In A Time Of Monsters, The Worst Heroes

Peter Magyar defeated Victor Orban in Hungary’s election earlier this week, leading to an outpouring of joy from the liberal media and political establishment. Many took the Obama line, lauding it as a victory for democracy and the rule of law.

Indeed, Magyar is so committed to the rule of the law that he has invited Netanyahu to visit Hungary in October. Hungary will withdraw from the ICC in June, and while Magyar has vowed to begin the process of rejoining, the country is extremely unlikely to be a member by October.

This is very convenient timing for Magyar, who won’t be faced with a decision to uphold international law or not. Not that we need this test to understand the man’s morality and politics. The fact that one of his first acts as prime minister-elect was to invite a wanted war criminal to his country tells us everything we need to know.

As did his first press conference after his victory.

In that press conference Magyar didn’t criticise the Israeli government once and said the countries enjoyed “a special relationship.” Magyar also said that while Orban vetoed every EU decision which sought to punish Israel for genocide and apartheid, he would be pragmatic and review each on a case-by-case basis.

So while Orban was an enthusiastic supporter of genocide, Magyar will be a pragmatic one!

And liberals like Obama crowing about Magyar’s commitment to the rule of law as a corrective to Orban had little to say when Orban refused to enforce the ICC warrant against Netanyahu on his numerous visits to Budapest. Because this was a backsliding on the rule of the law the liberal class were happy to support.

None of this is a surprise.

Until two years ago Magyar was an Orban loyalist, fully in lock-step with his Israel policy. He opportunistically split from Orban over corruption allegations, knowing he could position himself as a younger, fresher face of a new party which is still very much Zionist, and still very much of the nationalist right.

Yet headline after headline framed Magyar’s victory as a decisive break from the past. It was nothing of the sort, and this will be clear in the months and years to come.

Because in a time of monsters, we are served up the worst heroes.

We’re also supposed to be loving the pope right now, aren’t we? Because in his wordy, softly theocratic way he has been opposing Trump and the US war on Iran.

The pope, a man who leads a corrupt organisation fully beyond the rule of law which was found to institutionally rape children.

COOL.

But because he is providing some opposition to Trump, a man who runs a secret society up to its neck in money laundering and sex crimes is being lauded as a moral lodestar and radical truth-teller.

Because in a time of monsters, we’re served the worst heroes.

We’re also supposed to be having good feelings about the prime minister of the country in which pope Leo’s city state is lodged, Giorgia Meloni.

On Tuesday, Meloni’s government suspended a ‌defence cooperation deal with Israel.

I suppose we should take the win.

And we should also recognise the huge domestic pressure, especially from trade unions, that forced this decision and has compelled Meloni to become more hawkish on Israel in general.

But she hasn’t changed anything material. She doesn’t support the ICC case against Netanyahu and Gallant, doesn’t believe Israel committed genocide, doesn’t recognise it as an apartheid state.

For years Italy has been one of the main suppliers of arms to Israel, and has a host of other bilateral agreements with the country. Meloni’s far-right government is Trump-aligned, and to be Trump-aligned ultimately means being Israel-aligned.

And while Meloni’s move is better than nothing, it will have little practical effect on the only thing that matters when we’re talking about genocide and apartheid: JUSTICE.

Justice for the victims of genocide, for Gaza and for the Palestinians, and for the unspooling of Israel as an apartheid state.

A man we’re definitely supposed to have warm and fuzzy feelings about is the prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez.

And in a world of moral cowards, his defiance of Trump and strong words and actions on Israel look impressive at first glace.

And I’m reluctant to stick the boot in too far, but I have to call it as I see it.

Because we’re talking about another illegal war by empire. We’re talking about Israel, genocide and apartheid.

And what I see is a man claiming a moral high ground his actions don’t deserve.

There has been a lot of positive coverage around Sanchez’s refusal to allow the US to use its airbases in the country to attack Iran. And while USAF planes might not be flying directly from Spain to bomb Iran, there has been a steady, daily stream of US airforce planes, including refuelling tankers, flying to and from Spanish airbases to Ramstein in Germany. From Ramstein, these planes are then flying on to the Middle East.

This is involvement in an illegal war. It might be once-removed, but it is involvement. And if the argument is that you can’t stop them flying from one base in Europe to another, even though you know those planes are being used to prosecute an illegal war, then do something about it!

But this hasn’t even been voiced as a concern. The Spanish government have been happy to take the positive press without standing up and really being counted on the issue.

A true affirmation of sovereignty would see Spain demand the US stop all flights from these bases. True sovereignty would see Spain demand US troops leave the country.

Sanchez has also had strong words to say about Israel, and has vowed to stop military trade between Israel and Spain.

But so much more could be done. Thousands of Israelis live in Spain. Barcelona has become a hotspot for ex-Unit 8200 spies to establish spytech firms.

If you believe in international law and justice for the victims of genocide, why not arrest every Israeli that has arrived in Spain in the last two and half years on suspicion of participating in genocide?

Many are almost certainly implicated.

If you believe in international law and justice for the victims of genocide, why not scramble Spanish fighter jets to force down Netanyahu’s plane when it flies over the EU, as it has done on numerous occasions since the ICC warrant was filed?

If I sound like an absolutist, a maximalist, it’s because I am.

Because we’re talking about genocide, the supreme crime, the collapse of humanity, the end point of mass violence and the most heinous act a state can commit.

In the case of Iran, we’re talking about an illegal war that has killed thousands, we’re talking about the slaughter of school children, the raining down of carcinogens on nine million people.

I don’t think world leaders commanding the power of a state should be cut any slack given these circumstances.

No allowances should be made given the absolute moral, ethical and legal rot we witness daily.

The bar for ethical behaviour and for the assertion of a basic humanity has been set so low its sickening.

In a time of monsters, the worst heroes.

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