UNITED STATES PERSPECTIVE

"The United States respects Israel's sovereign right to set its own laws" — this statement from the State Department, reported by the Washington Post and Dawn, summarizes Washington's moral isolation. When Berlin, London, Paris and Rome condemn, Washington refuses even formal criticism. The NYT, in an article titled "Israel Debates Law to Hang Palestinians", uses the word "hang" on the front page — a deliberate editorial choice that humanizes the punishment by making it physical. The article details the two legal avenues, cites Israeli experts, and notes that the law will not apply retroactively to prisoners from October 7. The Washington Post opts for a drier framing: "Israel mandates death penalty for West Bank Palestinians who kill in terrorist acts." No historical context, no citations from NGOs. The headline itself normalizes the term "terrorist acts" as if it were an indisputable legal category. The asymmetry between media coverage — rather critical — and the official American position is a classic pattern: liberal media document what the administration refuses to denounce. But no editorial in the NYT or WaPo explicitly calls for sanctions or a withdrawal of support for Israel. The contrast between the America that covers and the America that decides is a classic of US foreign policy. The State Department didn't even publish a statement — just a response to a journalist's question. This minimization is itself a policy: not creating a written record that could embarrass Washington in international courts. The fact that the US is in the middle of a joint military operation with Israel in Iran makes any formal criticism impossible — you don't denounce the laws of a wartime partner.