Western countries are fond of showing to the rest of the world how civilised they are. Growing up in the Middle East, in Lebanon, I always looked up to them. To their respect for human rights and their liberal approach when it comes to individual freedom and even animal rights. That is something of the past. While my region is on fire, the Western world collectively silently looks the other way.

By Marwa El-Murr
It is more than just deception; it is a disappointment. I am disappointed in myself because I looked up to their way of life for as long as I can remember. I am disappointed to have been deceived by the illusion that liberty, civilisation, and respect for human rights have always been peculiar to the West.

I thought that was what separated us.

That image has completely changed after the Gaza war broke out - this week a year ago - and, consequently, the Israeli war against my country. I am not even sure if we can call it a war anymore. Is war not a battle between two parties with equal power?

What we have been experiencing now is nothing less than a crime committed against humanity, with the compliments - and financial support - of the Western world. Everything, nowadays, seems to be falling under the common denominator of Israel’s right to defend itself. No matter how many innocent people die.

Silence of atrocities means accepting. Silence means being complicit. From my perspective, that is the biggest crime.

Being a Lebanese, being a human being, I used to cry every night when I saw what was happening around us. In Palestine, in Syria, in Yemen, and my country. I cried when I saw kids being bombed, families executed, and millions of people displaced. Day in and day out, the same images.

Non-stop.

The pain I felt as a mother is something I can not even begin to describe. The destruction and the powerlessness keep me breathless. Even that is understated.

After one year of seeing those horrific images on TV and on the videos that are shared daily via social media, I became numb. As if I am getting used to it, as if it had become routine; a new nomal that everyone accepts. Is it acceptable to normalise such things from a human point of view?

If that is the case, what will happen next?

Does the civilised Western world realise the impact of this war on the future of the kids? What do they expect their future to look like? Their houses destroyed, their loved ones dead, and their families displaced. Need I go on?

They will be handicapped for life.

A new generation of children with no more feelings who lost everything they had. A new generation that lost their humanity. Not a generation with dreams of becoming doctors, engineers or whatever, but a generation of broken, angry people full of hate and resentment.

A new generation that wants revenge.  

And to be honest, I cannot blame them. The Western world, which collectively looked the other way when it happened, is to be blamed for this. They are complicit in their silence.

Let me be very clear: I am not a writer. I am a Christian mother living with her daughter on the ‘right’ side of Beirut—at least for now. I am only sharing my personal experience because it affects me daily and every night.

Like any other ordinary Lebanese, it all started for me this week, one year ago in the south of Lebanon, when Hezbollah decided to attack Israel and enter this war to support Gaza without asking anyone in my country about their opinion.

Since that moment, I have been living in a dilemma. I don’t support their ideology, not even a bit. They do not represent me, and I don’t believe that the Gazza war is our war. At the same time, from a humanity perspective, I was expecting interference from the West.

What started in Gazza this week a few years ago is now happening in Lebanon. We are experiencing the same fear, the same sleepless nights, and the same killing machine is after our kids now. For almost three weeks, Beirut has been bombed. Every day and every night, killing innocent people.

What Israel considered a threat is now eliminated—from the top down all the way to the bottom. But the aggression continues. Even after one year, the civilised West, with all its human rights and civil liberty, still looks the other way. They remain silent.

What a deception.Marwa El Murr is a Lebanese businesswoman based in Beirut. She is the co-owner of Much Consulting, an agency specialising in management consultancy and internal auditing. This is her first contribution to the Liberum.