'Without unlimited US support, Israel could neither have executed what it has done so far, nor continued a genocidal war for more than two years without bearing heavy economic losses and civilian casualties.' FILE PHOTO: REUTERS
Israel's problem is that despite its military power and its economic and technological superiority in the Middle East, it has limited capacity to portray its destructiveness as successful victories.
This limitation lies not only in Israel's small size and population, but more in the fact that it owes a large extent of its political, military and economic strength to the United States. Without unlimited US support, it could neither have executed what it has done so far, nor continued a genocidal war for more than two years without bearing heavy economic losses and civilian casualties. Even with US backing, Israel cannot evade international pressure and condemnation.
Overall, this war has revealed the depth of Israel's dependence on the United States—so much so that fears are rising within Israel about the possible erosion of its independence and the transfer of decisions relating to war and peace to the White House. The UN General Assembly resolution calling for an end to Israel's 1967 occupation, and its withdrawal from Gaza and the West Bank, further demonstrates Israel's isolation from the rest of the world and its reliance on the US.
Furthermore, the rise of other Arab and regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, in parallel with the atrophy of Israel's position in US strategy in the Middle East—as evidenced by Washington's increased reliance on them on issues concerning Gaza and Syria—signals a weakening of Israel's independent standing. This is also reflected in the indifference towards the narrative of "normalisation," especially after the decline of Iran's influence in the region.
The trajectory of the genocidal war creates a pathway to a future in which Israel can be seen and treated like any other state, without exceptional global indemnity for acts such as genocide.
Israel has exposed its reality as a colonial, settler, racist and theocratic state—one that practices genocide against other people. It has lost precisely where it once sought recognition for itself.
Israel has forfeited its claim to monopolise the status of the "victim" after pursuing a brutal policy of genocide, and it has forfeited its image as a democratic state by enacting openly discriminatory policies towards Palestinians. It has lost the sympathy it sought to cultivate in the West. It can no longer be viewed as a "single weak state targeted by ferocious neighbours" that, in "self-defence," can justify threatening or killing them. It can no longer play the victim card.
As a result, Israel is losing its legitimacy on the international stage, echoing the mechanisms and dynamics that led to the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Israel has also become a political, security, military, financial and moral burden on Jewish communities in the West, while losing its status as a safe haven for Jews. It has become the only place in the world that poses a danger to Jewish lives because of the policies of Israel's rulers.
Globally—from governments to societies—Israel is increasingly viewed as a state acting against international values, standards and resolutions, and as a security, political and financial burden. It has become a destabilising force and a threat to the values of freedom and equality by manipulating and conflating anti-Israel sentiment with anti-Semitism. That strategy, too, has stopped working. Today, it is clear to the world that Israel's attempt to dodge criticism by invoking religion or the history of the Holocaust has long been a tactic to evade accountability for the inhuman killing of another population over generations.
The war has exposed Israel's weakness and the impossibility of eliminating the Palestinian people or removing their cause from international and Arab agendas. Israel's attempt to annihilate Palestinians without restraint has led to the current international backlash against it.
Yousef SY Ramadan is the ambassador of Palestine to Bangladesh.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries, and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission.
