The destruction of Gaza has exposed something larger than a war. It has shown the moral collapse of the Western political order that claims to stand for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.
For too long, governments in the West have justified an assault that has killed tens of thousands of civilians. They have continued to ship weapons, provide diplomatic cover and block resolutions that could stop the violence. The same leaders who lecture the world on human rights and international law now look away from evidence of war crimes broadcast daily on every screen.
This reflects a deeper decay in the way the West sees itself and the rest of the world. The idea that power can coexist with moral authority is no longer credible. Western governments speak the language of principle but act in the logic of dominance. They condemn Russia’s targeting of civilians in Ukraine but defend the bombing of schools and hospitals in Gaza. They call for humanitarian corridors while funding the blockade that keeps food and medicine out. Every statement of ‘concern’ sounds emptier than the one before.
International law was created after World War II to prevent precisely this kind of collective punishment. The Geneva Conventions were supposed to draw a line between combatants and civilians. Those conventions have not changed. What has changed is who is held accountable. When the victims are Palestinian, the law becomes optional. When international courts attempt to investigate, Western governments attack the courts instead of defending them.
This erosion of principle is not limited to Gaza. It is visible in the West’s silence on Congo, on Sudan, on Iran, on the long wars that destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaza is simply the moment when this hypocrisy could no longer hide behind slogans. It is where the gap between Western values and Western behavior became impossible to ignore.
The consequences will last far beyond this war. The postwar ‘rules-based order’ was built on the claim that law, not power, would define legitimacy. That claim is collapsing. When the same governments that invoke the order are seen breaking or ignoring its rules, they cannot expect others to follow them. The Global South already understands this. Many of its nations have stopped looking to the West for moral leadership. They see Gaza as proof that human rights are conditional and justice is political.
Inside Western societies, the damage is also visible. Journalists are fired for describing what they see. Students are punished for peaceful protest. Human rights organisations lose funding when they call the situation by its name. Governments that claim to defend free speech have shown how quickly they will suppress it when it challenges their alliances. This intolerance reflects fear, the fear of being exposed by their own contradictions.
What Palestinians are asking for is not charity. They are asking for accountability. An end to the occupation and the enforcement of international law. These are not radical demands. They are the minimum conditions for any society that claims to value human dignity. But even this minimum has become too much for Western leaders to endorse, because doing so would mean admitting complicity.
In moral terms, Gaza has become a mirror. It reflects not only the suffering of a people under siege but the emptiness of the ideals that the West continues to advertise. It shows what happens when political alliances matter more than human lives. It shows how democracy can coexist with denial. It shows that those who claim to defend civilisation are willing to destroy it when the victims are far enough away.
There is still time to change course -- but not much. Ending the supply of weapons, supporting an immediate ceasefire and restoring respect for international institutions would be a start. The world does not expect miracles; it expects consistency. If Western governments cannot apply the same standards to allies as they do to adversaries, they should stop claiming the moral high ground altogether.
History will not remember who won the arguments on television or who blocked which resolution at the UN. It will remember who allowed children to starve when they had the power to stop it. It will remember who spoke of democracy while enabling collective punishment. It will remember that when the world’s most powerful nations were tested, they chose convenience over conscience.
The tragedy of Gaza is not only in its destruction but in what it has revealed: that the nations which once claimed to defend human rights now stand on the wrong side of them. As long as that remains true, the idea of a Western-led moral order is finished.
This is not just about Gaza. It is about the kind of world that will replace the one collapsing before us. If conscience no longer guides power, then power will guide everything, and that is a future no civilisation can survive.
The writer is a non-resident fellow at the CISS. He posts/tweets @umarwrites
