Sign world is turning on Israel

A month after the murderous attack on civilians by Hamas terrorists, Israel is facing a collapse in international support. And the fallout has global implications.

International support immediately after the October 7 attack was decisive.

Leaders lined up to condemn the killing and hostage-taking. The US immediately dispatched two aircraft carrier battle groups, billions of dollars in military aid – and forceful moral support.

“The message that I bring you is this: you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself — but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “We will always be there by your side.”

But now, the US and its closest supporters – Australia and the UK – are becoming increasingly isolated in their support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government.

This week, Spain’s social affairs minister Ione Belarra stood up and labelled Israel’s assault on the Gazan Palestinian population “a genocide”.

And Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra de Sutter publicly called for European Union sanctions to be imposed against the Netanyahu government.

But the United States has voted against a UN motion advocating a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. Australia and the UK abstained. That’s despite all repeatedly advocating for a “humanitarian ceasefire” in Ukraine.

The notion that war is a valid tool to change international borders has been rejected in Ukraine. And China’s being warned about the use of force against India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. But the US backs Israel’s annexation of much of UN 1947 Partition Plan Palestine.

And the US and Australia have loudly condemned the recent forced displacement of up to 200,000 ethnic Rohingya from their homes by the Myanmar military. But the same tactic has evoked little comment when applied to the 1.5 million forced to flee Gaza City.

“What are painted as innocent civilians in the former case have become collateral damage in the latter,” argues Overseas Development Institute (ODI) researcher Dustin Barter.

And it’s not lost on China.

Beijing has already moved to wedge the West’s acceptance of Israel’s assault on Gaza as justification for its genocidal acts against ethnic Islamic Uighurs in Xinjiang Province.

“Few believe this (international) order possesses either moral legitimacy or political credibility,” argues Lowy Institute fellow Dr Bobo Lo.

“Its ‘rules’ are seen as self-serving – a code of the West, by the West, for the West. Rarely has the United States, and the West in general, seemed more out of sync with the rest of the world.”

Anti-Semitic upsurge

Recent polling by the Brookings Institution think-tank confirms the rapid evaporation of sympathy for Israel’s plight.

“The two polls that we have conducted so far since the start of the war in Israel and Gaza show the biggest changes in attitudes that we have ever measured from poll to poll in years of tracking American public attitudes on the Israeli-Palestinian issue — and these changes are almost certainly related to the ongoing war,” says senior fellow Shibley Telhami.

“Much of the initial bump in support for Israel that the American public exhibited early after the Hamas attack has not survived the reactions to the Israeli attacks in Gaza.”

Indicative of this reaction is a global upsurge of “antisemitic incidents”. This classification ranges from violent assaults to the removal of pro-Israeli paraphernalia.

The Anti-Defamation League last week reported a 400 per cent spike in such activity within the United States. A similar surge has been seen in Europe.

Many of these hate crimes are brutal.

A Jewish woman was stabbed to death in Lyon, France. A swastika was smeared on her door.

A synagogue in Berlin was recently firebombed, as was a cemetery in Vienna. And Nazi-style Stars of David have been painted on the doors of Jewish properties from Paris to Berlin.

“It is unbearable that Jews are living in fear again today — in our country of all places,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stated. “Every single attack on Jews, on Jewish institutions, is a disgrace for Germany.”

Empire of dust

Israel’s own government appears to have been falling over itself to generate a backlash. It has not just reacted to a terrorist raid with bombs and bullets. It has cut supplies of water, food, fuel and electricity to the entire Gazan population.

Doctors Without Borders has called the devastation “one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes that we have ever seen”.

And the International Committee of the Red Cross tweeted: “The human suffering is shocking. Thousands killed. People have limited access to food and water. Hospitals are near collapse. Hospital corridors are full of wounded and displaced. Destroyed infrastructure and homes will take years to rebuild. Even wars have limits.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has described Hamas as “human animals”.

“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” he said. “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”

Former Israeli General Giora Eiland backed up the statement, saying Israel “must create an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza”.

“Only the mobilisation of tens of thousands and the cry of the international community will create the leverage for Gaza to be either without Hamas or without people. We are in an existential war,” Eiland declared.

Former Defence Minister Benny Gantz, who joined Netanyahu’s emergency unity government last month, also called Hamas an “existential threat”. And that, he added Thursday, justifies moves to impose “security superiority” over Gaza.

In the face of an unverified 10,000 dead Palestinians, the justification to avenge 1400 Jewish dead and 200 hostages risks wearing thin.

“Israel’s de facto justification amounts to an argument that visiting death and devastation upon civilians is acceptable as long as the attempt to eliminate a loathsome villain is successful,” argues Foreign Policy journal analyst Howard French.

“The problem here should be obvious to all. The resort to barbarity, such as Israel has employed in its campaign to snuff out Hamas, is itself uncivilised and surely plants the seeds for more savagery on both sides in the future.”

But Israeli commentators feel their plight is being ignored.

“Some suspect that there’s a double standard at play when people furiously condemn the killing of Palestinian civilians, but say nothing, or even excuse it when Israeli civilians are killed,” argues University of California Los Angeles Professor of Israel Studies, Dov Waxman.

“In the case of Israel, its existence and legitimacy are still challenged. There are still many people who would rather there not be a state of Israel, at least not a Jewish state.”

Undermining the “International Order”

Israel’s right to defend itself is a clear right under international law. The deliberate targeting of civilians and taking of hostages to act as human shields firmly placed Hamas as the instigator of this particular round of the 75-year-old conflict.

“Like all nations, though, Israel must be held to the laws and conventions that regulate warfare, as well as to a common sense of decency and proportion,” argues French.

“Biblical-style vengeance may be emotionally satisfying for some, and it may appeal strongly to the religious elements of the Israeli leader’s base, but this is a recipe for repeated and continued atrocities and the heedless violation of innocent lives.”

The widespread perception of double standards threatens to accelerate the world down a path towards a multipolar cluster of great powers.

“It is uncertain how the situation over Gaza and the future of Palestine will develop. What is clear, though, is that the events of the past month have shown that the usual recipes for international problem-solving are no longer fit for purpose,” warns Dr Lo.

“Looking ahead, the choice is stark. Leaders can cling on to anachronistic tropes – the ‘rules-based order’, the illusion of ‘universal’ values, the myth of great power (‘multipolar’) governance, and an obsessive preoccupation with geopolitical competition.

“Or they can get real and accept that today’s threats and challenges – from conflict in the Middle East to anthropogenic climate change – require fundamentally different, more inclusive and cooperative approaches.

“Make the wrong choice and we will discover that the current conflict, far from being an aberration, is the harbinger of an increasingly confrontational and anarchic world.”

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel