About to become a pariah state but Israel is not listening

 

The war between Israel and Hamas
 

Israel risks being labeled a pariah

Wolfgang Hansson

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.

Updated 21.23 | Published 19.40

Benjamin Netanyahu is mentioned in the same breath as hardline dictators. Photo: Debbie Hill/AP

On the battlefield, Israel is superior. They basically do what they want and will at least militarily be able to defeat Hamas in Gaza.

Outside the war zone, the picture is completely different. Israel is faced with an increasingly compact wall of criticism and dissatisfaction from the outside world.

In the long run, a dangerous development for the continued existence of the Jewish state.
 

Quick version

• Ireland, Norway and Spain recognize Palestine as an independent state in response to Israel's actions in Gaza.
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Israel to withdraw from Gaza. The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is also seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
• I Israel's continued warfare in Gaza, despite international pressure and condemnation, calls into question the country's long-term survival and undermines its international relations.   
  

Last week, Ireland, Norway and Spain decided to recognize Palestine as an independent state. More countries within the EU are expected to follow suit.

The recognitions are a mark against Israel's warfare and further pressure on Israel to agree to a two-state solution.

It is the first time since 2014 that an EU country recognizes Palestine. Then it was Sweden that was first out. But it is hardly the Swedish recognition that has caused new countries to follow suit, but the way Israel conducts its war in Gaza while refusing to discuss how a permanent peace should be achieved between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

Last Friday, the International Court of Justice, ICJ, in The Hague also issued a ruling ordering Israel to cease the offensive in Rafah and withdraw from Gaza. The reasons given are a terrible humanitarian situation and a danger to the survival of the Palestinian people.

The court has no military power to back up its words. But the result is yet another example of how the international pressure against Israel is constantly building.

Another stone in that building was laid down early last week when the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, ICC, requested that an international arrest warrant be issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. As well as against three of Hamas' top leaders.

 
For a democracy like Israel, it is of course devastating that the country's leaders are mentioned in the same breath as Saddam Hussein, Omar al-Bashir, Slobodan Milosevic and Vladimir Putin.

On top of that, both the EU and the US have targeted far-right settlers in the occupied West Bank who use violence to drive Palestinians off their land.

Similar groups of Israelis we can see on videos stopping and destroying humanitarian aid on its way into Gaza.

The whole world, including international bodies and courts say that Israel's warfare does not comply with the laws of war. Israel is about to be branded a pariah.

It is worth recalling that Israel was founded in 1948 by the United Nations to give the Jewish people a home after the horrific genocide of Jews planned and carried out by Adolf Hitler and his Nazis. Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

But the question is whether Israel's existence has ever been as questioned as it is now. When even Israel's friends like the US and the majority of the countries in the EU turn against the country's way of waging war in Gaza, it has gone too far.

But Israel doesn't seem to be listening. Last night they attacked a tent camp where Israel suspected that two of Hamas's commanders were. But if the reports are true, a number of innocent civilians were also killed. Something Israel usually responds to with "we do what we can to protect the civilian population". But apparently the tolerance for innocent victims is very high in Israel. Significantly higher than the rest of the world.

On the night of Monday, Israel attacked a tent camp with more civilian casualties as a result. Photo: Jehad Alshrafi/AP

The gap between how Israel conducts the war and what Israel's friends in the outside world can accept is growing all the time.

An important reason why Netanyahu turns a deaf ear is that he has made himself completely dependent on extreme right-wing settler parties for his hold on power. Both Finance Minister Smotrich and Security Minister Ben-Gvir constantly threaten to quit the government if Netanyahu makes the slightest concession to the Palestinians or the international community.

The consequence is that Israel is increasingly isolated as a state. A dangerous development for Israel.

The country has survived for a long time in an initially hostile Arab world. Today, Israel has diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan.

Shortly before the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 last year, diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia were underway. It could still happen but then Israel would have to agree to a ceasefire and a two-state solution.

An almost unanimous world view sees two states, Israel and a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza as the only possibility for a permanent peaceful solution.
 
Netanyahu refuses, but without coming up with any counter-proposal. He doesn't even want to plan how Gaza will be governed the day the war ends.

If Israel is to survive as a state in the long run, it cannot be in a constant state of war. Especially not when both neighboring countries and Palestinian groups are constantly building up their military strength.

Yesterday, Hamas succeeded in firing at least eight missiles at Tel Aviv. This after a constant bombardment and intense fighting by the Israeli army for over seven months.

Israel should realize that it is not enough to have an iron fist. You need friends too. And keep them.