What The Arab World Can Learn From The West — Despite The Blood On Its Hands

— Analysis —

BEIRUT — Western administrations shocked the Arab world after Oct. 7, 2023 not only with the extent of their double standards on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, but also with their unconditional support for Israel amid its blatant violations of international law, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

The surprise wasn’t in the nature or severity of this support — we’ve seen it many times — but rather in its scale and timing. Major administrations, such as the German chancellery and the U.S. administration, rushed to double their support for Israel the more the massacres increased, despite the rise of a global movement denouncing its practices in Gaza.

The double standard was all the more glaring, coming just a year and a half after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The world — especially those of us in the Arab region — witnessed how those same countries treated Russia as an aggressor, imposing severe political and economic sanctions, while offering unlimited support to Ukraine. The contrast between the two cases has been both revealing and scandalous.

These double standards were not limited to foreign policy; they extend to their treatment of human rights activists, students, faculty members and many immigrants in Europe and the United States who participated in protests against the genocide in Gaza.

These individuals were met with unprecedented violence, targeted arrests, threats of deportation and professional and academic ostracization — shattering the stereotypical image of Western democracies as bastions of free expression.

Public consciousness

Dictatorial regimes have tried to exploit these double standards to justify their existence and reinforce their narrative about the failure of democracy. That is, in itself, a continuation of ongoing attempts to manipulate public consciousness. These regimes strive to convince their people that democracy is not only inapplicable but also fundamentally fake. And they present themselves as a “realistic” alternative. This proposition is a clear insult to the people and a patronizing assumption that they are naïve and can adapt to unbearable conditions.

In this context, U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration represent one of the greatest challenges to American democracy. Nevertheless, the very tools of democracy continue to constrain and corner him. An example is U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Crawford’s decision to release Palestinian activist and Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi on bail after two weeks in detention. The judge compared the current U.S. political climate to the McCarthy era, when thousands were targeted for their political beliefs.

This ruling was considered a slap in the face to the Trump administration, which sought to deport students opposing Israel, in response to Trump’s desire to “cleanse” universities of “terrorist supporters and neo-Nazis,” as he described them. But such desires continue to clash with the U.S. Constitution, the judiciary and their defenders. These defenders were not necessarily driven by support for the Palestinian cause, but by a commitment to law and the Constitution, recognizing that undermining these principles threatens their own future as individuals and as a society.

All these are signs that democracy, despite its failings, is still alive.

So far, Gaza solidarity demonstrations of such magnitude have only taken place in Western democratic capitals, despite their governments’ blatant support for Israel. In contrast, the Arab world, ruled by authoritarian regimes, is in a state of total paralysis, with any attempt at expression or protest met with repression.

Student movements

In the United States — despite being Israel’s foremost supporter — a wide student movement has erupted across most major universities, led by students of diverse backgrounds and nationalities, united by collective awareness and shared humanity. They have not only called for an end to the massacres but also have demanded that their universities divest from companies supporting Israel.

Their public defiance of university administrations would not have been possible without their upbringing in a free environment that fosters awareness of rights. It would not have been possible without a democratic society that encourages independent thinking and breaking stereotypes, such as conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, or rejection of Zionism with extremism.

The university protests, the positions of students and faculty, certain judicial rulings, some congressional stances and even statements by the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretary-General: all these are signs that democracy, despite its failings, is still alive and has the tools for self-correction.

No comparison

A democratic system based on the rule of law cannot be compared to societies ruled by one man and governed through security crackdowns. Even when certain administrations in democracies attempt to circumvent values and institutions, they are met with strenuous resistance and exposed before the public — as happened with figures now associated with justifying genocide in the collective memory.

In contrast, dictatorial regimes grow increasingly brutal. Not content with silencing their people, they seek to reshape society in the image of the leader — a society that sanctifies obedience and fears critical thinking.

Just imagine what Arab students could have created to express their visions of the ongoing massacres, had they been given the space.

This is the fundamental difference that democracy creates. This is the meaning of living in a free society despite its contradictions. Just imagine what Arab students could have created to express their visions of the ongoing massacres, had they been given the space.

Could such expressions have extended to building a future in the Middle East that embraces its citizens — including Palestinians in the diaspora — just as Germany embraced its people from the East and West after unification?