Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s two visits to the United States in recent months coincided with Israeli attacks in third countries, in which senior Hamas and Hezbollah officials were killed. At the end of July, Netanyahu visited the US Congress, where he received numerous ovations. In the following days, he met with President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Hours after returning to Tel Aviv, with carte blanche granted by Washington, the Israeli army launched an attack on the Iranian capital during which it assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniya and another in the capital Lebanese attack, during which he killed a senior Hezbollah commander.
This Friday, Netanyahu was again in the United States, in New York. As he was about to begin his speech at the United Nations headquarters, diplomatic representatives from several countries left the room in protest. Others chose to stay, notably the Spanish delegation. In his speech, the Prime Minister called the UN an “anti-Semitic swamp” and also accused the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of “pure anti-Semitism”. After that, from the same city of New York, he ordered the great bombing against Beirut which killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a week of Israeli attacks, leaving more than a thousand Lebanese dead, many of them of civilians.
How would the Western international community react if Russia bombed a country’s capital while Putin was giving a speech at the United Nations headquarters? What would happen if a non-allied country had been massacring civilians for twelve months in territory it had illegally occupied for decades, from where people could not flee and where the entry of necessary humanitarian aid was restricted? prevented?
Netanyahu’s two trips to the United States coincided with the Israeli assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon and Iran.
Israel is the great protégé of the United States and an ally of Europe. Twelve months after the start of the massacre of the population of Gaza, Washington continues to actively support Israel. The Biden administration claims to be working towards a ceasefire in Gaza, but its words are contradicted by the facts. The United States has continued to send weapons to the Israeli military and actively supports Netanyahu’s government. That same Thursday, it was learned that Israel had obtained another package of American military aid to Tel Aviv, worth $8.7 billion. Israel is the world’s largest recipient of U.S. military aid. Thus, the genocide continues its course, normalized.
Some public voices tell us that everything has been done, that Washington is incapable of dominating Netanyahu and that Europe does not have the capacity to act. The reality is different. If the United States wanted to end the massacre of Gaza, the illegal Israeli occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian population, it would turn off the arms tap and convene the United Nations Security Council to promote a resolution to this effect. However, he has vetoed resolutions, increased his military presence in the Middle East – nearly 50,000 troops – and continues to actively support Israel in its use of brute force.
With 42,000 dead in Gaza, some European governments continue to turn a blind eye
That same Saturday, President Biden, in a statement on Nasrallah’s assassination, indicated that “his death following an Israeli attack is a measure of justice for his many victims” and avoided mentioning the more than a thousand of Lebanese deaths in recent days. Kamala Harris expressed herself in the same sense, with the same words: “a measure of justice”. No member of his government has criticized the Israeli bombings and indiscriminate attacks that have killed many civilians in Lebanon. All that was said, through the White House press secretary, was that harm to children and people “is not something we want to see.”
As for Europe, several countries have continued to send military aid to Israel – including Germany and the United Kingdom – others authorize the transit of weapons through their territory and none have announced the end or the suspension of contracts with Israeli military companies. profit from the massacre in Gaza. Some have taken symbolic steps, but none have adopted a formal arms embargo.
Furthermore, the European Union maintains its trade association agreement with Israel, even if its article two requires the parties to respect human rights. With 42,000 victims of the Gaza massacre, some European leaders continue to turn a blind eye. Failure to watch, failure to report, failure to act reduces genocide to mere daily background noise.
UN rapporteurs: “The indifference of the international community fuels genocidal violence”
Pressure measurements that can be applied and have not been carried out
The level of Israeli impunity is such that the foundations of international law are destroyed. This is what independent United Nations rapporteurs are warning these days, in a report which indicates that “the edifice of international law hangs by a thread” and that, with its indifference, “the community international organization promotes genocidal violence. They call on UN member states to immediately adopt fourteen pressure measurements.
Its recommendations build on the advisory order issued last July by the International Court of Justice, which demands an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Furthermore, the Court tells Member States that they must not initiate or continue “commercial or investment relations” contributing to the maintenance of said occupation. Two and a half months after this decision, the United States and European countries have still not fulfilled their mandate.
After two and a half months, the United States and European countries still do not comply with the ruling of the International Court of Justice.
In this context, the independent UN rapporteurs recall that States should, among other things, impose a total arms embargo on Israel, which means “stopping all arms agreements, imports, exports and transfers” and “ immediately review all political, diplomatic and economic relations with Israel.” Israel must ensure that it does not support or provide aid or assistance to its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Furthermore, they emphasize as a duty “the suspension of economic relations, trade agreements and academic relations with Israel that could contribute to its illegal occupation and its apartheid regime.” They also call for “sanctions and asset freezes against Israeli individuals and entities, including companies, corporations and financial institutions, involved in the illegal occupation and the apartheid regime” and call on countries to take action to prevent their dual nationals from “serving in the Israeli army or other services that contribute to the occupation and the apartheid regime, or buying or renting property anywhere in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
This declaration by the UN rapporteurs comes almost at the same time as a resolution of the UN General Assembly, approved a few days ago by a large majority, and inspired by the judgment of the International Court of Justice . In this document, the Assembly demands an end to the illegal Israeli occupation within a maximum period of twelve months and sanctions against those responsible for said occupation and the natural and legal persons who contribute to it.
Furthermore, it calls on United Nations member countries to stop importing products from Israeli settlements and to adopt measures to suspend trade and investments that contribute to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. No European country currently complies with this point, not even the twelve in the European Union who voted in favor of the resolution, including Spain. Thirteen other EU members abstained and two voted against. In total, the votes in favor were 124.
In times of genocide, lack of pressure contributes to and facilitates the perpetuation of crimes
To this end, it specifically calls for a halt to the importation of any product originating from Israeli settlements and calls for sanctions against natural and legal persons who contribute to the maintenance of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
When Netanyahu insulted the UN last Friday, calling it an “anti-Semitic quagmire,” he was responding to this resolution. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they carry great political weight. It was at the United Nations Assembly that the partition plan for Palestine was approved in 1947. For decades, Israel has failed to comply with various binding and non-binding UN resolutions, without any consequences. He knows he can do it, because the United States has always allowed him to do so, with protection and assistance.
“It’s very simple. If you don’t want someone to do something, you don’t give yourself the means to do it. Therefore, we must conclude that the United States government has no objection to what Israel has done over the last year,” Stephen Walt, an analyst and professor of international relations at Harvard University, after the Israeli bombings of Beirut and. the assassination of Nasrallah.
The writer Albert Camus said that there are times when any indifference is criminal. In times of genocide, the absence of pressure contributes to and facilitates the perpetuation of impunity. This is why street mobilization and uncomfortable questions in journalism are important. When all the rubble is cleared from Gaza and Beirut, it will reveal, among them, the vestiges of a rules-based international order.
