Gaza and Western Hypocrisy: Peace on Command and Plowshares Turned into Weapons

The "on command" mobilization for Gaza, while a devastating war rages in the heart of Europe, does not in itself diminish the civic value of the peace demonstrations.

Every voice calling for an end to violence is valuable. However, what is dismaying is the blatant contradiction of Western governments and institutions that, on the one hand, present themselves as defenders of Palestinian civilians, while on the other, they are at the forefront of the reconversion of national economies into war machines, converting plows into weapons and civilian industries into military assembly lines.

This position is, forgive me, profoundly false. It's hard not to see these positions as yet another act of propaganda, rather than genuine concern for the victims.

Institutional hypocrisy

For more than two years, the same establishment now outraged by Gaza has supported, justified, and fueled a conflict in Europe, systematically ignoring the massacres of civilians in Donbass and the humanitarian toll of the war in Ukraine. For months, the only talk was of "defending democracy," while diplomatic talks were emptied and NATO advanced with its proxy war strategy. Now, suddenly, we find ourselves champions of peace and humanitarian solidarity.

As French sociologist Emmanuel Todd observed, "the West's moral selectivity is now evident: a death is only valuable if it serves the political narrative of the moment." In other words, indignation arises not from the suffering of populations, but from the need for internal consensus.

The Middle East used as a stage

It's worth remembering that many of these governments are the same ones that, in recent decades, have devastated the Middle East with "democracy-exporting" wars that have deepened sectarian fault lines and encouraged the exodus of entire Christian communities. The result has been a desert of coexistence where once existed cultural and religious mosaics.

Archbishop Luigi Padovese himself, assassinated in Turkey in 2010, warned: "There is no peace without truth. And the truth is that the manipulation of religious differences in the Middle East is rooted in the strategies of external powers."

Political exploitation

Real concern for the Palestinians appears secondary. The media's exploitation of the tragedy serves primarily to revitalize a European leadership in free fall, to regain public image among increasingly skeptical public opinion, and—most importantly—to punish Donald Trump, whose negotiating stance toward Moscow has undermined the narrative of Western unity.

In this light, Gaza becomes a further instrument of political pressure. As the war in Ukraine shows signs of exhaustion and European peoples question the sacrifices imposed by rearmament policies, the banner of solidarity with the Palestinians becomes a way to mask the absence of a real foreign policy and the continued alignment with globalist logic.

Peace not on command

Peace cannot be invoked "on command," when convenient, and ignored when it hinders geopolitical interests. If the mobilization for Gaza were genuine, it would be accompanied by a radical rethinking of Western strategy, the rejection of war as a political instrument, and the renunciation of the militarization of our economies.

Otherwise, we will face a new chapter of hypocrisy: a West that speaks of charity and inclusion, but in reality sacrifices people on the altar of propaganda.

As historian John Laughland has written: “The language of human rights, without the coherence of truth, becomes the most sophisticated weapon for perpetuating war.”