After 19 months of pounding Gaza, Israel is now under growing pressure from unlikely quarters \u2013 some of its closest Western allies. <\/p>\n
Their patience has worn thin over Israel\u2019s decision to expand the war and, in the words of one Israeli minister, \u201cconquer\u201d the territory \u2013 a move paired with plans to forcibly displace Gaza\u2019s entire population to the south and block all humanitarian aid for 11 weeks. <\/p>\n
The United Kingdom has paused trade talks and sanctioned extremist settlers in the West Bank. Canada and France have threatened sanctions. And the European Union \u2013 Israel\u2019s biggest trade partner \u2013 is reviewing its landmark Association Agreement with the country. <\/p>\n
Aid groups have warned that the situation in Gaza is becoming catastrophic, with the United Nations\u2019 humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher last week calling on the world to \u201cact decisively to prevent genocide.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dozens of babies have died of malnutrition, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry, and more than 53,000 people \u2013 or 4% of the entire population \u2013 have been killed since Israel launched its war following the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas and its allies. <\/p>\n
The fact that some of Israel\u2019s closest allies are now pushing back more vocally marks a major shift in attitudes toward the country. <\/p>\n
The agreement, which covers various forms of cooperation between the two parties, including the free movement of goods and scientific collaboration, has been in place for 25 years. \u201cThe mere fact that this is being discussed seriously today is a sign of not just the increasing frustration, and I think also, let\u2019s be quite clear, anger, in some European capitals over Israeli actions in Gaza,\u201d said Lovatt. <\/p>\n
The punitive steps threatened by the EU and other allies are designed in part to sway the domestic debate inside Israel, where society is already extremely divided over the war. <\/p>\n
The government, propped up by hardliners from far-right parties, is determined to keep fighting in Gaza. But hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrate against the war each week, demanding the government agrees a ceasefire deal to release all the hostages still held in the strip. <\/p>\n
In an opinion poll published by Israel\u2019s Channel 12 broadcaster earlier this month, 61% of those surveyed favored ending the war for a deal that secures the hostage release, while only 25% supported the expanded military operation. <\/p>\n
That notwithstanding, Arie Reich, a legal scholar at Israel\u2019s Bar-Ilan University who specializes in international trade and EU law, said that external pressure on Netanyahu\u2019s government may not have the desired effect. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen foreign countries try to interfere in internal matters of another country, especially things that are very dear to them, such as their national security, it usually works as a boomerang, and it actually causes the people to support the government even more,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a wide consensus in Israel that we want to release our hostages, and that we do not want to go back to where we were on October 6. We don\u2019t want to have this threat of Hamas lingering over us,\u201d Reich said. <\/p>\n
But he added that the moves by some of Israel\u2019s allies have made it clear that the \u201cwindow of using military force is starting to close.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd maybe, if it goes on longer than that, I think it\u2019s going to be very hard to maintain normal relations with many countries in the West,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Israel has so far brushed aside the threats from its Western allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused them of \u201coffering a huge prize\u201d to the October 7 attackers, while Israel\u2019s foreign ministry said that \u201cexternal pressure will not divert Israel from its path in the fight for its existence and security against enemies seeking its destruction.\u201d <\/p>\n
This determination to continue may be due to Netanyahu believing that he can, for now at least, rely on the United States for support. <\/p>\n
And while the moves are diplomatically symbolic, critics expect little to change on the ground for Palestinians. <\/p>\n
Short of a total arms embargo and a full suspension of economic relations, Israel is unlikely to change its ways, he said, arguing that Canada, France and the UK had been \u201ccomplicit\u201d in Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza by providing it with \u201cmilitary, intelligence, economic, and diplomatic support.\u201d <\/p>\n
All three countries have longstanding agreements with Israel that include defense and security cooperation, although the detail of what exactly these contain is unclear. <\/p>\n
The UK and France have suspended some arms licenses to Israel over the situation in Gaza but have continued to export military equipment worth tens of millions of dollars to Israel. Canada has said that no export permits on military goods to Israel have been issued since January 8, 2024. <\/p>\n
