The Sound of Silence
How the world suddenly lost its voice
There’s a curious phenomenon happening in global politics. It is an epidemic of sudden laryngitis that seems to strike world leaders when Israel is under fire.
When Israel makes headlines for defending itself, you can’t shut them up. Statements fly. Condemnations rain down. Entire European ministries race each other to tweet vague platitudes about “proportionality” and “restraint.” But when Israeli cities burn, when Jews run for bomb shelters, when Israeli hospitals are hit, and when mothers in Tel Aviv cradle their children under siege from Iran-backed terror groups, the response from many of these same governments is…nada. Crickets. Bupkis. I can go on.
As Noah Rothman recently wrote in the National Review: Israel was criticized for the Iranian bombing of an Israeli hospital. You read that write.
Or put even better:
But when it comes to the deafening silence of those who were quick to jump all over Israel at every perceived wrong over the last two years, but who seek to give the benefit of the doubt to *let me just check my notes here* Iran, let’s name names. Because silence, when selective, is complicity.
Canada: The Country of Measured Disappointment
Let’s begin at home. Canada: land of politeness, maple syrup, and moral relativism. When Israel launched operations in Gaza after the October 7th massacre, Canada found its voice. It was concerned. Troubled. “Deeply distressed.” Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly made sure to wring her hands just enough to satisfy the progressive caucus while not totally alienating Jewish voters.
In fact, let’s look at Minister Joly, currently Canada’s Ministry of Industry. In October 2023, weeks after the 10/7 massacre, when she was Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, and immediately after the alleged (and now widely debunked) bombing of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, she tweeted this:
The tweet is still up. Even after it was investigated by Canada itself and determined that the hospital was struck by a rocket fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, not Israel. She did not apologize, delete her post, she did not go back on her statement, and she maintained her broad criticism of Israel.
But when Iran fires ballistic rockets at Israel, hitting Beer Sheva’s Soroka Hospital on June 19, 2025 you did not hear anything from Minister Joly. Silence. Nor did we hear anything from Canada’s current Foreign Minister, Anita Anand. Or from our Prime Minister, Mark Carney.
It is striking how little Canada has been able to say when Israeli civilian centres are struck by indiscriminate ballistic missile fire by Iran. No clear and persistent denunciations. No rallying behind Israel behind the Iranian menace, and no loud and determined statements in support of Israel’s right to defend itself. Yes, there have been statements stating that Israel has a right to defend itself, but it is literally the least Canada can do.
Canada is perfectly comfortable telling Israel how it should engage in warfare in Gaza. But when the Jewish state is attacked by Iranian ballistic missiles, when children dive for cover in playgrounds, Canada shrugs, sips its Tim Hortons, and waits for the next “both-sides” opportunity.
Israel didn’t start this war with Iran. Iran did, when it committed hundreds of billions of dollars to its proxies to make every effort to destroy the Jewish State (and in some cases, its embassies abroad, such as in Buenos Aires). What happened last week when Israel finally struck back, hard, was simply Iran having its chickens come home to roost.
France: Libérté, Except for Israel
France has perfected the art of selective outrage. President Emmanuel Macron is no stranger to posturing. He’s been around, always ready with lofty speeches about peace, liberty, and morality. But over the course of the war in Gaza, Macron has grown tired of Israel trying to get its hostages back. He thinks that rather than returning the hostages, ending the war, pushing the Palestinians to end their “Pay for Slay” program, and rather than ousting for good Hamas from any sort of Palestinian governance, that the Palestinians deserve a state. Ask him what the borders will be. Where the capital would be. Would it be demilitarized? Would there be a right of return? An airport. 10 bucks says he doesn’t know. But he thinks that after the last two years of conflict, the time has come for the Palestinians to somehow, unilaterally, declare a state of their own.
He too has been terribly concerned about the loss of civilian life in Gaza. We all are, but we acknowledge the lengths that Israel has gone to to protect civilians, whereas Hamas ensures that civilians get in the way of lines of fire. Recently, he appears irate that the war in Gaza continues, urging Israel to be cautious in its use of force there.
But again, when Iran indiscriminately fires at Israeli civilian targets: pas de probleme. When Iran is purported to be close to finalizing a nuclear weapon, Macron opposes Israel’s steps to stop the program, rather advocating for the status quo of international supervision.
France prefers “diplomatic engagement,” which, in practice, means doing absolutely nothing while its own citizens protest in the streets calling for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.
France had plenty to say when Israel took out Hamas operatives hiding in hospitals. But not a word when those same terrorists turned those hospitals into military headquarters.
Ireland: Hating the Jews, to be sure
Ireland has never met a pro-Israel policy it couldn’t oppose. In fact, the Irish government seems to believe it was personally wronged by the Balfour Declaration. For years, Ireland has been on the vanguard of the anti-Israel movement in the EU, with politicians comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa and accusing it of genocide. Holocaust memorial events attended by high-ranking Irish government officials turn into denunciations of Israel as a Jewish state.
If you were to believe Ireland, Israel is the cause of all that is wrong in the Middle East. Not Iran. Not the Shia-Sunni divide. Not Hezbollah or the Houthis or Hamas. The Jewish State.
And when rockets rain down on Israel civilians, where is Ireland? Nowhere.
No emergency parliamentary sessions. No urgent resolutions. No concern for Israeli hostages. Because when Jews die, Dublin’s moral outrage takes a raincheck.
Ireland, once colonized, now champions the wrong cause, blindly casting Israelis as imperialists, even as Jews are slaughtered by Islamist fanatics. The irony is grotesque.
Spain: Olé for Hamas
Spain, whose governing consistently blames Israel for committing “genocide” in Gaza (I believe this was while Hamas was still holding toddlers hostage), has had precious little to say about actual genocidal threats from Iran. Spain’s left-wing coalition government under the leadership of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cheers every condemnation of Israel but offers only vague mumblings when Iranian missiles arc across the Middle East.
