KYQ4: Gaza, a stain on international diplomacy

Gaza City

Like many others, I have been dumbfounded by the horrific devastation of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force. It is not just the 33,000 and growing number of deaths, a third of them children, but the total wrecking of a city of 2.3 million people. Almost all the infrastructure, hospitals, education facilities and housing have been destroyed in a total war against mainly innocent citizens. 57% of all buildings have been destroyed across the whole of the strip, and 75% in Gaza City.

At the end of the Second World War, two decisions were taken to prevent future genocides. Creating the State of Israel as a secure homeland for the Jewish people and establishing the United Nations as an organisation that could bring together all nations to secure peace and tackle issues of health and poverty. Fast forward 75 years, and these institutions are failing catastrophically to fulfil these missions.

As a teenager and student, I was captivated by the kibbutz in Israel, where the communities worked as collectives and young people from all over the world were welcomed to participate in these ventures. A concept that stirred the imagination and made Israel seem a model for the world to follow. I was influenced by our excellent GP who went to Israel with his family and explained his decision to my parents. Things have changed. As I watch the Israeli Defence Force spokespeople and Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, defend their indefensible actions, I despair. Their arguments are made with confidence and brashness that defies any sense of humanity. As Jeremy Bowen, the experienced BBC Middle East correspondent says, "Journalists are .. denied access to a war when the parties fighting it have something to hide". The restriction on food and fuel supplies for what is now a prison camp for homeless families on derelict land. Its ever presencehas generated a reaction against the Israeli State amongst its strongest allies.

The response of the USA, the UK and other Western democracies to the killing of volunteer aid workers from these countries was a belated recognition that Israel had gone too far. The calls for a ceasefire have been amplified by the 7 aid workers killed on 4 April by an Israeli airstrike. Its impact seems to have been far greater than the deaths of 33,000 Palestinians. Goodwill amongst formerly supportive Western Nations is no longer assured.

Understandably, questions are being asked why the USA has allowed the export of $573m of weapons since October 7. This excludes all the under-the-radar export of bombs in contracts that are less than $100m. The USA has also sold 330 fighter aircraft, 28 transporter planes and 124 helicopters to Israel. The UK appears to have a relatively small number of weapon exports, £42m in 2022, but again there is uncertainty whether this captures all of the smaller contracts. France, Germany, and Italy have provided 68 trainer aircraft and helicopters.

Significantly, over a thousand UK lawyers, including Lord Sumption, a well-respected Conservative Law Lord, have signed a petition to the UK government recognising the risk of genocide and calling for a permanent ceasefire, sanctions, the cancellation of a bilateral trade agreement and the suspension of the sale of weapons. Similar concerns have been expressed by international lawyers.

Normally, in circumstances when the United Nations declares a contravention of international humanitarian law, there is a reflex response from democratic nations to boycott imports from the said state. There has been no such reaction to the declaration in Gaza although there is strong evidence that this would have an impact. Russia and South Africa are endowed with a richness of natural resources that inoculated them from the intended effects of a boycott. Israel's dependence on imports with weapons critical to its continued action in Gaza, may thwart Netanyahu's genocidal tendencies and avert the continuation of the destruction of Gaza and its citizens. If not the International Criminal Court at the Hague considering arrest warrants for war crimes may have a salutary effect on the war cabinet. Israel must understand that goodwill is a finite resource and it has expired amongst the general public as well as many of its former allies. Even Uncle Joe Biden is apoplectic.

Satellite Images of Destroyed Buildings, Source: University of Oregon.