“Better late than never” — this saying aptly describes the recent shift in the rhetoric from some European governments regarding the war on Gaza.
France, the UK, and others have begun voicing concerns about the “disproportionate use of force” by Israel in Gaza and calling for a ceasefire. But this moral awakening comes after almost 20 months of relentless devastation and long after Gaza was turned into a graveyard of humanity.
Since 7 October 2023, Gaza has endured hellish bombing as a result of which nearly a quarter of a million people have been killed, injured, or are still missing. Eighty per cent of Gaza has been destroyed or severely damaged, and the healthcare system has collapsed. Since the beginning of March this year, all the border crossings into Gaza have been sealed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are using famine as a weapon.
In the face of this genocide, European silence was not passive neutrality; it was active complicity, driven by political and economic interests that eclipsed all humanitarian principles.
When French President Emmanuel Macron and former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak visited Tel Aviv in October 2023, the flames of war were still in their early days. Their visit could have served as a platform to prevent escalation, to protect civilians, and to uphold international law. Instead, they chose to offer Israel unconditional support under the banner of “self-defence”, a slogan weaponised time and time again to shield impunity and criminalise the victims.
Gaza now joins the shameful archive of regions where atrocities have been ignored for geopolitical convenience. In Rwanda, the Europeans remained silent as genocide unfolded. In Bosnia, their intervention came only after the discovery of mass graves. In Sudan, silence was exchanged for access to natural resources. In Lebanon, the Israeli assaults were met with little more than subdued murmurs.
Yet, amidst the bleak reality in Gaza, a flicker of principled courage has emerged. Spain and Ireland have stood firm, refusing to be intimidated by the weaponised accusation of “antisemitism”. They have not hidden behind the false pretence of “balance”. They have spoken clearly, demanding an end to the war, accountability for war crimes, and justice for the Palestinian people.
This rare stance proves that a different path is always possible and that the West is not a monolith. But it also raises the bitter question: How much blood must be spilled before other governments act? How many cities must be razed before the word “enough” is uttered?
Gaza does not need belated sympathy. It needs policy change, funded justice, and a rewritten narrative. Every empty statement, every tear without action, is not redemption — it is whitewashing complicity. Europe may have started too late to reassess its position, but it cannot absolve itself of its prolonged silence. Nor can it escape the moral burden of every innocent life lost while it weighed its ethics against its interests.
Gaza, besieged, bombed, and starved during the world’s watchful silence, will remember.
It will remember who spoke when it mattered and who chose silence as children perished beneath the rubble.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 29 May, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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