The denial of evil

"Detach human suffering from international responsibilities." "It's not a question of emotions but of reality." These are the two moral principles with which former President Aznar entered the debate on the Gaza genocide. In other words, for him, morality is alien to international politics. And the victims are a fact, not a problem. This confirms that anything goes in politics, and that it's assumed that truth and lies are interchangeable when it comes to discrediting one's adversary. Aznar—like González, on the other side of the stage—arrived very early, governed for a long time, and was retired from politics very young. And it's difficult to find a way to be a former president for the rest of your life. He couldn't hold it in and came onto the scene, making Feijóo's legs tremble, bringing obscenity to a debate that should have one easy point of consensus: no to genocide.

With Gaza, we've seen the obscene trivialization of politics taken to the extreme. And the PP has excelled in its denial of the evidence and the shameful opportunism of a Feijóo with a variable moral perimeter. He began by condemning Sánchez's violence and denying Israel's genocide, but when he saw that this was backfiring, he clarified: perhaps it's not that serious; what's happening in Gaza is serious, although what worries him isn't what Israel is doing but the suffering of those who are suffering, as if they could have murdered. But Aznar raised his voice, and Feijóo quickly backtracked: "I'm glad to continue on that side, with a defender of democracy like President Aznar."

This figure, before whom Feijóo kneels to justify his denial of the Gaza genocide, says that "Sánchez is a willing hostage to violence" and speaks of "a corrupt ineptocracy" that diverts attention to divert public opinion away from the scandals. And amid the PP's delirium in defense of Netanyahu, Elías Bendodo, another star of the party, asks Sánchez to pronounce on whether the October 7 kidnapping of Jewish citizens by Hamas was genocide or not.

Aznar is right that "humanitarian sentiments are no one's monopoly." But we all know that human sentiments—and humanitarian ones are part of them—are fraught with prejudice and base passions. And failing to acknowledge the evidence of genocide, as the PP is doing with regard to the devastation of Gaza by Israeli troops, leads to a tragic perversion: denying the evidence of evil. Aggravated by a sinister side: using such a serious tragedy to address the petty miseries of everyday Spanish politics. Do they consider themselves so self-possessed of Spain by miserably playing with a universally recognized tragedy in their power struggles? An irresponsible exercise that also demonstrates the right's insensitivity and puts the PP at the mercy of Vox.