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| Displaced Palestinians walk with their belongings past destroyed buildings as they return to their homes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, after Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their war and the release of the remaining hostages. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)AP |
World leaders cannot claim to seek peace while enabling war and ignoring human suffering | Opinion
By Momin Bhatti
The world has just marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, a horrific tragedy that must never be forgotten. The slaughter of civilians in Israel was an atrocity. But remembrance cannot mean silence about what has followed.
For over two years, Israel has invoked Oct. 7 repeatedly to justify collective punishment and evade accountability. This justification has been sustained by propaganda tactics, amplified again around the anniversary. The narrative manipulation distorts perception and normalizes Israel’s crimes against humanity. It conditions people to look away while hospitals are bombed and aid convoys blocked, numbing empathy and allowing cruelty to masquerade as policy.
A key tactic is victimhood inversion. Israel consistently insists it is merely “defending itself” as it exercises overwhelming force against a besieged population. The vast majority of those killed are children, families, and ordinary people who have nothing to do with Hamas, yet are punished as though their very existence were a crime.
When entire neighborhoods are flattened, the recurring narrative is... READ MORE https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2025/10/world-leaders-cannot-claim-to-seek-peace-while-enabling-war-and-ignoring-human-suffering-opinion.html