Missiles and morals

In an age where human rights are paraded as pillars of global civility, Israel’s recent strike on Iranian sites amid sensitive nuclear negotiations has laid bare the staggering hypocrisy of world powers. At the heart of this aggression is not a state defending itself, but a desperate Benjamin Netanyahu who is gambling with regional peace to salvage his crumbling political future. Netanyahu, under fire for corruption and global outrage over his Gaza genocide, is weaponising just about everything to distract a disillusioned public and to placate ultranationalist factions. This is not strength; it is fear-fuelled provocation. His regime has unleashed a relentless campaign in Gaza for nearly 20 months now. Over 56,000 Palestinians, more than half women and children, have been slaughtered, 135,000 have been wounded, and civilian infrastructure has been obliterated. Aid is blocked, journalists have been silenced, with about 180 of them having been killed, and yet the world continues to look away.
This is not war; it is annihilation. And it continues because Israel is shielded by the United States and its Western allies, who cloak barbarity under the banner of ‘self-defence’. International law is mocked. And, institutions like the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations Security Council have been rendered impotent by double standards and veto politics. Now under Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, America’s duplicity has become its foreign policy, with open warfare masquerading as diplomacy. While calling for de-escalation, the White House continues to supply arms worth billions of dollars to Israel, including bunker busters and precision missiles, ensuring that Tel Aviv’s path of destruction remains well-paved. Trump may sound more measured in this term, but his foreign policy remains as transactional as ever, supporting allies based on strategic value, not moral principle. Abstentions at the UN, refusal to condemn Israeli war crimes, and the use of veto when nothing else works reflect a policy that enables atrocity while preaching peace.
Where is the Muslim world? Apart from Pakistan’s commendable and consistent stance, others have largely retreated into silence. Statements mean little unless followed by sanctions, boycotts and co-ordinated diplomatic offensives. Solidarity cannot remain symbolic; it must be strategic.
As Gaza lies in ruins and Iran is pulled into the storm, the deeper tragedy is the shrinking soul of global conscience. The world watches desensitised as the Middle East is pushed towards catas-trophic collapse. The road to hell is paved not just with bombs, but with the hypocrisy and silence of those who could stop them. This is not merely a Palestinian crisis; it is a collapse of global moral order. If multipolarity cannot check madness, it is nothing but a myth. Let this be clearly said: the choice before the world is no longer between peace and war, but between justice and complicity in genocide.
MAJID BURFAT
KARACHI