HOW MANY PALESTINIAN HUMAN BEINGS have to die before the Global North’s cocktail circuit finds a comfortable euphemism for genocide?

Remember when leaders from the Global North couldn’t stop talking about “never again”? When they’d stand at memorials in designer suits and camera-ready grief, hands clasped just-so, faces calibrated to precisely the right degree of solemn, spouses arranged in perfect formation wearing custom-tailored compassion, all promising that genocide would never happen on their watch?

Well, folks, it turns out there was some fine print we all missed, as “never again” evidently comes with terms and conditions.

It would seem never again in fact never meant never again. It just meant never again to those who look like us, live like us, vote like us, profit like us. Never again to those whose deaths might actually cost us something at the polls.

Never again for those we choose.

But the rest? Well, that’s just the price of doing business in the empire. And nothing, but nothing, exposes this hypocrisy quite like watching the parade of self-proclaimed liberals — and many so-called progressives — in the United States today.

You see, being ‘into’ human rights in the U.S., being anti-racist in the U.S., being oh-so-egalitarian in the U.S., has become something of a performance art. It’s easy to post black squares on Instagram and to condemn domestic racism while sitting pretty on the couch with a glass of chardy. But when it comes to Palestinians? That’s where the mask of enlightened values starts to slip, revealing the ugly face of imperialism underneath.

I used to have a friend — an actress, actually. A pretty famous one. She was the most ‘normal’ actress I’d ever met, constantly posting about her anti-racism journey, always ready to speak up about injustice.

Until Gaza.
Funny how that works.

Amnesty International just dropped a damning report that should shatter any remaining illusions about Western moral leadership. Their exhaustive investigation, based on interviews with 212 people and mountains of evidence, concludes that Israel is indeed committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Not “alleged” genocide.
Not “possible” genocide.
Genocide.

And yet here we are, doing absolutely fucking nothing about it.

I remember a phone call with my actress friend in November last year before she visited our mutual friend. “I need to know what I’m walking into,” she said, voice tight with concern. Our friend had been posting daily about Palestine, sharing stories of death and destruction, calling out Western complicity. I’d been doing the same. We were unapologetic about where we stood. But when I mentioned the word ‘genocide’, she cut me off like I’d just questioned the entire foundation of her carefully curated moral identity . . .

Meanwhile, the truth tells a different story that’s impossible to ignore: In this systematic, U.S.-sanctioned slaughter, seven out of ten Palestinians killed are women and children. Entire cities reduced to rubble. 90% of Gaza’s population forcibly displaced. Entire family lines, exterminated. Forever.

As Mohammed, a displaced Palestinian quoted in the report, said: “It’s like an apocalypse . . . you feel like you are subhuman here.”

And what’s the response from our moral beacon-bearing Western leaders? They’re still signing arms deals, of course. Still sending weapons. Still enabling this catastrophe while muttering platitudes about “Israel’s right to defend itself.”

The U.S. and Germany — two countries that have built almost their entire modern identities around “never again” — are leading the parade of arms suppliers. The U.K. and E.U. member states aren’t far behind. And Australia? Oh, Australia’s doing what it does best: Following along like an eager puppy, tip-toeing around Israel’s actions with diplomatic niceties and continuing military exports. Each of these countries so spinelessly terrified to face the undeniable truth of genocide in fear they will be called antisemitic. Yet don’t these moral cowards realize the real antisemitism lies in suggesting that Jewish states must be judged by different rules to everyone else? Treating Israel differently because of its Jewish identity isn’t protecting against discrimination — it’s practicing it. It’s not fighting antisemitism — it’s weaponizing it. All while Palestinians are systematically exterminated to ease their guilty consciences.

It’s like watching arsonists sell matches while claiming they’re deeply concerned about fire safety. Or watching writers, influencers, journalists, and actresses peddle anti-racism and mutter “never again” while actively enabling racist mass murder in service of violent, grotesque imperialism.

When my actress friend posts about American racial justice, American women’s rights, and American domestic oppression while staying silent on Palestinian genocide, she’s not being “complicated” or “nuanced” — she’s showing us exactly which lives she thinks matter.

It’s the same playbook Western feminists have been running since colonial times: Wrapping imperial violence in a feminist bow.

Amnesty’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, didn’t mince words: “States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they’re violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide.”

Translation: What we have all been screaming. Our leaders aren’t just watching genocide happen — they’re fucking enabling it.

The report demolishes every excuse that’s been trotted out.

Military necessity?
Nope.

Hamas’s presence in civilian areas?
Doesn’t justify this level of destruction.

Israel’s repeated claims about Hamas diverting aid?
Pure horseshit. The report found no evidence to justify their stranglehold on humanitarian supplies.

What we’re witnessing isn’t just a humanitarian crisis — it’s the complete collapse of Western moral pretension. The mask has slipped, revealing the ugly truth about selective outrage and conditional humanity.

Our leaders’ moral compass doesn’t point north — it points toward political cowardice and convenience. And some of our friends? Fuck. Their moral compasses spin like roulette wheels, always stopping on whatever bet won’t spoil the next glass of chardonnay.

Here’s the part where it gets personal . . . this genocide? It’s got our fingerprints all over it. If you’re living in the U.S., U.K., Australia, or any other Western nation, this isn’t some faraway tragedy you get to scroll past. This is happening with our money, our weapons, our imperial diplomatic cover.

Every time our leaders veto a ceasefire resolution or approve another arms shipment, they’re making a choice. They’re deciding whose lives matter and whose don’t. Just like my actress friend decided whose oppression was worth speaking up about and whose wasn’t.

We can’t pretend anymore that this is someone else’s problem or someone else’s failure. This is happening on our watch, with our complicity, in our names. And that stain, as Callamard says, “Will remain on our collective conscience”.

The question now isn’t whether genocide is happening — that’s been answered. The question is: What are we going to do about it?

Because right now, “never again” is indeed happening again, and our leaders are still signing the checks. And unlike my actress friend, we can’t simply sit by and justify searching for softer words to make ourselves feel better about mass death.

Some things are exactly what they are: Genocide. And no amount of selective anti-racism, imperial feminism, or cocktail party euphemisms can sanitize this blood from the hands of all who deny it.