The past two and a half years in Gaza have seen a military campaign that investigators say “sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.” Experts and leading human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have categorized this as genocide, the intentional destruction of a group packages to be sent of people in whole or in part, as defined by the United Nations.

Conditions in Gaza have become unlivable. According to the Human Rights Watch, the Israeli military has intentionally destroyed life-sustaining infrastructure, leaving the city with little to no cropland, water, sanitation facilities and hospital services. Israel has also blocked trucks that carry life-saving international humanitarian aid to Gaza, where its 2.2 million people now face starvation, according to reports provided to the United Nations. Bombing campaigns continue and perpetual displacement has not stopped.

Throughout this violence, the United States has continued its pattern of unconditional support for Israel. In February, President Donald Trump and his administration approved about 7.2 billion dollars in military assistance to Israel, per reporting from Reuters, and defunded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, one of Gaza’s most vital aid agencies, during his first term.

The United States and Israel claim to be bastions of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech — this is a blatant lie. Genocidal intent is baked into political discourse, with propaganda and government repression keeping us complicit and active participants in violence.

In Israel, dehumanizing, racist and derogatory language toward Palestinians is frequently used by officials. For example, in October 2023, former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said of Hamas that “we are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.” In June 2024, the Israeli government posted a now-deleted video on X, where a released hostage said that “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza.

This language only justifies and normalizes genocide against Palestinians. Reports from Amnesty International suggest that there is “systemic impunity but also the creation of an environment that emboldens, if not tacitly rewards, such behaviour” like unlawful conduct and violence — even now. For instance, last week, the Israeli war cabinet announced an operation called “Gideon’s Chariots,” which details potentially permanently occupying Gaza through a mass removal of Palestinians. This plan’s genocidal details are clear — the name itself is a reference to a biblical warrior who led people to annihilate the Midianites, a group of people in the Middle East.

Here in the United States, atrocity propaganda is common in mainstream media reports on Gaza. This is a form of psychological warfare that spreads “information about the crimes committed by an enemy, especially deliberate fabrications or exaggerations,” according to a Mondoweiss article. Propaganda like this keeps us complacent through its goal of vilifying the enemy to justify violence as “retaliation.”

The common “fighting to free the hostages” narrative is atrocity propaganda. Israel is not meaningfully fighting to save the hostages, as it repeatedly sabotages ceasefire deals. The violated agreement with Hamas in January is a clear example of this.

This deal, which led to 25 Israeli hostages being released in its first phase, was supposed to continue, but Israel broke the agreement. As of May 12, 58 hostages remain in Gaza. On March 29, over 100,000 people across Israel protested the government’s failure to protect its citizens and decision to continue an unpopular war.

Recently, Trump said that aid to Gaza has not reached civilians because “Hamas is making it impossible because they’re taking everything that’s brought in.” This contradicts aid officials who have stated that little humanitarian aid went astray when supplies were allowed in January, according to the Guardian. Misinformation like this makes Israel’s intentional starvation of the population in Gaza seem justified.

In the United States and Israel, Palestinians are portrayed as aggressors, overlooking the fact that Israel attacks the fabric of Palestinian identity and life. This narrative in media and language conditions us to believe that Israel’s violence is a form of self-defense, shielding us from the reality of genocide. Being critical of mainstream narratives and educating ourselves on colonial violence and Palestinian liberation movements is necessary to unlearn this propaganda.

Doing what we can to help Palestinians and dismantle the systems around us that cause this violence should be our obligation.

Rocco DiMatteo is a senior majoring in environmental science.

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.