There is one crime that stands above all other crimes, and that is the crime of genocide. Beyond any individual actions of theft or murder, beyond any acts of terrorism or cruelty, the systematic attempt to erase an entire group of people, men, women and children, because of their ethnic identity, is universally understood to be the greatest offense against international law and human conscience.

The precedence for our understanding of this evil is the Nazi genocide during WWII, of Jews, Slavs, Roma, Communists, homosexuals and others. Since that time, it has provided a cautionary example of what should never be allowed to happen again.

But genocides have happened since then. In Guatamala, in Rwanda, in Indonesia and other places, genocides have occurred, generally out of the conscious view of the world public, but have nonetheless been condemned and prosecuted after the fact. However imperfect the pursuit of justice has been in these cases, no one has maintained that these mass slaughters are anything but crimes or that their perpetrators should be immune from the judgment of law or history.

Now a genocide is taking place in front of the conscious gaze of the entire world. In retaliation for the attempt on October 7, 2023 by the armed resistance in Gaza to break the years-long siege and occupation, the state of Israel has implemented a policy, articulated by its leaders and made plain through its actions, of once and for all disposing of the civilian society of the indigenous people of historical Palestine, now residing in the Gaza Strip.

Beyond being witnessed by the entire world, this genocide is being carried out with the active support of the United States of America, the supposed leader of the free world. By continuing to supply bombs to Israel, in contravention of U.S. laws prohibiting the shipment of arms to countries engaged in human rights violations, by repeatedly blocking action by the international community to stop the ongoing atrocities, official Washington, along with the oligarchic instruments of corporate media and the mega-wealthy donor class, are delivering a consistent message: these crimes don’t matter, these criminals are not to be held accountable for their crimes.

This a problem for us as a society. If the gravest of all crimes, genocide, witnessed by the entire world, can be excused, through the arbitrary implementation of raw power, if the very basis of legal authority can be annulled by vested foreign interests, then where does that leave our legal framework to judge every lesser crime? Clearly if the worst crime is now OK, then every lesser crime is now OK too. We are unconsciously bumbling into the end of legitimate legal authority, and the system of rule of law that we all assumed was built on shared moral principles and democratic mutual self-interest.

What the rule of law is being replaced with is demonstrated every day when we watch gangs of uniformed police violently suppressing peaceful anti-genocide protesters on college campuses across the country. The idea that laws on trespassing and staying on the sidewalk have to be meticulously enforced with cracked skulls while the king of crimes, genocide, is ignored or exalted by most of our political class, is patently absurd, and shows the bankruptcy of our current trajectory.

Law enforcement in this new system has been reduced to mobs of beefy hooligans all wearing the same color pants, serving private interests, with no legitimate authority behind them.

The information war in this conflict has been between those who see clearly what is going on in Gaza and are quick to call it out for what it is, and those who wish to obscure the truth and bury it with distractions, lies and tortured linguistics.

Spoiler alert: the truth will rise. If we want to rescue our society and legal system, we need the mass of law-abiding people to acknowledge what time will deliver to us as undeniable truth. The rule of law is based on justice. And justice dictates that crimes in progress should be stopped, and that those who perpetrate these crimes are held accountable for their actions. The project of redeeming our nation begins with this.

Doug Rogers is a musician, composer and carpenter who lives in Long Eddy, NY.