Winston Churchill described an iron curtain dividing the world into two opposing camps in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The Gaza War reveals a new iron curtain; but this time, it does not divide camps composed of states, but of cultures.
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This conflict revolves around questions of truth and ethics, distinguishing between societies that practice self-criticism and empathy for others, and those that view themselves as perpetual victims while sanctifying violence.
The struggle to evoke international compassion for the war crimes perpetrated against Israeli citizens on October 7 is not rooted in dysfunctional public diplomacy, but forms part of the ongoing need to contend with a global “counter-culture” founded on a cynical, one-dimensional interpretation of the term truth.
This camp consists of the majority of the Arab Muslim world, Russia, China, some countries in Africa and Asia, as well as Western Muslim communities that serve as the vanguard of the global anti-Israel campaign. Members of this camp are dictatorial or authoritarian, and their peoples are weak populations that succumb to and, at times, side with the ideological escapades of their local regimes.
The leaders of this camp have issued particularly preposterous statements since the war in Gaza began, such as Russia’s condemnation of the war crimes in Gaza; the apprehension expressed by Iran’s and Syria’s presidents Raisi and Bashar al-Assad, known as the “Butchers”, over mass civilian casualties; and UN Secretary General’s Guterres one-dimensional stance of pursuing some twisted “context” for the violence, thereby manifesting the growing moral degeneration that has spread throughout the organization that he heads, and which recently appointed Iran to a senior position in its Human Rights Council.
This cultural sphere has produced very few intellectuals and statesmen who have clearly and unequivocally condemned the October 7 massacre without manipulating facts to serve as reasons explaining it. Prominent among them were the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain - moral beacons that issued similar statements to those made by Western countries.
The Gaza war must prompt the West to recognize that Israel is a frontline fort in a battle between civilizations that has already crossed their doorstep, and could pose a threat to their identities. It is apparent in the Muslim minorities that spearhead the loud, and often violent, protests that reflect an antihuman approach to human life as a value, and are gradually taking hold of public and political discourse across the West.
These Muslim communities are bolstered by intellectuals, artists and numerous young people who have been inspired by the October 7 massacre yet are oblivious to the shadows cast by Hamas, such as its murderous approach to LGBTQs.
The protest against Israel is based on hollow identity politics. Climate and human rights activists, many of whom are simple-minded Generation Z, knowingly decide, despite being unknowledgeable, to support terror organizations because they believe this makes them represent the right side of history.
The clash of civilizations foreseen by Huntington is coming true; however, the parties to it are not state-political but cultural, crossing geographical delineations and being conducted within the West.
Asia and Africa, Western Muslim minorities and Western intellectuals identifying with Hamas’ struggle have united to form a denomination that reflects an extreme manifestation of the trend that has been emerging across the globe since the mid-20th century: portraying third-world peoples as indigenous freedom fighters who, as such, are always justified, even when engaging in radical violence, and are not required to soul search or show remorse, nor express empathy toward others.
This egocentric antihuman denomination denies the possibility that the weaker party can also be a brutal war criminal, as the Palestinians have proven numerous times, especially on October 7.
Dr. Michael MilsteinIsrael must direct its public diplomacy efforts at Western audiences who share similar morals, and feel threatened by the cultural demographic change their countries are undergoing in recent decades. Under the threat of PC, or political correctness, Westerners have been taught to avoid criticism that could mark them as racist, and particularly as “backward Islamophobes”.
However, the Gaza war - at the center of which is the unspeakable October 7 massacre - demonstrates that these developments are, indeed, a growing threat to Western civilizations’ core values, and that the atrocities perpetrated in Gaza border communities could recur in neighborhoods across Western Europe, North America and Australia.
- Dr. Michael Milstein is the director of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and a senior researcher at Reichman University's Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS)