by Tommaso Merlo
Macron wants to stop supplying arms to Israel, and Netanyahu has taken it very badly. Poor Monsieur le Président, after years, he finally gets one thing right and still ends up being pelted with rotten vegetables from half the world. However, the crates of vegetables come from the upper echelons of politics and the media, not from the poor souls who have been marching everywhere for months now against genocide. With his usual grace, Netanyahu responded to Macron by rebuking him, saying, “Israel is fighting against savages, terrorists, and barbaric forces, and all civilized countries must stand united and support Israel against those who would drag us back to the dark ages of fanaticism.” This is a textbook case of what psychology calls projection—attributing one’s own characteristics to others. Netanyahu also reiterated that Israel is fighting against the axis of evil for the peace and security of the entire world. This is a textbook case of what psychology calls talking nonsense. Netanyahu now lives in a bunker of armed paranoia, although he is right about one thing: Israel is part of Western culture. One example stands out. The United States was founded by European colonists who exterminated Native Americans, stole their lands, confined them to reservations, and have been dominating ever since. The only difference is that the United States successfully completed its occupation, while Israel encountered the stubborn dignity of the Palestinians and a historical moment that is not conducive to such barbarism.
Western culture has been colonial and racist for centuries, always resorting to force to subjugate and exploit other peoples. One glaring example is Africa, where the jewel of South African apartheid stands out. In recent decades, classic colonialism has given way to more insidious forms of profiteering and wars that serve no purpose, except for the real and only Western faith: profit. A civilization founded on selfishness, the true soul of capitalism, which has bought everything—even democracy. A civilization that now, in order to sustain its contradictions, increasingly resorts to shocking double standards. If a country outside the Western sphere had even hinted at a genocide like the one in Gaza, NATO would have razed it to the ground.
In his hysterical outburst, Netanyahu blames the savages. He still hasn’t realized that the Canaanites, Persians, Arabs, as well as Russians and Chinese, have every right to be different and to explore new paths. We Westerners are not the measure of all things, nor are we inherently good. Centuries of history prove this. Many of the violent anti-Western movements are, in fact, reactions to our unrestrained arrogance. This doesn’t mean justifying them—violence must always be condemned—but at least understanding them, and that’s the only way out. Besides the classic Jewish supremacy, Netanyahu also seems to believe in the nonsense of Western superiority. The famous superiority complex that has led us to commit every atrocity and now blinds us to our own decline.
But not everything is bleak on the horizon. While Western leaders go along with genocide and stand idly by as the risks of a world war grow, over the past year, the streets have been overflowing with people throughout the West. This demonstrates the vast gulf between rulers and the people, and the emergence of new awareness. Thanks to increasing integration and migration, a new civil society is emerging—rich in diversity and therefore more attuned to the times. A civil society that is able to see beyond appearances, beyond walls, beyond propaganda, beyond beliefs, and even beyond cultures, rediscovering its common humanity. A civil society that is free and mature enough to understand that, in the end, there is no real alternative to peace. Today, this civil society is being denigrated and marginalized by the system, but it remains the only real hope for the West and the entire world, and it must not be discouraged.
