Ten years from now, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and countless others who enabled or excused the destruction of Gaza will almost certainly be dead – perhaps passing away peacefully one night during a restful dream.
What they leave behind, however, is a legacy shaped not only by their actions but by how those actions are remembered. History books may brand them as monsters or war criminals – or, just as easily, frame them as leaders caught in a “complicated” era, sanitizing their complicity. In fact, it’s entirely possible the dominant narrative will begin with the attacks of October 7th, burying sheer horrors beneath footnotes and erasing decades of blockades, bombings, and the slow suffocation inflicted on Gaza long before that day.
Memory, as always, will belong not to the victims, but to the victors – those with the power to shape not just the narrative, but the future. Gaza’s ruins will one day be rebuilt, and in the eyes of western imperialism, the most “natural” architects of that future are, of course, the very forces responsible for its destruction.
Names like Tony Blair – widely condemned for his role in the Iraq invasion of 2003 – have already been floated for leadership in Gaza’s reconstruction. Trump, whose administration has funneled weapons and diplomatic cover to Israel over this last year, along with during his first term back in 2017, has publicly suggested turning Gaza into a “Riviera”-style resort zone, drawing on his background as a real estate developer with a history of branding luxury hotels.
Hellbound and Down 