Speaking at the ceremony of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust survivor and historian Marian Turski echoed the sentiments of so many others in subsequent times and places. Auschwitz (and the Holocaust) did not "fall from the sky" but began with many small forms of persecution, he noted. And he reminded us that because it happened, it can happen anywhere – "that is why human rights, and democratic constitutions must be defended." Evil, he noted, emerges "step by step", an observation with deep worldwide resonance at this very moment. Turski went further, citing the words of fellow Polish survivor Roman Kent, describing what should be deemed the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible – ‘Thou shalt not be indifferent’. Kent himself had offered the frequently mocked observation that "hate is never right, and love is never wrong." Although survivors and witnesses to one of history's worst atrocities, both Turski and Kent never shied away from drawing universal lessons and warnings. I have been repeatedly reminded of such ‘witnessing’ while struggling to comprehend (and to find words and concepts to describe) the ever-expanding and increasingly genocidal war being waged by Netanyahu and his regime against Gaza and the Palestinian people. There is now no credible argument to refute the reality in front of us. Israel is now fully engaged in ethnic cleansing accompanied by a contemptible campaign of aggressive denial. This denial forms an essential strand in Israel’s agenda - the two travel hand in hand, as we know all too well from both distant and recent history. In his work on genocide, Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch, has identified 10 stages, each one a process in its own right. Many of those stages are now clearly visible in Gaza, Palestine and Israel, all consistently marked by active denial. In this, the genocidal agenda of the Netanyahu regime is no different from other similarly motivated regimes. As Turski noted, evil takes hold ‘step by step’. Israel’s denials now possess not a shred of credibility. Nor do its claims that each military ‘strike’ is targeted on Hamas' capacity or resources. How else do we explain the ongoing deliberate attacks on hospitals, medics and health workers, schools, infrastructure, camps and residential buildings and areas? Or the 20-minute ‘warning’ (so reminiscent for me of the tactics of the IRA) given to the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital to ‘evacuate’ prior to an airstrike, forcing patients into the street? Or the very recent execution by the IDF of 15 medics wearing clearly marked attire, whose hands were bound (some by zip-ties) with their bodies subsequently thrown in a pit (the historical parallels are profoundly grizzly)? Their ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle were also crushed and flattened and bulldozed into the same pit. Or the ongoing denial of even basic humanitarian aid, including medical supplies for injured and acutely sick children? Amnesty International has described Israel’s blockade on all such supplies as a crime against humanity and a violation of international humanitarian law. Predictably and criminally, Israel has denied all and any violations. Médecins Sans Frontières, the medical charity, recently claimed that Gaza was becoming a mass grave for Palestinians, with more than 51,000 Palestinians killed since the conflict began, including more than 1,600 since Israel resumed its most recent airstrikes and ‘ground operations’. Despite the impossibility of all those killed being Hamas activists or even fellow travellers, they are killed, left horribly maimed, routinely orphaned without a home, community, school, hospital, neigbourhood, country or ultimately a viable future life. The dynamics, culture and landscape of ethnic cleansing. Predictably and as all too often in the past, when faced with the realities and mechanics of a genocidal agenda, the response of the ‘West’ has been risible. While providing every possible political and military support to Netanyahu and his regime, the EU (at its highest level) and the US have wantonly failed the Palestinian people. And they have continued to do this at every level. The West’s condemnation of Hamas and Hezbollah are both welcome and necessary, but they are fundamentally undermined by its hypocrisy as regards the current Israeli regime. And they do nothing, nothing at all for the Palestinian people faced with the industrial killing machine of the IDF. Eventually, the sheer weight of evidence and the sheer scale of horror will drag us to assert this simple truth brilliantly and passionately told by Egyptian journalist and writer Omar El Akkad – One day, everyone will have always been against this. But, in the meantime, we prevaricate, wring our hands, shake our heads and look away...guilty once again.