FLASH
Shkruar nga Pierre Haski
After giving full support to Israel after the October 7 attacks, the West has begun to soften its stance and demand that the state follow international law. But there are few signs that Israel will abandon its all-out assault on Gaza.
The major powers of the West have a problem: their support for Israel – logical and justified after the horrors of the October 7 Hamas attack – is increasingly being challenged by the scale and manner of the Israeli response in Gaza.
This has forced them into an uncomfortable position, which is likely to become even more worrisome when Israel launches its ground offensive.
A change in tone has certainly begun. On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Israel to "do everything possible to spare civilians". Paris reports that Emmanuel Macron told Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel must respect "international humanitarian law." The French president wrote this in black and white on his X/Twitter account.
But these diplomatic stances remain out of step with how the Israeli military is acting: it has told more than a million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza, ordered hospitals to evacuate their patients and cut off water and electricity.
Not to mention the inflammatory statements coming from senior Israeli officials: The Defense Minister has spoken of "human animals" when warning of retaliation. While Gideon Sa'ar, a minister without portfolio, has openly said that those who attacked Israel should lose the territory.
Collective Punishment
The West supports Israel's right to defend itself. But no country should be allowed to ignore international humanitarian law, which condemns collective punishment. And this is what is happening in Gaza.
In recent days, comparisons have often been made with the September 11, 2001 attack in the United States.
While the shock caused by the two attacks can be compared, we must also be aware of the potential danger involved in a post-9/11-style response—the war on terror that drove Americans into the dead corners of Iraq and Afghanistan. , in the violation of international rights by torturing prisoners in Guantanamo, or in the invasion of Iraq without the approval of the UN. Two disastrous decades for the United States and the world.
Western diplomacy is caught between legitimate empathy and solidarity with a country stricken by terrorism and the difficulty of sustaining its response.
Too little, too late?
Israel, as we know, is not a country that allows itself to be influenced, and the wound of October 7 is so deep that nothing will stop its revenge on Gaza. The White House appeared to be weighing Sunday on restoring water supplies to the south of the Palestinian territory, and that's the extent of concessions Israel is willing to make at the moment.
In the coming days, European and American diplomacy will undoubtedly clarify their positions on the events in Gaza. But it may be too little too late when it comes to avoiding creating the impression that Israeli suffering has outweighed that of the Palestinians.
We must condemn terrorism and the plight of the Palestinians with equal force. /Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Worldcrunch"
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