As Israel\u2019s most powerful ally, the US has the most sway over Netanyahu and his government. And while some in the Trump administration have criticized Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, there has been no indication the US would take any punitive actions against it. <\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t, however, a \u201cforegone conclusion that the US will continue to always unequivocally back Israel,\u201d Lovatt said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I don\u2019t see a rupture in relations, clearly, the arrival of the second Trump administration has created an interesting dynamic, given the influence of what I would call the \u2018America Firsters,\u2019 those in the MAGA world who want to put the US first in everything, and that has, to a certain extent, also applied to Israel,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The US has moved out of step with Israel on number of issues in recent weeks. <\/p>\n
It has struck a ceasefire deal with Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels without first informing Israel; unilaterally negotiated with Hamas the release of US citizen Edan Alexander from Gaza; and, according to a Reuters report, has dropped its demand for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel as a condition for US investment and potential US arms deals. <\/p>\n
Addressing Israel\u2019s criticism over the deal with the Houthis, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Israeli media that the US \u201cisn\u2019t required to get permission from Israel\u201d to get an agreement that protects its ships. <\/p>\n
\u201cNetanyahu has positioned himself as a master of the US political game, and as someone who\u2019s best placed to manage and maintain tight Israel relations and to keep any US presidential administration on side. I think seeing some daylight between the Trump administration and the Israeli government clearly puts pressure on Netanyahu,\u201d Lovatt said. <\/p>\n
There are signs that some in Israel are worried about the consequences of its actions in Gaza. The leader of Israel\u2019s opposition left-wing Democrats party, retired Israeli general Yair Golan, warned on Tuesday that Israel is \u201con its way to becoming a pariah state.\u201d <\/p>\n
The impact of the pressure from the allies was on display on Sunday, when the Israeli military announced it would allow a \u201cbasic amount of food\u201d to enter Gaza as it launched its new offensive in the strip, which Israel says is intended to pressure Hamas to release the hostages held there. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu conceded on Monday that if \u201ca situation of famine\u201d arose in Gaza, Israel \u201csimply won\u2019t receive international support.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a statement posted to Telegram, he added that even US senators \u201cwho have been staunch, unconditional supporters of Israel for decades\u201d had told him that \u201cimages of mass starvation\u201d in Gaza would cost Israel their support. <\/p>\n
Even if the US won\u2019t use its leverage to force Israel to change its strategy in Gaza in a more significant way, it doesn\u2019t mean Europe can\u2019t put pressure on Israel on its own, experts say. <\/p>\n
The European Union is Israel\u2019s biggest trading partner, accounting for roughly a third of its trade in goods. <\/p>\n
A full suspension of the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel is unlikely, as it would require unanimous agreement of all 27 EU member states and several have already indicated they would not support it \u2013 including Hungary, a staunch supporter of Israel. <\/p>\n
Reich said that under the terms of the agreement, both the EU and Israel can terminate it for whatever reason, or even without giving a reason. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing is that within the EU, that would require consensus \u2026 and that would be very, very hard, because there are many countries, many (EU) member states that will not go along with this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think it\u2019s more of a threat to put pressure (on Israel) and maybe they could manage some temporary suspension of some provisions, but to terminate it, I don\u2019t think it can happen,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Public support for the country runs deep in many of the bloc\u2019s member states, which makes it difficult for some European governments to push for harsher sanctions against Israel. <\/p>\n
And, Lovatt said, many European countries are also aware of the fact that they may need Israel\u2019s help in the future. <\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially in a situation where European countries are increasingly fearful of Russia\u2019s actions in Ukraine, but also the threat that Russia represents the rest of Europe, and (they) see Israel as an important source of weapons and technology,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
While terminating the association agreement would require unanimity, it would only take a majority of EU states to force through a partial suspension of the agreement. <\/p>\n
Even that could be painful for Israel because it could lead to higher tariffs on Israeli products or prevent Israel from taking part in coveted EU projects such as the Horizon Europe program, with more than $100 billion in funding available for research and innovation. <\/p>\n
The EU has in the past used its power to put pressure on countries over human rights abuses \u2013 often for issues Lovatt says are a lot less serious than the current situation in Gaza. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line is that until now, the EU has treated Israel with a degree of exceptionalism by not taking anywhere near the sort of steps that it has taken in other situations of human rights abuses or territorial annexation,\u201d Lovatt said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After 19 months of pounding Gaza, Israel is now under growing pressure from unlikely quarters…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}