GUEST BLOG: Pat O’Dea – Silence is Compliance
As the genocide in Gaza nears its final gory conclusion the mea-culpas start coming in.
Following Former IDF Major General Yair Golan admitting last week, that the IDF is “killing children as a hobby”.
Israeli ex-PM Ehud Olmert, has admitted that Israel is committing genocide…
“…..On this issue, the position of senior government figures is public and clear. Yes, we’ve been denying Gazans food, medicine and basic living needs as part of an explicit policy. Netanyahu, typically, is trying to blur the type of orders he’s been giving, in order to evade legal and criminal responsibility in due course. But some of his lackeys are saying so outright, in public, even with pride: Yes, we will starve out Gaza. Because all Gazans are Hamas, there’s no moral or operational limitation on exterminating them all, over two million people.” Ehud Olmert Prime Minister of Israel 2006 – 2009
Only Now after almost 20 months of unrelenting genocidal attacks on the Palestinian population of Gaza and the West Bank, are Israeli leaders, and indeed Western politicians and media pundits finally speaking up. Too late! your silence has permitted this.
How do liberals enable genocide?
Pastor Niemöller gives us a clue.
“First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out….
And I did not speak out….
“Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out….
And I did not speak out….
“Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out….
And I did not speak out….
“Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out….”
And I did not speak out….”
Pastor Martin Niemöller did not say, ‘I did not fight the Nazis’
Paster Niemoller merely said, “I did not speak out”
Paster Niemoller merely said, “I did not speak out”
Pastor Niemöller told us that German liberals did not speak out. They kept their silence. This silence was all the permission the Nazis needed to commit the atrociiites they did.
German liberals gave their silent consent that enabled the Holocaust.
German liberals gave their silent consent that enabled the Holocaust.
Fast forward to Owen Jones condemning the UK government and media for their silence up until now.
….British journalist Owen Jones delivered a blistering condemnation of the UK government and mainstream media, accusing them of complicity in what he described as “genocidal depravity” in Gaza…..
@0:03 minutes:
Imagine sitting through 19 months of genocidal depravity, of the worst possible crimes that can be committed against humans….
Imagine sitting through 19 months of genocidal depravity, of the worst possible crimes that can be committed against humans….
@30:42 minutes
Imagine sitting through all of that, and taking 19 months to say anything….
Imagine sitting through all of that, and taking 19 months to say anything….
@2:01 Minutes:
My esteemed respected colleagues in the British media, I just want to say this to,( not to those who actively still cheer on this genocide who should just be considered depraved social outcasts), No I’m talking about the people who still remain silent apart from empty platitudes
What is going through your heads right now?
i think you’re becoming increasingly aware that this is one of the great crimes of our age. And maybe you just think you could vanish and disappear into the background. And no one will notice that you failed to do your job.
But let’s be clear about your silence…..
My esteemed respected colleagues in the British media, I just want to say this to,( not to those who actively still cheer on this genocide who should just be considered depraved social outcasts), No I’m talking about the people who still remain silent apart from empty platitudes
What is going through your heads right now?
i think you’re becoming increasingly aware that this is one of the great crimes of our age. And maybe you just think you could vanish and disappear into the background. And no one will notice that you failed to do your job.
But let’s be clear about your silence…..
…..Because if you have power and influence, and your government is facilitating genocide, and you remain silent, you are complicit in that genocide….
This genocide is not fully over yet. The final atrocity is yet to come. The Israeli state fully intends to use violence and starvation to drive the remaining Palestinian population out of Gaza.
Will we let the Israelis expel or kill the Palestinians so that they can smooth over the rubble and seal the mass graves, to prevent the full forensic evidence of this genocide being uncovered and revealed to the world?
A mass civil society march across the Sinai Desert to Gaza is being organised by those of us who refused to keep our silence during this genocide. Our intent is to defy the IDF’s guns and break the Israelis’ starvation siege of Gaza.
How is this courageous civil society effort to break the siege of Gaza not front page news?
The siege must end. The BBC has reported that 9,000 trucks filled with aid are lined up at the border, and being prevented from crossing into Gaza. If we are prevented from entering Gaza with this aid, or gunned down, as the Palestinian people are being gunned down. it will be because Western media journalists decide to keep up their silent complicity. And refuse to cover this global civil society effort to break the siege.
From Kia Ora Gaza 24 May 2025:
Activists and health care professionals from 31 countries are organizing a “Global March to Gaza” next month, aiming to put pressure on international bodies to act amid the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.
Participants will gather in Egypt on June 12 and march to the Rafah border crossing in northern Sinai as part of a week-long campaign demanding immediate humanitarian access to Gaza, where aid has been cut off since March 2….
Pat O’Dea is a staunch unionist and activist
The USA spearheads this genocide. Israel is merely their horrid proxy. Speak out against Israel and you speak out against the USA. This is why there is silence – nobody wants to draw the wrath of the USA! Only civil unrest from within can break the external hold the USA holds over the world.
And of course the takeover of Syria by the murderous ISIS beasts who have completely surrendered to ‘israel’.
According to the text, what is the perceived consequence of the prior silence from Israeli leaders, Western politicians, and media pundits?