The Gaza war is a "military quagmire and a human tragedy", said The Economist. It is also fast turning into a "diplomatic disaster for Israel", at a critical juncture in its history.
Last week, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor alleged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister had committed war crimes in Gaza: using starvation as a weapon of war and deliberately attacking civilians. (Hamas's leaders were also accused of war crimes.) The move is bitterly contentious, and the ICC judges won't decide for weeks whether there's enough evidence to issue warrants.
There is certainly an arguable case that Netanyahu's government has "breached the laws of war" in Gaza by not providing food and medicine to civilians "to the fullest extent of the means available", as the Geneva Conventions demand. Either way, the PM's "disastrous" strategy in Gaza has brought "ignominy" to Israel. His departure is long overdue.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Israel's 'fire alarm'
The ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and Netanyahu's determination to press on with the offensive in Rafah – the southern city where more than a million civilians have sought sanctuary – make it ever harder for Israel's allies to back it, said the FT.
Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to immediately halt its assault in Rafah. Israeli forces pushed on, and on Sunday, 45 people, including many women and children, were killed in an air strike on an encampment housing displaced people in a supposedly safe zone.
Meanwhile, Ireland, Norway and Spain have all recognised Palestinian statehood – a "symbolic blow against an Israeli leader who rails against any talk of a two-state solution".
An "international reckoning" has long been coming, given Netanyahu's record of refusing to offer a credible peace plan to the Palestinians, said Jo-Ann Mort in The Guardian. Now a moment of "extreme crisis" has arrived. This is "a fire alarm for Israel". Will it take heed?
A weakening position
"The world is pitted against Israel in a way we haven't seen before," said The Jerusalem Post.
Much of the international pressure comes from "smug, sanctimonious" critics embracing a "ludicrous and disgusting double standard": why did the ICJ ask for Israel's Rafah operations to be halted, but not for Hamas to free Israeli hostages? Yet we must accept that our leaders' poor decisions and inflammatory rhetoric have paved the way for this growing isolation.
The current pursuit of "total victory", without defining any political goals that can slow the "escalating cycle of bloodshed", has not made us stronger, said Tehila Wenger in Haaretz. It has made us weaker – and is losing us friends.
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump lambasts crime, but his administration is cutting gun violence preventionThe Explainer The DOJ has canceled at least $500 million in public safety grants
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
'It's our financialized economy in miniature'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank planSpeed Read Israel forces pushed into the outskirts of Gaza City and Netanyahu's government gave approval for a settlement to cut the occupied Palestinian territory in two
-
Judges: Threatened for ruling against TrumpFeature Threats against federal judges across the U.S. have surged since Donald Trump took office
-
The census: Why Trump wants a new oneFeature Donald Trump is pushing for a 'Trumpified census' that excludes undocumented immigrants
-
Voting Rights Act: Dying a slow deathFeature 60 years after it was signed into law, the Voting Rights Act is being gutted by Republicans and the Supreme Court
-
Health: Will medical science survive RFK Jr.?Feature Robert F. Kennedy Jr. scrapped $500 million in mRNA vaccine research contracts
-
Trump extends power with D.C. police takeoverFeature Donald Trump deploys 500 law enforcement officers and 800 National Guard members to fight crime in Washington, D.C.
-
Jonathan Powell: who is the man behind Keir Starmer's foreign policy?Today's Big Question Prime minister's national security adviser is a 'world-class operator'
