a multipolar conscience where even U.S. allies refuse to endorse blind support for Israel’s slaughterhouse policies.
And yet, Israel and the U.S. cling to a delusion: that Palestinians can be erased, either by bullets or by “resettlement,” stripping them of homeland and history. This delusion is what fuels resistance, global outrage, and calls for immediate statehood. As Guterres warned, “We cannot defer peace efforts until suffering becomes unbearable. We must act before it is too late.” The world has chosen to act, with or without Washington’s approval.
The conclusion is as inevitable as it is just. The momentum of history, powered by the conscience of humanity, is moving toward Palestinian freedom. The days when America and Israel could bully nations into silence are gone. Their veto cannot erase law. Their propaganda cannot hide mass graves. Their power cannot crush the will of a people who, despite decades of dispossession, refuse to vanish.
The day is coming—and now it feels close—when Palestinians will live in a sovereign state, when Israel will exist as a nation among equals instead of a colonizer above the law, and when the United States, stripped of its moral cloak, will face the shame of having stood on the wrong side of humanity’s last great struggle for justice.
About Writer :
Press Secretary to the President (Rtd)
Former Press Minister, Embassy of Pakistan to France
Former MD, SRBC | Macomb, Michigan, USA
