It cannot be denied that the international status of the State of Israel, and of the Jewish citizens of Israel, has never been worse, and appears to be getting worse daily.
Many Israelis – mostly religious and/or right-wing – are inclined to relate this fact to pure, old-fashioned antisemitism. Others – mostly from the Left and Center – are more inclined to blame the consequences of Israel’s activities in the Gaza Strip for our current travails, though they too cannot deny that antisemitic prejudices play a role in the situation.
The main manifestations of the phenomenon are the fact that a growing number of states, traditionally considered friendly or at least not hostile to Israel, are attacking its policy/activities in the Gaza Strip. Many of them are currently threatening to recognize a Palestinian state come the opening session of the UN General Assembly in September, even though the prospects of establishing such a state in the foreseeable future are non-existent.
The European Union is considering denying Israel partial access to its €95 billion Horizon Europe research fund. Should such a decision be taken, Israel will lose access to €200 million of future grants and investments.
The EU is also considering changes to its visa-free travel within its boundaries for Israeli citizens, while individual states, in Europe and outside of Europe, are considering, or have already applied arms sales embargoes on Israel, or boycotts on Israeli products.
However, it is Israeli citizens visiting abroad who are feeling the effects of the change in attitude most strongly. More and more Israelis abroad are being denied being served or offered accommodation, and are avoiding speaking Hebrew in public.
We all saw the footage, almost two weeks ago, of the Mano Maritime cruise ship Crown Iris, carrying around 1,600 Israeli passengers on board, that was forced to reroute from the Greek island of Syros to Cyprus due to a pro-Palestinian quayside protest of 300 demonstrators. It was not the Greek government that sought to cause the Israeli ship to sail away, but the hostile demonstrators.
American support for Israeli military action at an all-time low
However, what is most worrying is the fact that a Gallup poll published in the US last week found that “Americans’ approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza has fallen 10 percentage points since the prior measurement in September (2024), and it is now at 32%, the lowest reading since Gallup first asked the question in November 2023. Disapproval of the military action has now reached 60%.”
The bottom line of the poll was that “Americans’ support for Israel’s military operation in Gaza and their positive views of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu have both reached new lows, reflecting sharp declines in Democrats’ and independents’ support. At the same time, Republicans’ backing of Israel’s military action and its prime minister is holding firm, resulting in record partisan gaps on both.”
What has caused this anti-Israeli tsunami? When the Israeli land attack on the Gaza Strip began toward the end of October 2023, following the Hamas attack on the Gaza border communities on October 7 – which involved the commitment of many humanitarian horrors by the Palestinian terrorists – the world in general supported Israel.
From the beginning, the collateral damage caused by Israel’s attacks, both on ground and from the air, in terms of civilians killed and the destruction of civilian homes and civil institutions, was high. However, this was explainable on the grounds of the fact that Israel had to deal with both Hamas’s overground presence, and the massive underground encampment that the terrorist group had constructed over the years.
Today, the story is different. In recent months, Israel seems to be following a policy of razing much of the Gaza Strip to the ground, and is much less articulate about avoiding civilian casualties. Though some of the Israeli government ministers do not hide their ambition to destroy the Strip to the ground, and to cause the civilian population to agree to a “voluntary transfer,” this is not Israel’s official policy.
Starvation in Gaza
Besides the physical damage, Israel is being accused of following a deliberate policy of starvation, and deprivation of the Gazan population of all their other basic needs. Though once again, there are some government ministers who openly express aspirations in this direction, I do not believe there has been a government decision to starve the population – including babies and children – or to deprive it of other basic needs. Still, that is what appears to be happening de facto.
Official spokespersons in Israel have argued that many of the horrifying photographs of emaciated babies and children spread to the world press are fabricated. Perhaps, but it does not mean that the situation, for which Israel is largely responsible, is tolerable.
Some people in Israel say that the problem is hasbara – official explanations. However, the bigger problem is the visible reality. At least Netanyahu appears to have grasped that this is the situation, especially since US President Donald Trump stopped denying that there is hunger and malnutrition in the Strip.
As I said at the outset, I appreciate the fact that there are different ways of observing the situation. However, just as it is legitimate for me, as a left-wing Israeli patriot, to feel that the reality we have created in the course of reacting to the horrors that Hamas inflicted upon us on October 7 is excessively harsh – and in many respects contrary to international law, which Israel professes to preserve – so it is legitimate for the rest of the world to feel similarly.
However, at the same time, it is our duty not to allow the rest of the world to forget who started the whole embroilment and who didn’t – and that they still do not really care both about the well-being of the hapless Gazans, whom they profess to represent, or about the Israeli hostages abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7 by Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and their supporters.
The two most recent video clips released by the two terrorist organizations show two of our (still) living hostages – Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski – two emaciated young men, who are being deliberately starved to death. That is also part of the nasty reality.
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. In the years 1994-2010, she worked in the Knesset Library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.