Are Israel's allies abandoning a sinking ship?

As the horrors mount in Gaza, Israel's western backers are panicking over its survival, fearing it may follow other doomed settler-colonies

Jewish peace activists gather near the Trump Hotel at Columbus Circle in New York City on 4 August to protest Israel's war on Gaza and the blockade-induced famine, which has killed thousands (Spencer Platt/Getty Images via AFP)

Jewish peace activists protest against Israel's war on Gaza and the blockade-induced famine, near the Trump Hotel in New York City on 4 August (Spencer Platt/Getty Images via AFP)

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A sudden panic has gripped supporters of Israel across the world. Western neo-colonial regimes, including the white settler-colonies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, are most anxious about the fate of the last European settler-colony in Asia.

Even pro-Israel British and American Jewish organisations have joined the new chorus of the anxious.

While fully defending Israel's ongoing crimes before and since 7 October 2023, its western supporters have suddenly developed moral compunctions about the more recent phase of the genocide, where the continued outright bombing and incineration of Gaza in a holocaust is now compounded by the deliberate mass starvation of the Palestinian survivors.

Unlike anti-Zionist and other leftist Jewish groups, who have condemned and protested against Israel's genocide since its onset, major British and American pro-Israel Jewish organisations have in their majority remained fully supportive of Israeli actions.

That changed in the last two weeks, with the appearance of seemingly coordinated, simultaneous declarations of concern about the famine in Gaza.

Gruesome images of emaciated children, desperate crowds at militarised aid distribution sites, and starving Palestinians massacred while trying to reach food have made it untenable for pro-Israel western governments and institutions to continue justifying Israel's crimes, or ignoring the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe.

Outside of its US sponsor, it is becoming increasingly clear that few of Israel's remaining allies are prepared to follow it to the lengths it demands in pursuing genocide and the re-occupation of Gaza - and some may already be preparing to abandon a sinking ship.

Belated anxiety

Concerned for Israel's fate, its advocates have recently muted their jubilation over the war with token nods to humanitarianism, seeking to ensure its genocidal campaign continues unimpeded amid mounting global outrage.

On 27 July, the pro-Israel American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a statement supporting Israel's "justified war to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages" but expressing "immense sorrow for the grave toll this war has taken on Palestinian civilians" and purporting to be "deeply concerned about worsening food insecurity in Gaza".

A letter signed by 1,000 rabbis from various denominations around the world declared that they 'cannot condone the mass killings of civilians'

The AJC also welcomed "Israel's announcement of a series of significant additional actions to increase the flow and distribution of aid in Gaza".

It urged "Israel, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the UN, and all responsible parties involved in aid distribution to increase cooperation and coordination in order to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian civilians in Gaza".

The AJC is not alone in its belated anxiety for Palestinians. That same week, the New York-based Rabbinical Assembly, representing the conservative denomination of Judaism, also voiced its concern "about the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza", demanding "urgent action to alleviate civilian suffering and ensure aid delivery".

The Assembly called for "a future rooted in justice, dignity, and safety for both Israelis and Palestinians" and urged Israel to "do everything in its power to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need". Appealing to Jewish teachings, it asserted: "The Jewish tradition calls upon us to ensure the provision of food, water, and medical supplies as a top priority."

They were joined by the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination in North America, which had vehemently opposed Zionism until the 1940s.

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In a statement released on 27 July, the Reform Movement said: "Neither escalating military pressure nor restricting humanitarian aid has brought Israel closer to securing a hostage deal or ending the war." It added: "Israel must not sacrifice its own moral standing… Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the 'total victory' over Hamas it seeks, nor can it be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law."

Days later, a letter signed by 1,000 rabbis from various denominations around the world declared that they "cannot condone the mass killings of civilians, including a great many women, children and elderly, or the use of starvation as a weapon of war". They wrote: "In the name of the moral reputation not just of Israel, but of Judaism itself, the Judaism to which our lives are devoted."

Damage control

Statements of concern over Israel's conduct have spread beyond the US.

On 29 July, the UK's largest Jewish organisation, the Board of Deputies, called for a "rapid, uninhibited, and sustained increase in aid through all available channels" to Palestinians in Gaza, just a month after disciplining members for criticising Israel's crimes there.

Indeed, that same day, a group of 31 prominent Israelis also urged the international community to impose "crippling sanctions" on Israel for its starvation of Palestinians. This call came a day after two Israeli human rights organisations - B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, Israel - joined the rest of the world in identifying Israel's actions as "genocide".

Even US President Donald Trump reportedly yelled at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent phone call to stop denying the famine.

Instead of recognising 'Palestine', countries should withdraw recognition of Israel

But lest one think this sentiment is universal, it is not: a recent poll found that 79 percent of Israeli Jews are "not so troubled" or "not troubled at all" by reports of famine and suffering in Gaza.

Objections to Israeli policies have also come from most western regimes, particularly over Israel's newly declared plan to reoccupy Gaza. Even the leading voices at the pro-Israel British newspaper The Guardian were in full panic mode, warning that such a move is harmful to Israel, as "it does not ensure a military victory" and "escalates the fight with Hamas without any way of ending it".

Israel's western backers - Britain, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and others - have joined in opposing re-occupation.

Their protests came despite Netanyahu's claim that his goal is merely "to free Gaza from Hamas and enable a peaceful government to be established there".

The fanatically pro-Israel German government, which has supported every Israeli action since October 2023, has now banned new arms sales to the genocidal state that could be used in its ongoing holocaust.

This is concomitant with the latest western ruse of recognising a phantasmatic Palestinian state at the UN next month, in a desperate attempt to save the Israeli settler-colony from itself and to mask open and active western support for the genocide.

The same western-sponsored Arab dictatorships that have not flinched from materially - if not always rhetorically - backing Israel's genocide since it began are also co-sponsoring these measures.

A sinking ship

In the face of independent UN rapporteurs and human rights organisations - joined, belatedly, by some Israeli ones - recognising the slaughter in Gaza as genocide, it has become far more difficult for western governments and mainstream media to justify, deny or otherwise cast doubt on the scale of destruction and killings in Gaza, as such narratives have become less sustainable in the last few months.

Moreover, Israel's utter failure to win the war against Hamas, let alone against Iran, and the sense that its military capabilities seem effective only in murdering civilians - while failing to force them into submission - have become major security concerns for western governments.

Without their daily military, intelligence, financial and diplomatic assistance, Israel could neither have carried out the genocide nor defended itself from attacks by those it has acted aggressively towards for decades.

Polls across the western world show a majority of the public condemns Israeli atrocities, from the right to the left

That the Israeli government, backed by the majority of the Israeli Jewish electorate, is pressing ahead with policies that have severely damaged the country's standing among the western public has added insult to injury for its western proponents.

Save for its US sponsor and adoptive mother country, Israel's recent setbacks have sent many of its allies scrambling for lifeboats, perhaps unwilling to go down with a sinking ship.

At the end of the war of liberation in Algeria in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the French public had grown fed up with the barbaric violence unleashed by French settlers against Algerians and in mainland France, in a last-ditch bid to preserve their settler-colony.

We observe a similar trend in the Israeli case. Polls across the western world show that a majority of the public condemns Israeli atrocities, from the right to the left. Even in the US, not only the left but the pro-Trump right has abandoned the settler-colony and opposes US support for it.

The worry among Israel's stubborn western supporters is that its fate could mirror that of French Algeria. That Netanyahu himself has worried for a decade that Israel may not survive to reach its 100th birthday lends more credence to this fear that Israel is accelerating its own demise.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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