Israel faces a 'diplomatic tsunami' because of the Gaza war

The actions of Prime Minister Netanyahu's government in Gaza have sparked a wave of international outrage and caused a "diplomatic tsunami".
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan on May 10 made extremely angry statements before the United Nations General Assembly (UN) voted on the prospect of admitting Palestine as a full member of the organization. Standing on the podium, he held copies of the UN Charter and dropped them into a handheld shredder, demonstrating Israel's opposition to the vote.

"You are tearing up the UN Charter with your own hands. That is what you are doing," Mr. Erdan said. But that did not stop the General Assembly from passing a resolution, with 143 votes in favor, 9 votes against and 25 abstentions, stating that Palestine should be granted UN membership and recommending that the Security Council consider the issue . Although this is only a symbolic resolution, because the US, a permanent member of the Security Council, will likely veto it to show support for its ally Israel. However, this is one of the developments that shows that Israel is increasingly diplomatically isolated in the international arena, according to observers.

In early April, when the six-month conflict in Gaza broke out, international media focused attention on Israel's isolated state. The Guardian published an article about Israel titled "Isolated abroad, divided at home". "After six months of war, Israel's isolation is increasing," AP reported. Reuters also published a similar article with the title "6 months after the war in Gaza, Israel faces increasingly deeper isolation"

Analysts say that Israel is really facing a "diplomatic tsunami" because of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. South Africa late last year sued Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Tel Aviv of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The UN Security Council at the end of March passed a resolution requesting a ceasefire in Gaza and the US abstained.



With this abstention, the United States, Israel's largest ally and sponsor, expressed its strong desire that Israel will change the direction of the conflict in Gaza. Washington also punished some Israeli settlers in the West Bank, issuing angry statements, particularly regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the Israeli raid on international aid workers.

The European Parliament and many other countries also voted to call on Israel to change its approach in the fight against Hamas.

Peter Beaumont, a Guardian commentator, said that "the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration have aroused the indignation of the international community and made the long-warned diplomatic tsunami become a reality." .

US President Joe Biden's administration has threatened to stop supplying weapons to Israel and confirmed stopping a shipment of bombs to allies to protest the campaign against Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinians reside. hidden. Ireland and Spain meanwhile pledged to officially recognize Palestinian statehood.

Pressure is also mounting in Europe over a ban on imports of Israeli settler products. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Coo, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, said he was looking for allies in his push for the ban, arguing that Tel Aviv was likely violating the rules. human rights clause in the EU-Israel cooperation agreement.

Türkiye, a country that has long had complicated relations with Israel, announced a complete ban on trade with Tel Aviv. In South America, Tel Aviv also witnessed a series of countries cutting or downgrading diplomatic relations, with Colombia becoming the second South American country after Bolivia to completely cut relations with Israel.

The international community once strongly supported Israel after the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, but the way Tel Aviv conducted the campaign in Gaza and the violence against Palestinians in the West Bank quickly caused sparked a wave of disappointment and indignation with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israeli leaders have repeatedly rejected any idea of ​​recognizing a Palestinian state as proposed by the US and many countries.

The Israeli government announced that it would continue its campaign into the city of Rafah, despite warnings from many parties, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said in March that Tel Aviv risked further global isolation if it did so. so.

What happened in the past few months was an accumulation of many things over many years. Experts have repeatedly warned about the risk of conflict, emphasizing the instability in the situation between Israel and the Palestinians," said Yossi Mekelberg, a member of the Chatham House institute in the UK.

Mekelberg said that the recent wave of US and European outrage against Israel is "unprecedented", when Tel Aviv used bombs and ammunition provided by Washington to attack a series of civilian targets, causing great casualties.

Dahlia Scheindlin, a commentator for Haaretz, said that Türkiye's trade ban and the US's move to delay weapons deliveries and threaten to stop further supplies are "strong blows" to Israel. Trade between Israel and Türkiye has increased to $9 billion per year. Turkish exports and labor are important to Israel's construction industry. Ankara is also an exporter of many necessary raw materials and many food items, agricultural products, textiles... to Tel Aviv.

The US meanwhile is Israel's top aid country. As of last year, the US had provided $158.7 billion, of which about $124.3 billion was for Tel Aviv's military and missile defense system, according to the Congressional Research Service. According to the 10-year memorandum of understanding that former president Barack Obama signed, Washington currently provides $3.8 billion in military aid each year to Israel, not to mention the additional $15 billion in support that the US approved last month.


Shalom Lipner, a longtime advisor to many Israeli prime ministers, warned that if the Israeli government ignores warnings from its largest military and diplomatic supporter, it will cause a "strategic disadvantage" for Tel Aviv. . Commentator Scheindlin also believes that international disappointment in Israel has been building up for a long time and that the Gaza war is the last straw. "Israel behaved inconsiderately and clumsily, like hitting itself with a rock," she said.