If the first casualty of war is truth, distraction is a second danger. The war between Israel and Iran has distracted attention from the continuing Israeli slaughter of civilians in Gaza.
The health ministry there says the confirmed total death toll since the appalling Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023 has now risen to more than 56,500, with over 133,000 people wounded.
Yesterday the Israeli air force launched further air strikes in Gaza, where dozens were reported dead and injured. Israel had ordered civilians to leave areas, but in Gaza’s rubble-strewn wasteland they had nowhere safe to go.
Using jet fighters against trapped civilians is not war. It is cold-blooded killing. Apart from the dead and injured, Israel’s inhumanity in Gaza is creating an endless legacy of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.
Its policy of effectively starving the living adds to their suffering. Meanwhile, the almost daily pogroms against defenceless Palestinians in the West Bank have resulted in the ethnic cleansing of what is yet an unknown area of land.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was using American-made F-35 jet fighters to kill civilians, the High Court in London ruled that it was lawful for Keir Starmer to continue exporting parts for those fighters.
This was despite the court accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
The European Union cannot agree a policy on Gaza. It remains Israel’s main trading partner. It also remains silent on Israel’s actions.
With support or silence from the Western powers, Netanyahu is under no pressure to stop the killing. How many dead civilians does he think will represent victory in war?
He is currently facing criminal charges of bribery and fraud at home. War is also a helpful distraction from personal difficulties.
If the outside world has not stopped Netanyahu, will the Israeli people do so?
While there has been growing internal opposition to him recently, his initiation of war with Iraq silenced his critics. It is hard to criticise a prime minister when Iranian rockets are falling on Israeli cities.
Netanyahu did not only see Iran as his enemy. He regarded many of his own people and some former army commanders who criticised him in that same light. By waging war on Iran, he has silenced his critics at home.
This means that only the West can stop the genocide in Gaza by ending political and military support to Israel.
The USA, Britain and the EU are unlikely to do so, which means that Netanyahu can go on killing civilians in Gaza for as long as he likes, while the world looks the other way.
That’s the other benefit of distraction – it is very useful in bypassing morality.
