Israel’s isolation grows as US adds pressure
It has not been a good week for Israel. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council voted to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, the first since the conflict with Hamas started. What was significant about this vote was that the US a key Israeli ally that usually vetoes resolutions critical of the conduct of the Jewish state chose to abstain, effectively voting in favour of the resolution by stealth. On Thursday, the International Court of Justice sitting in The Hague issued additional orders calling on Israel to take effective measures to prevent famine and genocide in Gaza. The court noted that since January, when it granted an order for the prevention of genocide a charge brought by South Africa “the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been subjected”. The court said famine was setting in.
It ordered that Israel take all measures to ensure the unhindered provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, hygiene, and sanitation. Fourteen of the sixteen judges voted in favour and two against.
Israel has dismissed and ignored the court’s injunctions before. When the case was first brought to The Hague in January, it accused South Africa of batting on behalf of Hamas.
The UN Security Council resolution is a different matter altogether and would have stung deeply. Israel has long hidden behind America’s skirt to act with impunity in Gaza. But the Netanyahu and Biden administrations have not often seen eye to eye when it comes to the post-October 7 offensive, which has claimed 32,000 Palestinian lives thus far. The US is especially opposed to plans for a ground offensive in Rafah in the south, into which the Israeli army pushed Palestinian civilians after an intensive bombardment in the north.
The Security Council vote, supported by 14 members, demanded “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire”. It further demanded the release of hostages but did not make a truce dependent on them being freed.
An incensed Netanyahu immediately cancelled a visit to Washington by two of his ministers to discuss the planned offensive in Rafah, accusing the US of having “abandoned its policy in the UN”. What he means is the US has finally abandoned the policy of looking the other way while Israel commits the most heinous crimes against defenceless civilians under the pretext of exercising “its right to self-defence”.
In fact, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington’s envoy at the UN, said if their request to add a condemnation of Hamas to the resolution had been acceded to, they would have voted yes. Britain and France, two other nations with the power of veto, supported the resolution.
US-Israel relations have deteriorated to a point where Senate leader Chuck Schumer the highest-ranking Jewish official in Congress publicly called Netanyahu out over Gaza. He “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Schumer said two weeks ago.
With elections in November, the Biden administration cannot afford to continue alienating minority groups that have been vocal about atrocities committed by Israel.
Netanyahu now finds himself completely isolated. Every bomb Israel sends into the Palestinian enclave cements its position as a pariah state.
A deeply unpopular figure at home and abroad, the Israeli leader is desperate to appease his extremist ruling coalition, but finds himself at the crossroads. Without Western support, it will be even more difficult to justify his government’s actions.
We applaud both the Security Council and the court. Pressure brought by South Africa in The Hague, and other international action in solidarity with Palestine, is starting to bear fruit.
Hamas must respond by agreeing to release unconditionally all the Israeli hostages it still has captive so this senseless war can end once and for all.
The UN Security Council resolution would have stung deeply