And Spain’s answer to the chaos? Recognize a Palestinian state. Because nothing solves terrorism like rewarding it.
Madrid's response to Iranian aggression was barely a whisper. Their ambassador hasn't been recalled. There were no mass protests demanding Hamas release Israeli hostages. Instead, they’re busy removing Israeli flags from public buildings while Palestinian ones fly free. Spain has quickly, and tragically, become one of the most anti-Israel and antisemitic countries in Europe.
South Africa: Lawfare with a Side of Hypocrisy
South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide while Hamas was releasing video after video of gloating terrorists showing off abducted children. Pretoria spoke boldly and often. They couldn’t shut up. Other countries even joined in.
But where was the South African legal team when Iran announced it would “wipe Israel off the map”? Where is the ICJ petition condemning Hamas for sexual violence, the use of human shields, or mass executions of civilians?
Nowhere. Because South Africa doesn’t seem to believe that Israel has the right to exist in the first place. So it’s not silence. It’s strategy. A shameful one, done hand in hand with their Hamas buddies. Someone, the original home of Apartheid fails to understand what it was, what it means, and what it is not.
The UN: Headquarters of hypocrisy
Let’s not forget the global institution that’s practically made a cottage industry out of criticizing Israel. The UN has condemned Israel more times than it has North Korea, Iran, and Syria combined.
So when Iranian missiles flew at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, what did the feckless UN Secretary-General António Guterres say?
He was “deeply alarmed.” About “escalation.” From both sides.
He did the only thing he ever does: tweet.
That’s it? Moral equivalence par excellence from the UN Secretary General, comparing a beacon of democracy to the roguest of rogue states (bar North Korea).
One side is the world’s only Jewish state. The other is a theocratic regime who stands against every single liberal value the UN was built to uphold. But at the UN, moral clarity is too much to ask. Politics is bloc-based, and the free world no longer reigns supreme in that institution. Especially when the General Assembly is run by countries that think women's rights are a Western conspiracy and homosexuality is a capital crime.
China: Silence with Strategic Intent
China doesn’t waste time pretending it cares about human rights, but it does love a good propaganda opportunity. When Israel responds to terrorism, Beijing criticizes the “disproportionate force.” But when Iranian missiles cross borders or Hamas takes hostages, China talks about maintaining regional stability.
China’s support for Israel has always been milquetoast in public. Quick to denounce Israel for any action it takes to defend its own border, but even quicker to leap to the defense of Israel’s enemies. It seems that Chinese surveillance ships have appeared in the Persian Gulf in recent days, I would assume, to assist the Iranians in fighting off Israel’s overwhelming force, but the outcome remains to be seen. In the meantime, China does not condemn the bombing of hospitals or the attacking of civilian apartment buildings.
China’s silence isn’t passive. It’s calculated. Anything that weakens the West’s moral footing is good for Beijing and it’s happy to let Israel pay the price.
Sweden: The Self-Righteous Bystander
Sweden practically invented the modern art of virtue-signaling. The government was eager to recognize a Palestinian State (and in fact did so in October 2014), lectures Israel on human rights, and hosts conferences on international law. They also fund the anti-Israel NGOs Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, the European Council on Foreign Relations, and Ir Amim (all of which also have denounced Israel but have failed to condemn Iran for striking Israeli civilian site). Meanwhile, Swedish Jews face rising antisemitism as Sweden quickly becomes one of the hotbeds of European anti-Jewish sentiment, synagogues are under heavy guard, and the country still hesitates to call Hamas what it is: a terrorist death cult.
When Israel is bombarded, Sweden suddenly retreats into bureaucratic vagueness: “We urge de-escalation by all parties.” Translation: “We don’t want to pick sides… unless it’s to pick on Israel.” And let’s not even talk about Greta…
Brazil: Lula’s Dangerous Delusions
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva accused Israel of “committing premeditated genocide” in Gaza, likening it to the Holocaust. He was practically tripping over himself to get Hamas a PR victory. And what was his response when Iran launched a coordinated missile assault on Israel in April 2024? Ballistic missiles in 2025?
Silence. Deafening, hypocritical, shameful silence.
When Jews are slaughtered, Lula keeps to himself. But when Israel dares to eliminate terrorists, out come the Nazi comparisons. Brazil’s moral compass is not just broken, but it is spinning towards madness.
The Consequence of Silence
Silence is not neutrality.
When the world falls silent in the face of terror, it emboldens terrorists. When it mutes itself in response to Iranian aggression, it gives Iran permission to escalate. And when it fails to speak out when Jews are murdered, kidnapped, or bombed, it signals that Jewish lives are somehow worth less.
This is not just hypocrisy. It’s utter abandonment.
Israel will survive. It has no alternative. But the moral authority of these nations? That’s another story. With each day of silence, they lose not only credibility but their very claim to the values they so proudly preach: human rights, democracy, and justice.
Those values don’t mean much when they’re only applied selectively.
The silence is deafening. And it speaks volumes.
We see you.
We hear you.
We will remember.
Powerful and irrefutable. You're hitting them out of the park, Adam!
Adam, while reading your essays I vacillate between moral outrage, doubtless your intent, and awe at the beauty and clarity of your writing.
Regarding South Africa’s petition to the International Criminal Court, most people aren’t aware of the impetus behind their morally bankrupt actions. When volunteering in Israel in 2024 I was told by Christian South African volunteers that the purpose was solely financial. The South African government was paid millions to undertake this action, money which the previously bankrupt government then used to BUY VOTES in order to remain in power. I have subsequently heard from many credible sources that this was indeed the case.
Could you write about this?