“Hamas has destroyed Gaza and turned the world against Israel.
Supporting Israel is standing with the truth.”
These claims, echoed in certain political and media circles, are based on an inverted reading of reality. They conceal a brutal truth: the destruction of Gaza is the direct result of Israeli military operations—unprecedented in scale—and denounced by many international voices as genocidal.
Gaza Under Fire: Numbers and Reality
Since October 7, 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israeli territory, the State of Israel has launched a military campaign of unprecedented intensity against the Gaza Strip. The numbers speak for themselves:
- Over 35,000 dead, more than 70% of whom are women and children (source: Gaza Ministry of Health, figures corroborated by the UN).
- More than 60% of homes destroyed.
- Water, electricity, healthcare, and education networks completely dismantled.
- Famine, disease outbreaks, and mass displacement toward so-called “safe zones”—which were then themselves bombed.
This is not a war between two armies. It is collective punishment inflicted on a people trapped in a territory besieged for over 15 years.
International Law Trampled
What Gaza is enduring cannot be dismissed as the “unfortunate consequences of conflict.” According to independent UN experts, international jurists like William Schabas and Craig Mokhiber, and NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed:
- Deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
- Use of starvation as a weapon of war.
- Obstruction of humanitarian aid.
- Systematic destruction of schools, universities, religious sites, and cultural heritage.
According to a growing body of analysis, these acts fall within a genocidal framework. The International Court of Justice has, in fact, ruled that South Africa’s case against Israel for violation of the Genocide Convention is legally admissible and well-founded.
A Reversal of Narrative
To accuse Hamas of having “destroyed Gaza” is to adopt a rhetorical strategy aimed at discrediting any critique of Israel. While Hamas’s attacks on Israeli civilians are indeed condemnable under international law, they do not and cannot justify the annihilation of an entire population.
It would be akin to blaming the people of Warsaw for destroying their own city during the 1944 uprising—or accusing the Tutsis of provoking their own genocide in Rwanda. This is a deeply immoral inversion of responsibility.
Why Is the World Turning Against Israel?
This is not a smear campaign. What isolates Israel today are its own actions—broadcast in real time by journalists, survivors, and humanitarian workers on the ground. Children filmed dying beneath rubble. Mothers clawing through ruins. Doctors operating by headlamp.
The world is watching. And the world is beginning to understand.
Europe and France: Cowardice or Calculation?
Some accuse France and Europe of “looking away.” The reality is more complex: while segments of public opinion are deeply shocked, political leaders remain cautious, ambiguous, or silent—out of political cowardice, fear of being accused of antisemitism, or due to strategic and economic alliances.
But the tide is shifting: mass mobilizations are taking place across the globe, European and French lawmakers are publicly denouncing the crimes, and legal proceedings are underway.
Conclusion: To Defend the Truth Is to Defend Justice
Supporting Israel “no matter what” is not a defense of truth—it is the defense of a colonial, militaristic, and dehumanizing logic.
The truth today is this: Gaza lies in ruins—not by the will of its own people, but beneath Israeli bombs, enabled by the impunity of those who believe military superiority places them above the law.
To stand with truth is to stand with international justice, with respect for humanitarian law, and with the right of all peoples to live in freedom, dignity, and safety.
By Belgacem Merbah
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