What Is a Human Life Worth? A Reflection on Gaza, Hypocrisy, and the Collapse of Moral Conscience

by Bishop Taylor

Right now, as you sit comfortably reading this, children in Gaza are starving. Not figuratively. Not in some abstract sense. Literally starving. Wasting away. Their ribs showing. Their eyes sunken. Their organs shutting down. And the so-called civilized world is watching it happen without lifting a goddamn finger.

What is the value of a human life?

Apparently, in today’s global order, that value is not fixed. It depends on who you are, what religion you were born into, and whether the media thinks your death is useful or inconvenient. Palestinians are worth less. That is not my moral stance. That is the observable conclusion based on how the world reacts to their deaths. If the body of a Palestinian child washes up on a beach, no flags are lowered. No hashtags trend. No sanctions are threatened. No Hollywood stars cry on television. It is silence. Or worse, justification.

In fact, it seems as though the value of a Palestinian is being weighed not in money but in exchange. How many Palestinians must die for each Israeli? Five? Fifty? Five hundred? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Because the world has silently accepted that these lives are collateral damage. That these brown-skinned people behind walls, without tanks or jets or statehood, are somehow expendable because of who governs them or who claims they’re human shields.

Let me be absolutely clear. Starving civilians to death is not self-defense. Blocking food, fuel, and medicine is not a military tactic. It is not war. It is cruelty. And it is criminal. And every nation, every leader, every voter who turns away from it shares in the blood. Because when you do nothing, when you say nothing, you are saying everything.

People are always quick to defend Israel’s so-called right to exist. Fine. But what about Gaza’s right to eat? What about a child’s right to not be bombed in their sleep? What about the right to drink clean water or have access to antibiotics when your leg is blown off by a drone missile? Where are those rights?

Instead, we hear the same excuse over and over. “Well, Hamas runs Gaza.” As if that justifies the collective punishment of over two million people. Imagine if another country said, “The Republicans run Texas, and we do not like them, so we will blockade food to the entire state.” Would that be acceptable? Would you say, “Well, I guess that’s the consequence of who they elected”? Of course not. You’d call it terrorism. And you’d be right.

But America, the so-called land of the free and home of the brave, does nothing. Worse than nothing. It funds this genocide. It gives Israel the bombs, the jets, the money, the political cover, the vetoes at the UN. And Donald Trump, the supposed savior of the forgotten man, does absolutely jack shit to stop it. He won’t even speak up. His evangelical base worships Israel more than they worship Jesus, and that silence speaks louder than any campaign speech.

So here is the brutal truth. The United States is not a neutral observer. It is a partner in these crimes. And every Democrat and Republican who funds this slaughter while waving an American flag has blood on their hands.

Yes, some Muslim nations like Iran speak out. But they are labeled terrorists for doing so. Because in this twisted Orwellian world, wanting to feed a starving child in Gaza makes you a terrorist sympathizer. And flying an Israeli flag while watching a besieged population die slowly under siege makes you a freedom fighter.

If you cannot see how morally backward that is, then you are either blind, bought, or brainwashed.

America claims to defend freedom, justice, and democracy. But it punishes Iraqis for Saddam Hussein. It punishes Iranians for having a Supreme Leader. It punishes Palestinians for simply existing in the wrong geography. That is not justice. That is tribal vengeance dressed up in a suit and tie.

Ask yourself this: What if your family were the ones being starved? What if drones circled over your neighborhood every day and missiles struck without warning? What if the aid trucks were stopped from entering your town? What if your child cried for bread, and no one answered?

Would you still sit in silence?

Would you still say, “Well, that’s politics”?

Would you still call the starving mother a threat?

We are taught from childhood to believe that every life is sacred. But Gaza proves otherwise. Gaza shows us the truth. The world does not value every life equally. It never did.

So again I ask, what is a human life worth?

Apparently, that depends on which flag is draped over the coffin.

Until we face this horror with honesty, until we say out loud that it is wrong no matter who does it, and until we stop making exceptions for our allies while condemning our enemies, we will continue to live in a world where some people matter and others are treated like animals.

Some people cheer for Israel. Others cheer for Palestine. I am not cheering. I am grieving. And I am raging.

Because the starving should not have to beg to be seen as human.

Veritas Lux Mea

Truth is my light.

Bishop Taylor