It is a striking image of the powerlessness: while Israel is still dropping American bombs on Gaza, the American air force last week parachuted ready-made meals onto the beach. The United States traditionally prides itself on its ability to influence its ally Israel. But the food drops, which only alleviate the humanitarian need in the Gaza Strip by a fraction, prove that American President Joe Biden also has no remedy for the hopelessness of this Gaza war.
How is this possible? What is happening here? Meals on parachutes, isn’t that more something for situations of extreme natural disaster? Isn’t it bizarre that this is apparently the only way to prevent the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians? Why is no one, Israel, the US, Egypt nor the international community, managing to allow many more much-needed aid trucks into the strip? These are questions that now, five months after the Hamas attacks and the Israeli response, lead to utter despair. You see something happening, but you can’t stop it.
The Dutch government still stands firmly behind Israel; a judicial ban on the supply of parts for F-35 fighter planes was immediately challenged, and an Israeli accusation against a UN organization was immediately accepted. Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) and his party colleague Geoffrey van Leeuwen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, are known as loyal Israel supporters.
Of course there are questions to be asked here. For example: is it still appropriate for the Netherlands to proceed with the defense contract with Israel, which will provide the Israeli army with knowledge? Every day it becomes less credible to continue supporting a country that ignores the International Court of Justice’s order to do everything it can to prevent genocide. A country that is also led by a cynic who believes that the destruction of Hamas can go hand in hand with proportionate treatment of the residents of Gaza.
Yet for many it is not a foregone conclusion which side they are on. Even though there is growing discomfort with Israel’s actions, no one disputes that the reason for the Gaza war – the Hamas attacks – was unprecedentedly horrific. And for many people, it also feels uncomfortable to abandon Israel for historical reasons. In the decades following the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were murdered, the Netherlands has emerged as a convinced advocate of the Jewish state. During the Six-Day War, in 1967, a lot of money was raised and blood donated for Israeli soldiers. Generations of Dutch people were raised with the moral imperative to support Israel, even if there were reservations about the occupation and the treatment of Palestinians.
It is widely recognized that Israel has the right to reasonably defend itself against Hamas’ attack. Only: what is still reasonable? The more than thirty thousand deaths in Gaza cannot be explained as self-defense. The scale of the Israeli counter-reaction is now causing division even among die-hard Israel supporters. Even those who have the natural tendency to support Israel can no longer continue to ignore the other side, with the passing images of malnourished children and residential areas bombed into unliveable conditions. And they will also have to recognize that this devastating war does not lead to a more secure Israel.
Something is shifting. For example, in an open letter this week, 28 former ambassadors reported a “gross and large-scale undermining of the international legal order” and called on the government, in order to comply with the Constitution and international law, to stop “indirectly supporting large-scale war crimes.” That is harsh language from people who were so practiced in being balanced during their working lives.
Israel is partly to blame for this shift by not caring about the international legal order. The mechanisms that the world set up after the horrors of the Holocaust to prevent further horrors, in the form of international treaties and courts, are failing. The guardrail of the international legal order no longer functions. That is not only disastrous for the Gaza war; it also gives malicious people a license in the future to ignore that hard-won order.