IF you want to see impunity on steroids, go no further than Israel. It has been on display since the first European Zionist landed on Palestinian soil in the 19th century, with generous help from Britain and the United States, two nations largely responsible for muddling the Middle East.
There are at least three reasons why Israel is so hooked on impunity. One is Zionism's belief in the supremacy of the Jews.
Two is the Western government's active role in keeping Jewish supremacy alive.
Three is the complicity of the media and academic institutions in advancing the Zionist project.
Start with Zionism and its invented idea of Jewish supremacy. Gideon Levy, to many the dean of Israeli journalism, put it best in one of his recent public forums. Israelis are not able to see themselves. "I think maybe Israeli society is the society with the highest rate of denial, self denial."
It is for this reason Israel Foreign Minister Yair Lapid could condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a violation of international order, missing the irony of it all.
Can an Israeli minister condemn any kind of violation of international order without condemning his government?
Praising the moral courage of the Ukrainians for throwing Molotov cocktails at the Russians while condemning the Palestinians for throwing stones at the Israeli Defence Forces is but a symptom of the same disease.
To Levy, this points to one thing: the belief in Jewish supremacy, the core idea in Zionism.
Western governments, too, are guilty of keeping Zionist supremacy alive, our second reason. Examples are plenty but we mention two.
Whenever nations come together to condemn Israeli atrocities as in May last year, Britain, the US and the European Union rush to the defence of Tel Aviv with a well-rehearsed script: "Israel has a right to defend itself." Never mind if Israel is weaponised to the maximum and Palestine isn't.
Never mind, too, if Israel is the occupier. Like Israel, Britain, the EU and the US can't see themselves. The complicity of the media and academic institutions, our third reason, has kept Israel's impunity going on steroids.
Dr Cornel West, an American public intellectual with an international reputation, spared no words in condemning both in a recent interview with the Middle East Eye. He should know.
He left Harvard University in July last year, claiming that its administrators had " anti-Palestinian prejudices" according to Inside Higher Ed website.
Not only West, but other academics, too, have spoken of Israeli occupation of Palestine being a taboo subject in academic institutions in the US, not just in Harvard. Academics who hold pro-Palestinian views — West is one — either don't get hired, or having been hired, are made to leave.
The Israeli lobby has found a home in the Ivory Tower. And in mainstream media, too. The recent news reporting of the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israel is a case in point.
Despite witness accounts to the contrary, mainstream media turned into echo chambers of the Tel Aviv public relations machinery. The Guardian, a reluctant criticiser of Israel, went to great lengths to give space to Israel's official view that Abu Akleh was shot by Palestinians and a sentence or two to Al Jazeera accusing Israelis of killing her.
Small wonder, Israel's impunity is on steroids.