If a person ever wanted to make the case that international law is toothless, they could hardly find a better supporting argument than the situation in Gaza. Since Hamas killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds of others hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has engaged in an all-out military assault on the territory, killing tens of thousands of Gazans, withholding food and other humanitarian aid, and razing much of Gaza’s physical infrastructure, including civilian objects such as hospitals and schools. In that time, Israel has been able to act with a level of indifference to civilian life and impunity with regard to human rights violations rarely afforded to states—even major powers.
Israel’s relative invulnerability to international opprobrium has been largely due to two key factors. Politically, the U.S.—its great power patron—has remained willing to provide untrammeled support, in part for domestic political reasons but also to protect Washington’s regional interests. And rhetorically, both the memory of the Holocaust and Israel’s existential regional threat horizon allows its leaders to assert righteous victimhood in ways that whitewash their own atrocities, which Israel is careful to justify as being just within the bounds of the actual law. This resonates just enough with just enough audiences just enough of the time to hold domestic opposition among Israel’s partners in check and prevent the institutional consensus at the United Nations required for a more robust global response.
All of this helps explain why it has been difficult for the world to respond appropriately or do more than watch in horror while an entire population is being slowly starved to death on live television. Until now, international responses have been largely symbolic. But in recent weeks, those symbolic efforts have been on the uptick. Last week, France announced that it will become the first G7 country to recognize Palestine, with the official ceremony scheduled to take place at the U.N. General Assembly. And two weeks ago, 30 countries from the Global South calling themselves The Hague Group met in Bogota, Colombia, to organize a sanctions regime against Israel and plan a massive campaign to attract adherents in the run-up to the General Assembly. Those efforts have also been buoyed by a recent flood of media attention and calls to action from moral leaders to do something.