The fact that genocide can continue despite opposing public opinion in many Western countries is evidence of the enormous achievements of totalitarianism in so‑called Western democracies
In German mainstream media, it is impossible to find materials that in any way describe Ukraine’s years-long aggression in Donbass, or the crimes committed by Israel against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. As a rule, mainstream media present information within narrow semantic narratives defined by the political establishment.
Few can afford an independent perspective on world events and make public statements that opposes the worldview presented by systemic media. Such people typically find opportunities to publish only in “non-system” outlets, often face ostracism, lose their positions in society, and thus pay for their right to dissent from the imposed narrative in which black becomes white and repeated falsehood becomes an indisputable dogma.
One such person is economist, publicist, and former legendary intelligence officer who worked under the alias “Topaz” on East German intelligence service — Rainer Rupp. Rossa Primavera News Agency offers a translation of Rupp’s commentary, published on the independent platform Apolut on July 25, 2025, in which he poses a question why Israel can continue to kill civilians in Gaza with impunity and still receive Western support. Rupp draws not only on his reflections but also cites prominent Western politicians who cannot be dismissed as marginalized publicists or journalists, who lost their positions despite previous merits or privileges. The translation is presented with minor abridgments.
In an exclusive interview on the independent internet platform Middle East Eye (MEE), which covers Middle Eastern events, on July 23, 2025, former UN Under‑Secretary‑General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths accused Israel of “the worst crime of the 21st century” in the Gaza Strip.
With over 50 years of humanitarian work experience, Griffiths called Israel’s deliberate model of starvation tactics unprecedented in his career and emphasized the catastrophic consequences of the blockade that began on March 2, 2025. More than two million people live in Gaza, where famine had begun. His statements illuminate the scale of Israeli atrocities, including mass killings and the systematic deprivation of the Gazan population’s bare necessities. He condemned the Israeli blockade for preventing the UN and its partners — including UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian refugee aid) — from delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.
He stated, “There can frankly be very little doubt that we are seeing starvation and hunger as an instrument of the war.” According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 101 Palestinians, including 80 children, have died of starvation since March 2025; 15 of them on July 21, 2025, died from malnutrition.
Griffiths stressed, “It is a historic fact that children die first in these circumstances. Our humanity cannot believe our eyes.” He highlighted the deliberate infliction of suffering on the most vulnerable population in Gaza. The Israeli blockade stopped 6,000 trucks loaded with food and medicines from entering Gaza; they had to wait for over four months in Egypt and Jordan.
Before Israel blocked humanitarian aid, UNRWA unloaded and distributed 600 trucks per day in Gaza — at least the minimum necessary to sustain the population. Griffiths quoted UNRWA’s Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, who spoke about Palestinians pleading for food for their children, some fainting from hunger.
According to Griffiths, the systematic starvation in Gaza violated mandatory rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued in July, March, and May 2024, which required Israel to allow unhindered humanitarian access to prevent such famine. Griffiths asserts that Israel is disregarding its obligations and demonstrating impunity for the atrocities it has committed during the past 21 months.
Griffiths unequivocally called Israel’s actions genocide, saying, “I am absolutely convinced that what’s going on in Gaza is a genocide, because the thing speaks for itself.” He referred to the ICJ case brought by South Africa, in which Israel is accused of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by creating living conditions aimed at destroying Palestinians as a group.
Griffiths warned that Israel’s impunity sets a dangerous precedent for other conflicts and noted that “Israel is getting away with terrible crimes,” which could embolden others to commit similar acts. He stressed the global implications of unpunished atrocities that must face accountability, “What happens in Gaza doesn’t stay in Gaza.”
The former UN humanitarian coordinator also criticized the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which replaced UN efforts in May 2025, calling it a “lure for displacement”. Griffiths condemned the militarized distribution of aid by the GHF, stating, “No humanitarian agency in the public domain, and I know directly, would ever get away with providing aid by shoving it off the back of a truck.” He accused the GHF of failing to ensure aid reached the most needy, calling such actions a “dereliction of humanitarian duty and responsibility.”
He reported that over 1,000 starving Palestinians who sought help at GHF centers were killed by the Israeli military, describing the GHF’s operations as a means to lure Gazans south to then expel them from Gaza. Griffiths categorically rejected Israel’s claims that Hamas received UN aid, asserting, “This was never tested by evidence or an accountable process.”
