Why are so many apologists for Israel’s genocide in Gaza suddenly changing their tune now? Why are political opportunists like Hillary Clinton suddenly choosing to highlight the human-made famine? Because they have seen the photographs of skeletal babies too. But this is not about empathy or solidarity. This is about reputational damage control.

Clinton has said nothing about Israel’s blockade, or the flattening of Gaza, or the thousands killed or maimed by Israeli carpet-bombing which far outdoes previous wars. She has said nothing about her own complicity or her condescending condemnation of student protestors as they spoke out against an obvious genocide.

Clinton, along with Barrack Obama, Keir Starmer, Mark Carney, Emmanuel Macron and Hakeem Jeffries know that their tepid lamentations will have absolutely no material effect. Strongly worded tweets mean nothing when policy remains virtually unchanged. When there are no sanctions or consequences to actions. They know that Israel enjoys unprecedented impunity as it carries out the Final Solution in Gaza. They know that it is already too late for thousands of Palestinian children who can never recover from this imposed starvation even if food and formula were allowed in. The only thing they care about are their rancid reputations.

Media figures like Piers Morgan and Bari Weiss are also doing reputational damage control. Their ghoulish complicity in the 21st century’s worst crime against humanity is on the record. The internet never forgets. But they desperately want us to do just that as they construct a facsimile of a humanity they never possessed to begin with.

No one is saying that people can’t change their minds or that those with enormous influence should remain silent. But there is a difference between changing your mind based on learning the facts and changing your message based on reading the room.

All of these people knew exactly what Israel was doing from the very start. They heard Israeli politicians openly using genocidal language and incitement. They saw the mass graves and rubble. They witnessed the torture of Palestinian prisoners, the targeting of medical staff and journalists, the bombing of hospitals, bakeries and water treatment facilities. They heard the cries of little Hind as she called emergency services to save her from an Israeli tank that murdered her family and eventually murdered her.

The role these people played in providing cover for genocide, or even cheering it on, should never be forgiven. They must never have a days rest as long as they live. And in a sane world, they should face charges for their complicity in this genocide, the very worst crime imaginable against humanity.

Kenn Orfanos, July 2025