The Red Line is White

The Red Line

"Red line" is a phrase which means a boundary or limit which should not be crossed. It is a limit beyond which someone's behaviour is no longer acceptable.

The problem with red lines when it comes to the Palestinian genocide is that the red lines that are considered valid or at all reasonable by the global West, are red lines defined by the white West. They are white and Western-centric.

Public discourse focuses on the president's red line, the prime minister's red line, America's red line, NATO's red line. But also, more importantly, we centre the individual, Western person's red line in nearly every conversation we have on the topic. It is not the Palestinians' voice which is prioritised, but outside commentators. It is left up to the Western individual to say: "Well, now, finally the Israelis have gone too far. Now we will act. Now we will take up arms. Now we will boycott them, isolate them, stop funding them. NOW things are unacceptable."

One problem (of many) with this method of determination is that white Western people are setting themselves up as the final judge and jury of justice in the world. They are the umpire at every debate. They are the arbiter of right and wrong. They decide and define what is too much and what is too little suffering of the Palestinian people to warrant an “unacceptability” label, to warrant a huge reaction which leads to action.

The individual white person in the West will set themself up as a higher and more believable voice than others. And this habit is not accidental. Because, deep down, white society sees itself are superior to the global majority, whether it be in matters of morality, politics, worldview, culture, legality, eduction, or rational thought.

Centering the Oppressor over the Victim

When you think about it, that is actually absurd.

To claim that people who are outside the genocide, outside oppression, and not among the victims of genocide, are more qualified determiners of what an appropriate red line is than the actual victims, is obscene. Yet, this illogical absurdity is carried on, replayed through injustices and news cycles. Again, this is no accident. It stems from a very specific origin: namely, white arrogance - a.k.a., white supremacy.

The white West has a long and bloody history of – even down to a subconscious level – considering white people as higher thinkers, referees, and apt judges. In the default thinking of unawakened white people, lays the understanding that their judgment of world events and matters of justice is somehow more qualified, more important, more reasonable, more holy than Black and brown peoples'. This is an age-old, colonial framing and tactic. This is also a form of white control. A control of narrative and moral judgement.

In his essay “Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims,” Edward Said argues that Zionist ideology frames Palestinian history and presence as if the land was empty and the people irrelevant, a practice inseparable from broader practices of Western imperialism — thereby silencing the lived reality and agency of Palestinians themselves. Zionism, one branch of white imperialism and white supremacy, has gone so far as to call the Palestinian land "empty" They do this to render the Palestinian people's voice irrelevant.

Said highlights how Western discourse systematically privileges Western definitions and frameworks rather than centering the voices of those directly affected.

Said’s work, and that of many others, proves how Western narratives about the “Orient,” including the Middle East and Palestinians, are shaped by the great evil that is Orientalism — a system in which the West defines the East as the Other, inferior, or subordinate — which then shapes policy, public opinion, and even humanitarian framing.

The Role of The Media

One key manifestation of this underlying arrogance is evident in Western media. Western media are far more likely to depict "Israeli" victims as named, individual human beings, while presenting Palestinian victims as undifferentiated statistics. In other words, they carry the role as a major mouthpiece for white colonialism and imperialism.

Western outlets create false equivalences by constantly referring to specific past events (e.g., October 7) even when reporting years later — which aim to minimise or obscure ongoing Palestinian suffering. Western Media also fabricates the illusion of the Palestinian genocide being an issue with two sides - the Israelis vs. Palestinians - as though these are two teams fighting each other. They do this by using terms like "war" and "conflict" to describe what should be instead called outright a holocaust and a genocide. This media language makes it seems as though this is a two-sided disagreement, instead of a one-side massacre. It does what many do in cases of abuse: framing the abuser and the victim as both being at fault, and concluding that the only way forward is peace, reconciliation, and compromises from both parties. The parallels between abuse dynamics and white colonialism is astounding.

Additionally, reporting language chronically casts doubt on the credibility of Palestinian sources on their suffering, unlike Israeli sources. This is done, for example, in news headlines:

"Hamas claims..." vs. "The Israelis report...".

"Allegedly" vs. "Has confirmed"

"Prisoners" vs. "Hostages"

"Soldiers" vs. "Terrorists"

The white West has mythologised its new media coverage as being a neutral, reliable voice. And so many viewers hardly blink when their new outlets platform Western narrative frames at the expense of accurately portraying Palestinian truth and evidence. (Cornell University)

By the way, did you see what I did there? ⬆️ ...

I echoed a claim which has been mass-proven and claimed time and time again by the oppressed global majority, and then I felt the need to back up my words using a study by Cornell University as a source. Because, apparently, only if a white, Western university affirms my words are they treated as legitimate. My point being, that this thinking is deeply embedded in us through our journalism, academia, and social rules. In the West, we constantly centre our own institutions of white voices, power, and education as Definers and Validifiers of truth. Unless an old, white professor from some overpriced university, with a "Doctor" in front of his name, affirms something is factual, then it remains "allegedly" and "some claim", as opposed to a truth we must face.

Middle East Monitor reports on how Western media refuse to cover the actual experiences and deaths of Palestinians on the ground, and this is because of how Western outlets choose whose suffering merits attention. The Palestinians, according to the Western conscience, doesn't make the cut. That call is fundamentally racist and colonial.

Relinquishing the Gavel

A major shift is necessary when it comes to facing Palestine. (And many other global issues, for that matter.) A resolute revolution is needed in the thinking and attitude of every single individual in the West. It demands of you to reshape your thinking and to decentralise yourself and your opinion.

You don't get to decide what is too much, they do. You don't get to decide what is too much oppression, what warrants action, what is a red line. They do. Otherwise, you're not centering victims, you're centering yourself. You are claiming that your own white, privileged arrogance is more discerning of facts than their wise, present, real, long-suffering witness and experience. Newsflash: you're not more qualified.

And let's address one of the most glaring points in this topic...

The fact that many Western people didn't consider any of the events of the past two years enough to warrant a red line declaration, is so chillingly disturbing that it should automatically disqualify any such voices as being authorities, let alone sane. If the murder of incubate babies, the mass rape of Palestinian men, the bombing of people in tents, the starving of millions, the genocidal intent stated over and over, and a man holding his children remains in bloody, plastic bags doesn't warrant a red line for you, you have truly been taken by darkness.

Whether white people accept it or not, the very centering of Western red lines over the Palestinians is a claim in itself of white superiority. And that is something that either you're going to have to grab by the throat, deal with, and radically change, or you're going to let it continue to make you a cog in the machine that is white supremacy and white imperialism.