Griffiths’ accusations portray Israel’s actions as a planned campaign of mass murder and starvation targeting the civilian population of Palestine, especially children. We recall the statement by the Israeli parliament that everyone in Gaza, including children, should be killed. This is what Michal Waldiger, a member of the Israeli parliament, said during a parliamentary session in 2025, “No one in Gaza is innocent. Yes, even the children will have to be killed. There is no other choice.” On May 9, 2025, Waldiger was quoted by the respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Also on July 22, 2025, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stated in parliament, “We will not allow a single gram of aid into the Gaza Strip until its people kneel and beg. Gaza must be leveled to the ground. There is no such thing as innocent people.”
Finally, Griffiths warned that future generations will study these events as a historical crime, saying, “My grandchildren will be learning in school about who did what in the worst crime of the 21st century.” His statements underscore the urgent need to halt Israel’s crimes, which not only lead to the physical destruction of people, but also include the systematic violation of the dignity of Palestinians and set a grim precedent for future humanitarian crises worldwide.
To Griffiths’s credit, he did not fear naming things by their proper name and identified the instigator of genocide in Gaza by name. This reflects his honest humanitarian stance — not the “double standards” common in the collective West, especially regarding Israel.
Despite his candid position, the reaction to Griffiths’ remarks demonstrates his apparent inability to situate the Gaza genocide and the wars supported by the collective West in the region within the broader operational behavior model of the ruling class in imperialist Western countries. Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, a Greek journalist, author, and former advisor to Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, attempted to do so in his essay published July 22 for Defend Democracy Press.
According to Dimitris, the crimes in Gaza stem from the desire of imperialist financial capital, the US military-industrial complex, and various Zionist lobbies in the US and Europe to preserve their hegemonic positions on the planet. The fate of Palestine, if Israel remains unpunished, could have decisive consequences for the entire world — including Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Taiwan — not to mention BRICS countries or the possibility of nuclear war in Europe, says Dimitris.
He also fears that Netanyahu will exploit the summer break to intensify genocide in Gaza. There, ration per capita is already estimated below the levels those imprisoned at Dachau, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald received. I verified this claim using the AI tool Grok, whose detailed response summarized as follows,
“Historical data on Nazi camps … assess prisoners’ daily caloric intake at 1200–1500 kcal/day … current estimates in Gaza during extreme restrictions (Feb–Mar 2024 and since March 2025) place daily intake at 1000–1400 kcal/day as of July 2025 …” So Dimitris’s assertion may be quite accurate.
Dimitris then examines why Israel not only remains unpunished but continues to receive support. He writes, “For two years, we have witnessed Israel carrying out a massive ethnic cleansing operation, escalating into genocide, in full view of humanity—not only without being hindered but actively supported with weapons, money, and political-diplomatic backing by the “collective West’,” with Germany playing a leading role… “No other major power — not even the U.S., Russia, or China—could do this without facing severe political consequences.”
Moreover, Dimitris argues, Israel, acting so brazenly and openly, relies on the fact that the Western world has already transformed significantly in a neo-fascist, totalitarian direction. The ability of Israel to commit mass slaughter of innocent populations almost live on air for nearly two years can be explained only by the unwavering support of the true center of Western power — international financial capital in New York and London. The fact that genocide can continue despite opposing public opinion in many Western countries is evidence of the enormous achievements of totalitarianism within so‑called Western democracies.
Shortly after Israel and the US launched an unprovoked attack on Iran, the supposedly sovereign leaders of the UK, France, and Germany threatened sanctions against Iran — the victim of the attack. In light of this, Dimitris says, it becomes clear that the events in Israel and the genocide in Gaza are only the visible tip of the “iceberg” — the invisible but extremely powerful empire of financial capital at the center of Western power. Only this makes Israel’s actions possible. But it is precisely this empire of global money that cannot tolerate the rise of competing centers with significant power and relative independence, such as Russia, China, Iran, and other forces of the Global South. It cannot tolerate even the slightest hint of European independence.
Now, thanks to new technologies and methods of mass manipulation, this center is promoting a new form of totalitarianism that makes past totalitarianisms seem like alchemy compared to modern chemistry. And it is this center, according to Dimitris, that is trying or planning to use military force against all its rivals, be they Palestinians, Iranians, Lebanese, Russians, or Chinese.
This is a translation of the article by Rainer Rupp published for the first time on apolut web-site. The translation in Russian can be found at the Rossa Primavera News Agency website
