The decision of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to occupy the City of Gaza where nearly a million Palestinians live, has generated international condemnation that puts Israel at risk of being isolated in international politics, except for the crucial support of Donald Trump.
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Even before the announcement of taking military control of the entire Gaza Strip, Western powers such as France, the United Kingdom, and Canada had expressed their intention to recognize Palestine as a state, and following the decision of the most right-wing government in the country’s history, Israel, Australia also joined in.
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Additionally, this Tuesday, a group of 27 countries warned that the level of suffering in Gaza has reached “unimaginable levels”, and therefore called for “urgent” measures to contain and reverse the serious food insecurity of the population. Among the signing nations are the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, and the European Union as a bloc.
Trump confirms his support for Israel
Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss the decision to occupy the city of Gaza and militarily control Palestinian territory.
In the conversation, according to the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, “both discussed Israel’s plans to take control of the remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza to end the war through the release of hostages and the defeat of Hamas.” Netanyahu also “thanked Trump for his strong support of Israel since the beginning of the war,” concludes the statement.
In turn, Trump rejected last Sunday labeling the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza as genocide and has practically left any decision on the strategy to follow in the enclave in the hands of Netanyahu.
In addition to that, Vice President JD Vance rejected the option for the United States to recognize the Palestinian state.
Tense meeting at the United Nations
This alliance between Israel and the United States was evident in a tense meeting of the UN Security Council, where they defended the plan to occupy Gaza despite the questioning from the other member countries, who, along with experts from the United Nations, demanded the immediate suspension of these plans in the face of the new humanitarian catastrophe they could represent.
One of the most forceful speeches was delivered by the Deputy Representative of Russia, Dmitri Polianski, who denounced both the delay of this meeting and an Israeli deception by recalling that their Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, “addressed this Council on August 5 and shed crocodile tears in this same chamber for the fate of Israeli hostages” when “he already knew that the Israeli cabinet was going to make this decision.”
The United States representative, Dorothy Shea, expressed her full support for Israel and once again questioned the role of some council members who are determined to benefit Hamas, according to her.
In addition to the United States and Russia, the other permanent members of the Security Council are United Kingdom, France, and China, while the current non-permanent members include Algeria, South Korea, Panama, Denmark, and Greece.
Isolation: a topic of debate in Israel
The risks of possible international isolation are also a topic of debate in Israel.
An article published this Tuesday by The Jerusalem Post quotes Uriel Abulof, an associate professor of politics at Tel Aviv University, who says that “all reports point to the diplomatic tsunami that everyone has been warning about for years is approaching.”
Abulof adds that “foreign leaders expect it to be the Israelis, not their government, who regain composure and somehow lead to early elections or for Netanyahu to give in under pressure.”
“The process of becoming a pariah state is difficult to understand, and one never really knows when it will arrive... These supposed small things add up in the end, and although individually they may not affect people’s lives, when they accumulate, it will be hard to ignore them,” said Michael Harari, a former high-ranking Israeli diplomat and member of policy at Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, in an article for The Jerusalem Post.
“If this continues, it will erode the willingness of Israel’s allies to take risks for Israel,” Harari commented.