Together, three Western countries, the UK, France, and Canada, issued a statement saying that they were “horrified” by Israel’s military escalation and threatened to take “concrete actions” against Israel if it does not stop its offensive on Gaza and lift aid restrictions. Finally, some words of wisdom, but is it too little too late asks Azza Radwan Sedky.
“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable,” said the statement. They also demanded a ceasefire and called Israel escalation “wholly disproportionate.” The British government then suspended free trade negotiations with Israel and has leveled new sanctions on West Bank settlements.
Not that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu got unhinged and reacted with some conscientiousness. Quite the contrary, his tone never faltered. He accused the three countries of offering a huge prize to the Hamas. The only action he took was allow a mere handful of trucks of inadequate aid to enter Gaza, which the UN called “a drop in the ocean.” These trucks carried baby food and nutrition, hardly nourishment that Hamas would want to lay it hands on, and yet to this day, the contents of these trucks haven’t been distributed and haven’t reached the starved babies.
Finally, and after nine months of brutality, the pictures of skin-and-bones children emerging from Gaza bearing resemblance to the skeletal Jewish children imprisoned in Nazi camps in the Second World War are affecting Western politicians and media.
The words of the UK, French, and Canadian leaders expressed an inevitable awakening in the West. Actually, much of the world woke up many, many months ago; it has been the Western media and the Western politicians that maintained a deaf ear all along.
The statements made by UN organizers may have contributed to the sudden change. Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, said that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours if aid does not reach them in time. This, while Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization said that two million people were starving in Gaza while “tonnes of food is blocked at the border.”
Hence, a rhetorical shift is occurring, and an awakening is indeed happening even if it took the Western world over 500 days to react to Israel’s atrocities. The rock-solid wall of support for Israel in the West that used to be is waning, and the Western media and Western politicians are finally admitting the truth and denouncing the dehumanization and the dispossession that Israel is committing.
First let’s delve into Western media, which had earlier been totally oblivious to the suffering of Palestinians. The Guardian said that Israel, “plans a Gaza without Palestinians. What is this, if not genocidal?” The Financial Times called the situation “the West’s shameful silence.” It also accused the US and Europe of being complicit as Israel made Gaza uninhabitable.
The Washington Post’s headline utilized a remarkably different tone than its usual one: “As Israel starves and destroys Gaza: it’s turning into a global pariah.” The British online newspaper, The Independent, said, “End the deafening silence on Gaza — it is time to speak up.” And CNN’s Christiane Amanpour bluntly asked the Israeli deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, if she was seriously denying that people are dying of starvation in Gaza in a 20-minute interview where the deputy foreign minister continued to lie.
The patience of Israel’s Western allies appears to be running out and cracks are evident in Western governments and parliaments, too. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been very vocal against Israel. He slammed Israel’s war in Gaza as he paused the trade deal negotiations with the former and called the Israeli lawmakers’ ongoing comments repellent and monstrous. He also said that Israel's approach is "incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship, rejected by members across this house, and frankly it's an affront to the values of the British people."
Grumblings are occurring elsewhere, too. This week France’s President Emmanuel Macron called Israel’s complete blockade on aid into Gaza "shameful and unacceptable”. He added: "My job is to do everything I can to make it stop." Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, similarly denounced the blockade, calling it "unjustifiable".
Even amongst US lawmakers, the feelings are mutual with some if not all. Democratic Senator Chris van Hollen, for example, said Trump’s plan “to essentially force two million Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza is simply ethnic cleansing by another name.” President Trump, himself, acknowledged that "a lot of people are starving in Gaza." While US Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told ABC News that although the situation in Gaza was “logistically complicated,” the US administration did not want to see a humanitarian crisis, “and we will not allow it to occur on President Trump’s watch”.
Hopefully the pressure will mount even further as the only way to stop Israel is if Western politicians and media find far more courage than they have dared muster so far. Lip service will not cut, and the calamity needs more than rhetorical speeches, much more.
Comments