A Crack in Western Support for Genocide in Gaza?

Strategic Insights -

Despite twenty months of horror in Gaza, Western rhetoric is slowly shifting, but history will judge this moment by what countries do, not what they say. The UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, condemned Israel's use of starvation as a weapon, calling it a war crime that fits into a larger strategy of ethnic cleansing. Israel's Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has openly admitted to using starvation to leave Palestinians despairing and hopeless. Fletcher called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop this campaign of forced displacement, emphasizing that the international community is clear on upholding international humanitarian law.

Key Takeaways:

  • Israel's policy of forced starvation in Gaza has been condemned by the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, as a war crime and a strategy of ethnic cleansing.
  • Israel's Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has openly admitted to using starvation to leave Palestinians despairing and hopeless.
  • Despite shifting rhetoric, Western countries, including the US, Canada, and the UK, remain complicit in Israel's atrocities and violations of international law.
  • The UN General Assembly voted for a full arms embargo on Israel in September 2024, which can be instrumental in ending the genocide if more countries join it.
  • The US is the largest provider of weapons to Israel, including nearly all the warplanes, helicopters, bombs, and air-to-ground missiles used to destroy Gaza and kill Palestinians.
  • The US government has a legal responsibility to stop sending these weapons, which Israel uses to commit industrial-scale war crimes, up to and including genocide, against the people of Palestine.
  • The rift between Trump and Netanyahu could mark the beginning of the end of the decades-long blanket of impunity the US has wrapped around Israel.
  • A new survey shows that very few Europeans find Israel's assault on Gaza proportionate or justified.

Statistics:

  • 600 days: the length of time the US and Israel have been waging a campaign of genocide in Gaza.
  • 147: the number of UN member states that recognize Palestine as a sovereign nation.
  • 10: the number of new countries that have recognized Palestine since Israel launched its genocide in Gaza.
  • 39: the number of F-35s being supplied to Israel by the US.
  • 36: the number of additional F-35s that Israel has ordered from Lockheed Martin.
  • $290 million: the value of the two large warship deals between Israel and Germany.
  • 30%: the share of Israel's arms imports between 2019 and 2023 accounted for by Germany.

Sources:

  • [Tom Fletcher interview with the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k3d1y10pzo)
  • [Joint statement from the leaders of the UK, France, and Canada on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-from-the-leaders-of-the-united-kingdom-france-and-canada-on-the-situation-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank)
  • [The Arab Plan for the reconstruction of Gaza](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-future-how-would-look-egypt-arab-plan)
  • [Declassified UK report on the F-35 program](https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-hundreds-of-f-35-components-sent-from-britain-to-u-s/)
  • [UN General Assembly vote for a full arms embargo on Israel](https://archive.ph/bxYlK)