[runarberg]

To my eyes, Israel is held to the standard of a colonial European power in the 1960s, just prior to decolonization.

The atrocities and horrors of European colonization were indeed recognized, but not loudly, the media talked about it, but in a weird tone, often justifying or devaluing the lives of the colonized peoples. Resistance movements among the colonized were described as terrorists, and any fight against them (which was a fight to keep the European colonies) was described as just and moral. The UN spoke against colonization, but was ignored. Human rights abuses in the colonies were ignored or justified amongst western governments.

Of course Israel today doesn’t parallel this dark time period of European history. But the standards applied to Israel today are in many ways quite similar to the standards applied to a European colonial power aiming to keep their colonies.