Gaza will be crushed like a cockroach because there is no justice there.
International law and justice exist only in the minds of the naive and the weak.
I love the United States of America; I love them with every cell of my body.
I love them because they represent my security and peace of mind, and certainly not thanks to international law — I have already said it, this does not exist.
Rather, it is thanks to violence and the use of force.
Many citizens of the world, naive and ignorant, believe that international law is similar to domestic law: a set of norms and rules regulating civil behaviour, with corresponding penalties such as prison, fines, or confiscations.
Within a State this system works. If you misbehave, the police arrive, beat you, and take you to prison; afterwards you will be tried and, if found guilty, you will serve your sentence.
Among citizens we are forbidden to fight each other: otherwise our cities would become vast arenas, modern Colosseums. If we wish to pursue our wellbeing, our health, and even our ”Netflix and chill”, we cannot afford to resolve conflicts with fists.
None of us are allowed to be violent — except the State.
The State can — indeed, must — use force to repress every criminal who disregards common rules.
It must strike those who believe they can dominate others.
Those who are European and born after the Second World War have never lived through periods of great chaos; for this reason, they have convinced themselves that the mechanisms functioning within States can also apply to international relations, through international law.
There is only one problem: if two citizens are in conflict, the State intervenes with its judiciary; but between two States, who should intervene?
“The UN,” someone might say.
I am sorry, but no. The UN was created as the long arm of the United States — even though recently it has begun to turn against its master — and the famous international law was conceived to be accommodating to Washington.
After the Second World War, and again after the Cold War, the United States, as the sole global hegemon, imposed its own rules of the game: its own world order.
In this order there are “allied” countries, de facto vassals: Italy, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Israel, and many others.
It prescribes the existence of military bases scattered across half the world and strategic choke points patrolled and guaranteed by the American Navy.
Globalization? This is it: aircraft carriers and cruisers stationed in every corner of the globe.
International law, which we now understand to be merely a tool of U.S. foreign policy, functions in this way:
“A state wants to do something that also benefits the U.S.? Excellent: international law allows it.”
“An anti-Western adversary wants to do something the U.S. dislikes? Then it will be threatened with the claim that international law forbids it; if it refuses, it will be bombed.”
This is why certain actions are permitted to some States and denied to others.
Disputes between private citizens are regulated by law, because the State guarantees its enforcement. Disputes between States, however, are governed by the law of the jungle: the law of the strongest.
It has always been so.
Every empire has imposed its own rules, and these held until a challenger managed to impose a new world order.
This is why I love the United States: because as an Italian I enjoy a lifestyle and individual freedoms envied by half the world.
And this is why Gaza will be razed to the ground. Because this operation, just like the bombing of Iran, benefits Israel, the United States, and, indirectly, us Europeans.
Why does it benefit us? You can read it here:
There is no justice in Gaza.
I have often heard people question the legitimacy of what is happening in Gaza.
Can Israel destroy every single building?
Can Israel impose a naval blockade on Gaza?
If you have read this far in the article, you will have understood that asking these questions is naïve.
It is foolish to ask about legitimacy when, in reality, no one will stop you — provided you have the strength to defend yourself. And above all, if you belong to the Western bloc led by the United States.
Think of the 12-day war, the one between Israel and Iran. The first strike was carried out by Israel.
Was it legitimate? Nobody cares whether it was: Israel did it, and that was that.
Now think about the war between Russia and Ukraine. The Russians struck first. According to international law, that is called an invasion and therefore is not legitimate.
Do you see the point? I think you do.
So yes, Gaza will face total devastation.
The border with Egypt will be physically sealed. The population will be cut off from the Rafah crossing. The tunnels will be dismantled one by one. And nothing will enter Gaza that has not first been sniffed by a dog trained to detect the scent of gunpowder.
Gaza will become an open-air prison. This time for real.
And nobody will say anything. Nobody, except for a few naïve people who will keep asking: is it legitimate?
The truth is simple, brutal, and melancholy: it is legitimate if you are strong enough that no one can prevent you.
It is a cruel world, but that is how it works.
And as I have already written in other articles, this war will probably never end.
The people of Gaza will never have a State, because they did not have the foresight to build one when they had the chance. Because they were never satisfied with living alongside Israel: they wanted to erase it, to replace it with a Palestine that included Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel itself.
But that scenario will remain an illusion. For the same reason Gaza faces devastation: the Palestinians do not have the power to erase Israel from the map. Israel is far stronger. And now that it can impose its will, it will do so to the fullest.
There will be no justice in Gaza. Not for Palestinian civilians, and certainly not for those who die: victims just as much as the victims of October 7.
The executioner, in both cases, is the same: Hamas.
Hamas is not only a terrorist organization: it is an idea.
It is in the dusty alleys of Gaza, but above all in the minds of those who have been radicalized.
It is that dark thought that pushes you to want to kill Jews, to want to destroy a State that you cannot defeat.
Israel may be able to kill the organization’s leaders, destroy arsenals and shelters, but how do you uproot an idea? How do you eliminate a virus that seeps into the consciences of adolescents who pick up weapons moved by hatred?
Perhaps you cannot.
And so there will be no justice in Gaza, as long as that ideological flame continues to burn in the young.
And I would not want to be in the Israelis’ shoes.
Nor in the Palestinians’ either.
May God help them.
Choose which one.
Per aspera ad astra.
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Tremendous piece, Simone! Grazie for writing it. I’m going to do my damndest to get people to read it.