The Western media system is complicit in what I do not hesitate to call a colonial genocide in Palestine. I firmly believe that our media, rather than reporting the truth, have actively participated in “paving the way” and “manufacturing consent” for the horrors we are witnessing, with a systemic complicity that reminds me of the one that preceded the genocide in Rwanda.
From the very beginning, our media have deceived us with a distorted narrative aimed at covering up a genocide triggered by blatant lies. I think of the story, spread after October 7th, of the 40 babies beheaded by Hamas: a falsehood categorically debunked, even by Israeli journalists. This lie is contrasted by a terrible and documented truth: thousands of Palestinian children have been decapitated by Israeli bombs.
It is a proven pattern: blatant criminal acts—the killing of paramedics, the bombing of churches and mosques, the slaughter of civilians queuing for bread—are dismissed as “technical errors” or simple “mistakes.” This is a formula that serves to appease our consciences without any responsible party ever being brought to justice.
On the issue of sexual violence, the narrative must also be reversed. The accusations of mass rapes committed by Hamas have been widely discredited; one need only consider the controversial New York Times article, contested by the very families of the alleged victims and written by a journalist suspected of having ties to Israeli intelligence. On the contrary, there is documented and overwhelming evidence, collected by organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B’Tselem, testifying to systematic rape and sexual abuse perpetrated by Israeli soldiers and prison officers against Palestinian women, men, and even children. I have read about the case of a 13-year-old boy raped in Jerusalem, and the complete lack of investigation by the Israeli prosecutor’s office, despite the victims’ names being known.
Many of the Israeli victims of October 7th were killed by “Israeli fire” itself. This was not a random act, but the consequence of a precise military mindset. On one hand, the Dahiya Doctrine, which calls for the use of “disproportionate force” and the destruction of entire civilian areas. On the other, the application of the infamous “Hannibal Directive,” the protocol that for years mandated preventing the capture of a soldier at any cost, even by causing their own death. I believe that on October 7th, these extreme principles were also applied to civilians, with the order to shoot in order to prevent kidnappings. It is for this reason, in my view, that the Israeli government opposes an official investigation: to hide the extent to which its own army has gone in its violence.
And when we speak of hostages, the largest number of hostages today is in Israeli prisons. They are thousands of Palestinians, detained without trial and subjected to systematic torture, not the prisoners in the hands of Hamas.
The situation in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe that I believe to be deliberately planned. Palestinian doctors have declared the entry into “phase 5 of hunger and famine”: the population’s immune system is collapsing. Meanwhile, there is an intentional blockade of essential goods such as sanitary pads, soap, disinfectants, antibiotics, and baby formula. This is not a side effect of war; this is an attempt at extermination. We see the targeted destruction of hospitals and the despicable acts of Israeli soldiers who film and flaunt the underwear of women they have killed or evicted on social media. I see the words “Kill all the Arabs” written on the walls of the only cancer hospital in Gaza, and I understand that we are facing a process of total dehumanization of the Palestinian people.
Before our very eyes, international law is collapsing. The UN Security Council has become a protective shield for criminals, thanks to the systematic veto of the United States. But while the West makes itself complicit, I see with hope an “open revolt” from the Global South. Countries like Colombia, South Africa, and Malaysia have formed the “Hague Group” to fight for international law. Twelve nations, including Cuba, Bolivia, Indonesia, and Namibia, have already imposed sanctions on Israel. This stands in stark contrast to the shameful silence and connivance of Europe, which is also Israel’s largest trading partner.
The truth is Israel’s worst enemy. The narratives that are fed to us every day, based on lies like those that justified the wars in Vietnam or Iraq, serve this genocide and the project of a “Greater Israel.”
For this reason, I urge you to inform yourselves, to analyze the facts objectively, to witness the daily extermination of starving children. We must not be afraid to speak these truths. Our credibility, our civilization, and our very humanity are at stake.
Dan ROMEO