Gaza and the end of humanity

A recent poll conducted in 24 countries by the Pew Research Center reveals that Israel is very unpopular in most of these countries. The main exception is India, where just 29% of the respondents had an “unfavourable” view of Israel. A slightly higher proportion (34%) had a favourable view, and the rest had no view.

Perhaps this was a biased sample, where privileged sections of the population are over-represented. But the popular sentiment may or may not be more critical of Israel among the underprivileged, because they are not necessarily well informed on this issue. Clearly, there is some passivity in the response of the Indian public to the horrific war crimes that are taking place in Gaza.

India’s support of Israel

For nearly two years now, the people of Gaza have been mercilessly displaced, bombed, starved, and deprived of medical care. More than 50,000 people — mainly civilians — have been killed, and many more grievously wounded. Countless children have been shot, dismembered, burnt alive or buried under the rubble. Some of them had to be amputated without anaesthetics. More than 200 journalists and a thousand health workers have been killed. Schools, hospitals, mosques, and universities have been razed to the ground. Today, the entire population of Gaza is on the verge of famine. All this was deliberate, planned, announced, and livestreamed.

Against this background, one would expect Israel to be very unpopular in India, as elsewhere. One reason why it is not (judging from the Pew Survey) may be that the Indian government has firmly sided with Israel in this conflict. The main reason is not far to seek: India depends heavily on Israel for military and surveillance technology. The two countries have deep commercial ties especially but not only in the defence sector. The Indian government has actively supported Israel’s assault on Gaza in many ways: for instance, by subsidising joint ventures in the defence sector, sending Indian workers to Israel in replacement of Palestinian workers, casting an abstention vote in several United Nations resolutions critical of Israel, and — last but not least — suppressing public protests against Israel.

With the government and the corporate sector on Israel’s side, the mainstream media know better than to take the other side. The public is kept in the dark. Social media could help, but Gaza gets lost in a torrent of attention-seeking trivia. Some social media algorithms, notably X’s, are also likely to be biased against posts critical of Israel or supportive of Palestine. Many X accounts, for instance, have been suspended after exposing uncomfortable truths about Gaza.

Solidarity and selfishness

Meanwhile, the people of Gaza have been immensely inspiring examples of courage and solidarity. Hundreds of Palestinian journalists have risked their life, and often lost it, to report the events. Doctors and nurses continue to treat the wounded even as bombs rain down on them. Relief workers work around the clock to provide people with a semblance of shelter and food. Ordinary civilians are helping each other to pull people or bodies from under the rubble. Recently, a mother who had lost all her children risked her life to fetch food for other children.

It is another matter that the people of Gaza may start turning on each other soon, as famine intensifies. In the last stages of a famine, people stop being able to see beyond their own hunger. The same mother who risked her life to feed hungry children may start snatching food from them. For all we know, the real purpose of Israel’s blockade may be to incite Palestinians against each other.

There is a sharp contrast between the spirit of solidarity in Gaza and the selfish behaviour of the billionaires who recently took control of the United States, the world’s richest and most powerful country. As soon as they came to power, these billionaires started redesigning public policies and institutions in their own interest, or rather in the interest of their class – the super-rich. This involved, first and foremost, eroding if not dismantling barriers to accumulate wealth: regulatory bodies, environmental safeguards, affirmative action, redistributive taxation, social security, political opposition, you name it. It also involved more imaginative projects such as taking over Greenland, raiding Ukraine’s mineral resources, and converting the Gaza strip into a luxury resort.

It is not an accident that values of compassion and solidarity are found in Gaza, while the opposite values prevail at the other extreme of the spectrum of power. The race for power is not particularly kind to those who are distracted by the demands of empathy or morality. Nor is it surprising that greed and selfishness are celebrated in high places. Morality is like oxygen – the higher you get, the less there is of it in the atmosphere. It is this morality-free atmosphere that has made it possible for the governments of the U.S. and other countries to support the Gaza genocide.

Our own ability to feel, speak, or act for Gaza is being defused even as the Government of Israel scales ever-rising heights of brutality and cruelty. Most of the local journalists and other vocal witnesses in Gaza have been killed. The rest are too scared, hungry or exhausted to report what is happening there. In any case, communication facilities are minimal, and Gaza’s agony is losing its “newsworthiness”. Darkness and silence prevail as Gaza descends into hell. If we do not come to our senses, this will be the end of humanity.

Jean Drèze is a development economist based in Ranchi

Published – July 10, 2025 01:27 am IST