Why Does the World March for Gaza But Whisper for Ukraine?
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the world erupted in outrage. Governments condemned, sanctions were imposed, and massive demonstrations filled European capitals. For a moment, it seemed as if the global conscience had found its voice.
Yet three years later, as the war drags on and the death toll climbs, that outrage has largely faded. Ukraine’s suffering has slipped into muted headlines and diplomatic fatigue. Cities like Mariupol and Avdiivka lie in ruins, while millions remain displaced in Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Russia’s war is a textbook campaign of colonization. It has annexed Crimea, seized Donetsk and Luhansk, and continued to push deeper into Ukrainian territory. Its message is clear: Ukraine has no right to sovereignty, borders, or culture. This is the oldest story in geopolitics, the strong swallowing the weak.
Now compare that to Israel. The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel, with cultural and spiritual ties reaching back thousands of years. Jerusalem, Hebron, and Be’er Sheva are not foreign outposts but the cradle of Jewish civilization. In 1948, following the Holocaust, Israel was re-established as the homeland of the Jewish people under international law. To call Jews returning to their ancestral land “colonizers” is to distort history itself.
And yet, the global narrative has inverted reality. Russia, the actual colonizer, receives subdued censure, while Israel, an indigenous democracy fighting for survival, is cast as a global villain. When Russia bombs civilian infrastructure, coverage wanes within days. When Israel strikes Hamas operatives embedded among civilians, protests rage for weeks.
Why?
Partly fatigue, Ukraine’s war has become background noise.
Partly narrative, Russia’s aggression doesn’t fit modern activist tropes. Gaza, by contrast, has been framed as a symbol of resistance and Israel as a white oppressor, despite Jews being a historically persecuted minority.
Partly power, Protesting Russia seems futile; Putin does not bend. Israel, being a democracy, is seen as pressure-sensitive, and therefore a more attractive target.
And partly institutions, Russia shields itself with a UN Security Council veto while Israel sits under a permanent magnifying glass of commissions and resolutions.
If this were truly about human rights, we would see marches for Mariupol as we do for Rafah. But we don’t. And that silence reveals a harsh truth: outrage has become selective. Protest has become theater. Israel, small, democratic, imperfect, has become the world’s favorite scapegoat, while Russia wages colonial war with near impunity.
So, we must ask honestly: Do we care about justice, or do we simply prefer easy villains and safe protests? Until that question is confronted, the cries of outrage will remain hollow.
