Commentary on recent events in the Israel Hamas war suggest that Israel may be losing support as a consequence of military action and increasing famine in Gaza.
Israel is stuck
World Central Kitchen (wck), is a charity that has worked closely with Israel. Their route along the coastal road had been cleared with the Israeli army. But the precautions did not help: an Israeli drone loitering overhead fired three missiles at the cars, one after another, killing all seven people inside. (AI for military purposes raises profoundly worrying questions for humanity.)
The Economist reports that beyond the human tragedy, their deaths will have bigger consequences for Israel’s diplomatic standing—and for hungry Gazans.
Most of the victims come from Western countries that support Israel. All are now furious. Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador for a rare démarche, and Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, told Binyamin Netanyahu he was “appalled”. The United Arab Emirates, the main funder of wck’s work in Gaza, accused “Israeli occupation forces” of “targeting” the aid workers—unusually strong language from Israel’s closest Arab ally. Joe Biden, who calls José Andrés, the chef who founded wck, a friend, said he was outraged by the killings. “Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers,” he said. The deaths will almost certainly lead to greater domestic pressure on such governments when it comes to arms sales to Israel. Whether they lead to a shift, in a way that 33,000 Palestinian deaths have not, is less clear. (What Israel’s Killing of Aid Workers Means for Gaza, n.d.)
Reuters reports that while Israel says the number of trucks entering Gaza has risen sharply in recent days, the U.N. has given much lower figures, and says it is still far less than the amount required to meet humanitarian needs.
On Tuesday, Jens Laerke the spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) said the Israeli count was for trucks that were only partially filled to comply with its military's screening requirements.
"COGAT counts what they screen and send across the border. We count trucks that arrive in our warehouses," Laerke said.
"Trucks that go in, screened by COGAT, are typically only half full. That is a requirement that they have put in place for screening purposes. When we count the trucks on the other side, when they have been reloaded, they are full," he said. (Israel and U.N. Disagree Over Gaza Aid Figures | Reuters, n.d.)
By Invitation to the Economist reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Israeli scholar David Enoch, Professor of the Philosophy of Law at the University of Oxford and a professor of law and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, explains why he no longer supports the war in Gaza.
David Enoch comments that it is very hard, perhaps impossible, to pinpoint an exact moment when such a war crosses the line into moral indefensibility.
This is especially so seeing that in some respects (the suffering of innocent Gazans) it was horrible from the start, and that in others (the struggle to secure the release of the hostages) it remains justified even today. Still, two factors make it clear that that line has now been crossed: considerations of deterrence, and the information received from inside the Israeli decision-making establishment.
Leaving the October 7th atrocities without a forceful, devastating response would have left Israeli deterrence dangerously weak. The moral need to restore deterrence—and it is a moral need, as deterrence saves many lives, on all sides of all borders—could have perhaps justified the bringing about of otherwise horrendous devastation in Gaza. But this has already been achieved: Israel has demonstrated to anyone in the region paying attention not just its firepower, but also its willingness to use it ruthlessly. And it is hard to believe that the operations still taking place in Gaza—to a large extent more a maintenance effort than an aggressive one—add anything by way of deterrence value.
The reports emanating from people in Israeli military and decision-making circles are that the war is not just being run incompetently, but also that Mr Netanyahu’s resistance to any attempt to discuss “the day after”, as well as the absence of anything resembling a strategic plan, threatens to undermine even the military achievements already (temporarily) secured. That such reports repeatedly come from those in the know—much more so recently than in October or November—helps to lift, to an extent, the fog of uncertainty. Less is called for, then, by way of epistemic modesty: the likely value of continuing the war effort is minimal.
As the positive value we could expect from the war effort has been continuously declining in recent months, the price has continued to be very high. The death toll in Gaza is beyond imagination, and continues to rise. On all accounts, many thousands of the dead and injured are children. There are now fewer deaths as a result of Israeli bombings than earlier on, but more owing to hunger. Even conservative predictions about hunger and disease are more depressing still. Even if the price, in terms of the death and suffering of innocents, could have been justified earlier on, with deterrence and other values on the line, it cannot be justified now.
Some things, of course, do not change. That Hamas is a ruthless, fanatical terrorist organisation, indifferent to the fate of its own civilian population, and happy to use civilian hostages as playing cards, has not changed. It remains as true as ever that Hamas’s leadership could have ended the suffering months ago by releasing the hostages and leaving the Gaza Strip; it still can. Consequently, it is also true that if Hamas remains powerful in Gaza, this will be a huge obstacle to any manageable post-war governance of the territory. And further threats, both to Israel and to the entire region, remain to be dealt with. So solutions remain highly complex. Some modesty is still called for.
