Consent to the obliteration of Gaza has created an enormous gulf in the global moral order. History will record how Western governments and large sections of their elites have supported the war waged by Israel against Palestinians after Hamas's attack on 7 October 2023 and silenced voices calling for a ceasefire, a just peace and a respect of international law. Not only buildings have been devastated and civilians massacred, but also language and thought have been damaged. Providing an archive of the first six months of the war nourished by multiple sources, the book examines how the past of occupation and oppression of Palestine has been negated, how a vocabulary and a grammar of facts have been imposed, how accusations of antisemitism have produced censorship and self-censorship, how mainstream media have been restrained and biased. It addresses the acceptance of the unequal worth of lives and the differential treatment of deaths. It questions the invocation of the existential threat for Israel and the debt contracted because of the Holocaust. It analyses how the geopolitical and economic stakes in the Middle East and the growing rejection of Muslims and Arabs have contributed to the abdication of values and principles claimed as foundational.

How most Western governments and elites have supported the destruction of Gaza and silenced voices calling for the rights of Palestinians

About the Author
Didier Fassin is Professor at the College de France, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. Anthropologist, sociologist and physician, he conducted research in Senegal, Congo, South Africa, Ecuador, and France, focusing on moral and political issues. Recipient of the Gold Medal in anthropology and the Nomis Distinguished Scientist Award, he is a member of the American Philosophical Society and a former Vice-President of Medecins sans frontieres. He authored 23 books, translated in 9 languages, including Humanitarian Reason. A Moral History of the Present and Enforcing Order. An Ethnography of Public Policing, and edited 27 collective volumes.


Book Information
ISBN 9781804299678
Author Didier Fassin
Format Paperback
Page Count 128
Imprint Verso Books
Publisher Verso Books
Weight(grams) 150g