“Israel laid the conceptual, racial and spatial infrastructure of ethnic cleansing and genocide long ago, particularly throughout the decades of the “Oslo peace process”, with the direct support of the West. Since 7 October, the genocidal threshold has been crossed as Israel has embarked upon executing a “textbook case of genocide” and ethnic cleansing of 2.3 million people in Gaza, a process also unfolding in the West Bank. In contrast to previous Euro-settler-colonial genocides, the unfolding genocide in Gaza is being livestreamed and witnessed by everyone. Therefore, in addition to intent and military capabilities, genocide requires protective diplomatic and media/propaganda cover. The EU, along with the US, has been providing this cover. The bombing of Gaza is systematic and designed to turn it into a genocidal landscape. Neither this infrastructure nor genocidal war could have been possible without the direct and indirect diplomatic, military, intelligence and media support from the EU and US, which ensured, time and again, that Israel remains above international law. In the past, the EU extended its protective cover for Israeli settler-colonialism while upholding liberal and humanitarian facades. However, since 7 October, the EU has taken off all masks. Indeed, the EU has a detailed picture of the situation in Gaza. Their chief of foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, described it as “catastrophic, apocalyptic” with “unprecedented” civilian suffering and destruction levels “even greater” than that of Germany during the Second World War. None of this has shaken the conscience of the EU. European shock and rage transpire when their colonial violence, typically reserved for racialised peoples, rebounds and hits Europeans, as Aime Cesaire forcefully argued almost seven decades ago.” ✍️: MEE/Emile Badarin* *The views expressed in this column belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of MEE - @middleeasteye