But the general direction is clear: Israel should take part in shaping an overall, internationally supervised and implemented strategy for the region that would include—along the lines of plans suggested by the Biden administration—a plan to minimise further death and suffering in Gaza. The international community should push Israel in that direction—if need be, forcefully. (An Israeli Scholar Explains Why He No Longer Supports the War in Gaza, 2024)
The Univision News web site reported on April 9 2024, that President Joe Biden talked to Enrique Acevedo in the Oval Office, at the White House, to review multiple topics: from the situation at the border or student loans, to NATO expansion and his opinion on how Israel is handling the war in Gaza.
Enrique Acevedo commented that in the past few days, we've seen increasing protests in Israel calling for the removal of Prime Minister Netanyahu and international condemnation after the death of World Central Kitchen aid workers during an Israeli airstrike. Do you think at this point, Prime Minister Netanyahu is more concerned about his political survival than he is in the national interest of his people?
Joe Biden responded:
Well, I will tell you, I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach. I think it's outrageous that those four, three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out on a highway where it wasn't like it was along the shore, it wasn't like there was a convoy moving there, etc... So I what I'm calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a ceasefire, allow for the next six, eight weeks total access to all food and medicine going into the country. I've spoken with everyone from the Saudis to the Jordanians to the Egyptians. They're prepared to move in. They're prepared to move this food in. And I think there's no excuse to not provide for the medical and the food needs of those people. It should be done now. (Biden on Univision: The President Talks About Immigration, Mexico, Israel and the Risks to Democracy, n.d.)
The Economist reporting on the Middle East and Africa notes that six months on, Israel has exacted terrible retribution for the October 7th massacre. Palestinian deaths (civilians and fighters) exceed 33,000 according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry. But Israel faces a power vacuum and growing anarchy in the enclave.
Meanwhile, it is only now starting to take any kind of responsibility for the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which according to international aid organisations is rapidly becoming a famine. It is struggling to secure supply convoys into the war zone, mostly because its own forces fire at anything that moves in “kill zones” (areas deemed to be clear of civilians). On April 2nd an Israeli drone repeatedly bombed a small convoy from World Central Kitchen, one of the very few aid organisations with which Israel had a good working relationship, killing seven of its volunteers.
In private, IDF officers blame their government for a lack of strategy on all fronts. Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has refused to identify any Palestinian force that could take responsibility for Gaza’s security and civilian needs, as the IDF scales down its presence.
Under increasing international pressure for a ceasefire, Mr Netanyahu is sticking to his promise of “total victory” in Gaza, insisting that it can only be achieved by Israel invading the last major Hamas stronghold in Rafah on the Egyptian border. But around 1.5m Palestinian civilians are also now sheltering there and would have to be moved out first. That would take many weeks, if it is possible at all. And America, Israel’s closest ally, is vehemently opposed to any such operation. With no clear strategy or timetable in Rafah or any arrangements for Gaza for the day after the war, Israel is stuck. (Israel Is Ratcheting up Its Shadow War With Iran, n.d.)
Tension between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu has increased as the result of the failure of one of the most advanced military organizations in the world to protect aid workers and the leaders expressing divergent objectives for the war.
References
Biden on Univision: the president talks about immigration, Mexico, Israel and the risks to democracy. (n.d.). Univision News. Retrieved April 10, 2024, from https://www.univision.com/univision-news/politics/joe-biden-univison-exclusive-interview-enrique-acevedo
Israel and U.N. disagree over Gaza aid figures | Reuters. (n.d.). Reuters. Retrieved April 10, 2024, from https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-un-disagree-over-gaza-aid-figures-2024-04-10/
An Israeli scholar explains why he no longer supports the war in Gaza. (2024, March 12). The Economist. Retrieved April 10, 2024, from https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2024/03/12/an-israeli-legal-scholar-explains-why-he-can-no-longer-support-the-war-in-gaza
Israel is ratcheting up its shadow war with Iran. (n.d.). the Economist. Retrieved April 10, 2024, from https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/04/04/israel-is-ratcheting-up-its-shadow-war-with-iran
What Israel’s killing of aid workers means for Gaza. (n.d.). the Economist Middle East and Africa. Retrieved April 10, 2024, from https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/04/03/what-israels-killing-of-aid-workers-means-for-gaza
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