On eve of its 76th Independence Day, Israel increasingly isolated among the nations - opinion

From US college campuses to the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, recent demonstrations against Israel have highlighted the country’s global unpopularity at a time when the stakes are particularly high. On the eve of its 76th Independence Day, a day that will be markedly less celebratory than usual, Israel is facing unprecedented international isolation and disdain.

When the war between Israel and Hamas broke out seven months ago, Israel received widespread international support. Both Israel and the international community were stunned by the October 7 attack, during which Hamas fighters stormed the border and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hamas fighters also took more than 250 people hostage and wounded thousands of others. 

Since then, support for Israel has sharply declined. Israel launched an offensive on Hamas, which has taken a heavy toll on Gaza and led to increasing criticism and condemnation of Israel. According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, Israel has killed 35,000 Palestinians since the beginning of the war, and over 75,000 Palestinians have been injured. The United Nations estimates that 1.7 million Gazans have been displaced, with tens of thousands of homes destroyed to rubble.

Israel and Hamas have fought several wars since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The current war is by far Israel’s largest offensive against the terrorist organization, making for repercussions greater than ever before. 

“Israel has been isolated for the last 76 years and will always be isolated diplomatically,” Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University, told The Media Line. “There is only one Jewish state and over 50 state members of the Islamic group that have a lot of power and allies. As a result, it will always be more criticized and condemned than any other country for whatever it does.”

He said that the UN and other nongovernmental organizations were participating in “political and propaganda warfare” using images of suffering from Gaza. “It is obvious that the degree of isolation that Israel is in is greater than it has been for a long time,” he said.

Alon Liel, a former Israeli diplomat and former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Media Line that the outcome of Israel’s increasing global isolation remains unclear. 

“Israel is facing a lot of trouble,” he said. “While extensive sanctions may not be the direction in which this is going, wide recognition of the state of Palestine could be in store.”

Israel’s list of challenges is long

It is facing genocide allegations in the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, more and more countries plan to recognize a Palestinian state after a long Israeli campaign insisting that Palestinian statehood should only be achieved through bilateral negotiations. On Friday, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution giving Palestine more rights in the international forum. Israel’s objections were largely muted, and only eight countries voted alongside Israel.

In early May, Colombia cut its ties with Israel. Turkey has also suspended trade with Israel, years into a fraught relationship.

Several allies have announced an arms embargo on Israel. Last week, US President Joe Biden said he would not provide Israel precision-guided munitions as its offensive in the hot spot of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip advances. Israel’s use of American weapons has come under intense scrutiny by the administration. 

In addition, the Biden administration announced executive orders placing sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. Canada and other countries have also decided to halt the selling of weapons to Israel and have also joined US-led sanctions on settlers. 

Israeli athletes and academics are reporting facing boycotts in numerous countries. Some cultural cooperations have been canceled. The Palestinian Football Association has called on the global football governing body, FIFA, to expel Israel, a move that could very well gain traction in the current climate. 

As the isolation appears to grow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extreme right-wing government are growing increasingly defiant of the international community. “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. … If necessary, we will fight with our fingernails,” Netanyahu said in a video message his office released before the national Independence Day holiday.

“In the past, Netanyahu would block all these efforts on his own, using his international prestige,” Liel, the former Israeli diplomat, said. “Now, there are just too many things to deal with. He is out of energy and also preoccupied with the war. Thus, Israel has lost its political deterrence. Any ball that will drop will cause immense damage—local damage, and in the end, cumulative damage in several arenas.”

Hamas’ attack on Israel came during a divisive period in Israel when the public was sharply at odds regarding a government plan to overhaul the judicial system. The proposed reform, which its opponents called a coup, also led to a growing rift between Israel and the US and other allies. Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, came to be seen as the leader of the country’s most right-wing coalition ever to govern, who was risking the nature of Israeli democracy.

According to Nadav Tamir, the executive director of J Street Israel and former adviser to late Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres, much of the world manages to differentiate between the Netanyahu government and the state of Israel. 

“Most of the liberal and democratic countries are highly critical of the current government but are not against Israel, and were very moved by the protest movement and are in favor of the existence, security, and flourishing of the state of Israel,” Tamir told The Media Line. “With time, even if the criticism is aimed at the Netanyahu government, this government is dragging Israel into a very problematic situation.”

On Sunday, several media outlets reported that the US has been withholding critical intelligence from Israel, with the US offering to reveal the locations of top Hamas leaders if Israel calls off its military operation in Rafah, which the US has harshly criticized. The fact that such information had been withheld is an example of the widening gap between Israel and the US, a gap that illustrates Israel’s growing isolation.

Recent media reports have said the International Criminal Court is set to issue warrants for Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials and military officers. According to the same reports, Netanyahu threatened to take steps that would lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority if the warrants were issued, a move that will likely widen the rift between Washington and Jerusalem. The Israeli premier said the warrants would be an “unprecedented antisemitic hate crime.”

“The diplomatic umbrella given to Israel by the US in the UN Security Council will not last for long,” Tamir said. “The Biden administration refuses to give a blank check to a country that does not take into account its own and American and regional interests.”

Since the beginning of the war, Netanyahu has refused to discuss Israel’s plans for post-war Gaza. This stance has put him at odds with the Biden Administration and many of Israel’s allies. 

The story Israel tells about the war is markedly different from the international narrative. Israeli media largely avoids screening footage from within Gaza. Israelis not actively seeking such documentation are not exposed to the widespread destruction in the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu and many Israelis have complained the world is unjustly anti-Israeli and often accuses the world of being antisemitic. 

“What the world sees is a war without a purpose,” Tamir said. “As long as Israel refuses to discuss any vision for Gaza and take advantage of the anti-Hamas sentiment that exists in the world, including in the Arab world, this will continue and cannot be explained away.”

On the contrary, Steinberg believes Israel’s isolation comes in waves and that the current period of isolation, though particularly large, will come to an end.

“Israelis tend to magnify the degree of isolation,” Steinberg said. “Like other waves, it will subside.”

Further adding to Israel’s negative international image is a string of comments from members of Netanyahu’s coalition since the beginning of the war. One coalition member called for the wiping of Gaza off the map. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was fighting “human animals,” and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has called for resettling Gaza and recently responded to Biden’s threat not to send Israel offensive weapons for use in Rafah by posting “Hamas loves Biden” on the social media site X.

Many Israelis say the world is mainly antisemitic, making whatever Israel does irrelevant, as criticism and even hatred towards it is inevitable. 

“These declarations may satisfy their domestic constituencies but are counterproductive internationally,” said Steinberg. “Particularly those who are more insulated or care less about the international image should be much more careful in their statements.”

Netanyahu, a seasoned statesman, is caught between caring for his political survival and looking out for Israel’s interests. For now, he has chosen his political survival, rarely commenting or reprimanding members of his government for statements which he and Israel pay a price for. 

“The messianic, nationalistic political echelon doesn’t care,” said Liel. “They do not understand how much Israel is dependent on the world and are not aware of the power of the international community. The claims of antisemitism, which come from Netanyahu and others who are aware of this power, allegedly allow them to push back on any major discussions. There is no leadership now. It is all washed away with politics.”