The Observer view on Gaza and Israel's international reputation
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Version 0 of 1. The resumption of hostilities in Gaza, following the expiry of the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the Palestinian group restarted its rocket attacks, is as unsurprising as it is dismaying. The idea that either side achieved or decided anything of lasting importance or substance during more than a month of horrific violence is fatuous. Israel's military says it has killed 900 Hamas fighters, destroyed 3,000 rockets and unearthed 32 tunnels. But thousands of rockets remain intact and, judging by its latest statements, Hamas is more determined than ever to use them and all other means at its disposal to continue fighting. The human cost, principally to the civilians of Gaza, whose suffering Hamas appears to cynically exploit, is thus likely to rise from the current totals of approximately 1,900 dead and many more injured. Four hundred children have been killed. An estimated 30% of Gaza's 1.8 million people is internally displaced. This great distress is not justified by, nor does it facilitate, any long-term Palestinian political objective. Hamas, like Israel, cannot "win" this war, any more than either side won previous confrontations in 2012 and 2008. But both believe they must not be perceived to "lose". And so the fighting goes on, destructive, foolish, immoral and pointless. For all their antagonistic braggadocio, all that Israel and Hamas have established is a balance of impotence. Yet against this backdrop of violent futility arises the uncomfortable thought – for Israel's leaders but also for those who have the country's best interests at heart and expect better of it – that, in certain key respects, Israel is already the loser. Its prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, initially held the line following the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June. The former commando's restraint was sadly short-lived. Netanyahu insists, above all else, on Israeli citizens' right to live in peace and security. But this latest bout undercuts that aim. It has re-emphasised Israel's vulnerability – with 64 soldiers and three civilians killed – and its inability, as in the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, to vanquish its opponent militarily. Rockets continue to threaten southern Israel and beyond; Hamas is not disarmed. In contrast, Israel's disregard for the safety of Arab civilians has shocked and alienated an international audience. It may be that Israelis, inured to periodic outburst of bloodletting with the Palestinians, have yet to realise the damage this latest episode is doing to the country's international reputation. It is not merely soft-hearted Europeans or people in Muslim countries, watching the blanket coverage on television or social media, who express outrage. The fury at what is seen as disproportionate Israeli behaviour has registered forcibly in the habitually insouciant US. Netanyahu's relationship with Barack Obama's White House has sunk to a new low. This rift is not a mere political blip. A gradual sea change may be under way, especially among younger generations, in America. Netanyahu and other Israelis who take US goodwill for granted on numerous fronts should take a longer view. Israel's assault on Gaza has other wider consequences injurious to its interests and those of its allies. One disturbing outcome has been the sharp upsurge in antisemitic attacks in France, Germany and elsewhere. Racists are responsible for their racism, and cannot use Israel as an excuse. But Gaza has stirred up a scum of unmistakable anti-Jewish prejudice that, even if peripheral, is feeding dangerously on the repulsion felt by many ordinary people towards the suffering of civilians in Gaza. Likewise, the excesses of the Gaza operation do a disservice to the wider, shared objective of curbing Islamist extremism in Iraq, Syria and the Maghreb. For their part, Arab states have failed miserably in either offering help to Palestinians in the short term, or seeking to eliminate increasingly vile forms of extremism within their borders. Israel's leaders complain of western double standards discriminating against their country. But it works both ways. It is clear that more and more people across the world – justifiably or not – are asking why western governments may assert a moral and legal right to mount air strikes in defence of embattled women and children dying in the mountains of northern Iraq, but should simultaneously ignore the plight of those buried under rubble in Gaza. With Israel's latest, often indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, that question gets harder and harder to answer. |