On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu received a standing ovation after his speech to US Congress. It was a moment that seemed to usher in a new phase of the war in Gaza – one in which it is not only tolerated as an unfortunate necessity, but is seen as something for which unquestionable support will continue without limits, without red lines and without tactical discretion. Israel’s relentless erasure of families, homes, culture and infrastructure – without end or indication of when any of it will satisfy its goals – is now just a part of life.

At the same time, the presumptive Democratic contender, Kamala Harris, makes a nonsensical appeal that “we cannot allow ourselves to become numb” to what is happening and that she “will not be silent”, when the only thing that matters is that the US continues to arm and fund Israel.

It all represents a dissolution not only of international law, but a fundamental human law. Of the transgressions that upend everyday life, death by murder, as has been alleged, is perhaps the worst, most degrading crime. The sanctity of human life, the notion that it cannot be terminated without the highest justification, is what separates us from barbarism. And so as the past nine months have unfolded, with each landmark episode of killing, there were many moments when you thought: surely this is it?

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