[News] Israeli terrorism is getting worse because Western leaders are cowards, hypocrites

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/opinion/israeli-terrorism-is-getting-worse-because-western-leaders-a>
Israeli terrorism is getting worse because Western leaders are cowards,
hypocrites
Robert Inlakesh
August 30, 2026
------------------------------

Western powers condemn Israeli settler violence while enabling it, exposing
a double standard that has normalized "Israel’s" impunity.

   - [image: Israeli terrorism is getting worse because Western leaders are
   cowards, hypocrites]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2026/8/30/ee832840-8c95-49c0-a668-c6231524b742.png?width=1000>
   Western condemnations of Israeli settler violence ring hollow (Illustrated
   by Batoul Chamas for Al Mayadeen English)

Israeli terrorism against civilians across the occupied West Bank has
recently triggered condemnation from Western leadership – this shallow
rhetoric is overshadowed by their actions, which are driven by a cowardly
refusal to push back against the Zionist lobby.

Condemnations and statements of concern have been recently issued by US,
UK, and EU officials alike, in what appears at first glance to be pushback
against Israeli settler violence and expansionism in the occupied West
Bank. In fact, what we are witnessing is the continuation of a decades-long
tradition of hollow statements that act to save face by pretending as if
the settlers themselves are somehow rogue elements that can be judged
independent of the rest of the Zionist project.

In reality, settlement expansion is a regime project, as the violence of
the settlers themselves is too. The Zionist armed forces are hand in glove
with the settlers, to the point that military units such as the ‘Desert
Frontier’ have been set up to integrate the settler militias into the
occupation forces.

Even if the settlement movement was separate from the regime itself - as
the EU, UK, and US leaderships like to pretend so that they can continue
presenting themselves as capable of criticizing the Israelis - there has
been a carte blanche granted to the authorities in “Tel Aviv”, instead of
meaningful pushback that would coerce them into curtailing the aggressive
project of the settlers.

The moves being made in Western capitals represent the exact opposite of
genuine opposition to settler colonial violence and expansionism. US
President Donald Trump has refused to impose consequences on the Zionist
regime for the killings of 11 American citizens at the hands of settlers.

Instead, its latest move has been to proscribe Palestine Action as a
terrorist organization. That means that both Washington and London have
designated the activist group as such. This is not a group that engages in
armed action; it does not go after targets that are integral to US or UK
security, nor has it killed anyone. Palestine Action has been proscribed
for the “crime” of organizing actions against weapons factories that supply
the components for weapons used to commit genocide.

Interestingly, the news of Palestine Action being added to a US terror list
came alongside a declaration from Washington that it was removing Syria
from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List. Keep in mind that President
Trump has actively acknowledged that the man - whom he claims to have put
in power - was formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda. In fact, Hay'at Tahrir
al-Sham (HTS), which is now the ruling Party in Damascus, is a rebrand of
al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing, which was previously known as Jabhat al-Nussra. HTS
is no longer considered a terrorist group by the US, as per its recent
declaration.

This in itself demonstrates how unserious Western leadership takes the
issue of terrorism. Simply put, terrorism is opposing the Zionist
settler-colonial project. It can be guaranteed with a degree of certainty
that if Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa were to suddenly begin taking
measures against the Israelis in southern Syria, or supporting Palestinian
Resistance factions, there would be immediate sanctions and proscriptions
to follow. But because his administration has signed onto a “joint fusion
mechanism” to coordinate with Israeli intelligence, the former face of
al-Qaeda in Syria is welcomed across Europe, meets with British officials,
and is welcomed with open arms into the White House.

The collective West’s political class is stupefyingly corrupt and has spent
nearly three years performing puppet apologetics for a regime committing an
active genocide against the people of Gaza. No meaningful action is ever
taken. Even Western institutions like FIFA and Eurovision, alongside the
International Olympic Committee (IOC), have proven too cowardly to boot out
the Israelis, despite FIFA and IOC both taking measures to ban Russia over
the war in Ukraine.

Consider the recent threats by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
launch precision strikes on targets in Gaza because it found kites near the
separation barrier, forcing children to no longer enjoy a common hobby for
Palestinian children in the besieged territory. Most people have considered
this an utter outrage, mocking the mere premise of launching airstrikes
over children’s kites being flown.

Yet the Israelis were taken seriously when, back in 2018, they began
complaining of “terror balloons” and “terror kites” that young Gazans would
attach burning objects to, as retaliation for the mass shootings carried
out against unarmed protesters during the Great Return March. It may almost
seem comical that the Israelis complained about this and that the words
terror and balloon were combined in a serious sentence, yet Western
leadership adopted the very same language.

Take, for example, the 2021 designation of the Hamas political wing as a
‘terrorist organization’ in the United Kingdom. In their justification as
to why they decided to proscribe the political wing - because the Qassam
Brigades had long been on their list - the most in-depth example they cited
was the use of these balloons. Yes, balloons were used as the most
important example as to why Hamas was designated a "terrorist group" in the
United Kingdom.

The double standards are so stark that it beggars belief. At the end of the
day, it is the utter cowardice that emboldens the Zionist regime to do
whatever it chooses, whenever it likes. These Western governments and
institutions have allowed the Israelis to erode the post-WW2 international
order, destroyed the concepts of human rights and international law, and
normalized genocide, even ignoring domestic law, endangering their own
populations and undermining the fight against actual terrorism.

They render the international courts ineffective and take measures to
punish them for doing their jobs; they stand by and praise the Zionist
entity along with its allies in Washington as an alternative body to the
United Nations taking over control of the Gaza Strip. International borders
and national sovereignty no longer mean anything; embassies are no longer
off limits for airstrikes; and journalists can be mass executed with no
pushback.

A world that has been turned completely upside down, all so that a small
settler colonial regime whose ethno-supremacist cult following of
narcissistic psychopaths can have their way at every single turn. All of
this, then they turn around and pretend as if their completely shallow
statements about settler violence somehow mean anything. In many ways, it
would be better if they just closed their mouths. None of the violence they
pretend to condemn, without ever doing anything tangible to stop it, would
be possible if they had taken action to stop it.
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