It’s been a tumultuous month for Israel. Never before has the Jewish state come under such intense and sustained international pressure from multiple fronts for its policies towards the Palestinians.
This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the ranks of world leaders branded as international pariahs when he became the target of the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against him and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant for suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s war in Gaza.
The court has previously sought warrants against the likes of Sudan’s Omar Al Bashir, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi.
And on Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to immediately halt its controversial military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying the humanitarian situation there is “disastrous” and expected to “intensify further.”
Seven months after Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, Israel’s retaliatory war has failed to achieve its goals. Top Hamas leaders remain at large and 125 hostages remain captive in the enclave. Gaza is now in ruins and more than 35,000 Palestinians have died during Israel’s onslaught.
Pressure on Israel to end the war is mounting from all sides: US college campuses, international courts, American celebrities, Israel’s Western allies, and even the families of the Israeli hostages.
But the most significant of those may be the legal and diplomatic action taken against Israel this month.
Israeli officials are scrambling to contain the fallout. They have accused critics of antisemitism and vowed not to relent in the face of international pressure. “Even if Israel is forced to stand alone, we will stand alone, and we will continue to strike our enemies powerfully until victory,” Netanyahu declared in a fiery speech at the opening ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day this month.
