The leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada have “strongly opposed” Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, and they are threatening to “take concrete steps” if Israel doesn’t put an end to its siege and put restrictions on aid delivery to the Palestinian enclave.
In a statement released on Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said they also oppose settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank. As Gaza continues to be the focus of the world’s attention, settler violence has risen in the occupied West Bank. Nearly 1, 000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced in Israeli raids.
The Netherlands’ request to review a trade agreement with Israel comes weeks after the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has increased its bombardment of Gaza in response to an aid embargo that has been in place since March 2.
Western countries backed Israel’s right to self-defence when Netanyahu’s government launched a devastating offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023. More than 53, 000 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, which also destroyed large areas of Gaza.
On Tuesday, the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Israel has the right to defend itself, but its current actions go beyond proportionate self-defence.
What actions might Western nations take against Israel, and has Israel’s most recent attack in Gaza forced them to change their positions? Here is what you need to know:
What were the words of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada?
The countries ‘ three leaders criticised Israel’s renewed Gaza offensive, while describing the “human suffering” of Palestinians in the coastal enclave as “intolerable”.
They added that Israel’s announcement to provide some aid was “wholly inadequate.”
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response”, the leaders ‘ statement said.
The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the population risks breaking international humanitarian law, according to the statement.
” We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. International humanitarian law is violated by permanent forced displacement.
The three Western leaders said that while they supported Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s attack on October 7″, this escalation is wholly disproportionate”.
They remarked, “We will not sit back and watch as the Netanyahu government continues these vile actions.”
On Tuesday, the UK announced it would suspend trade talks with Israel over the Gaza war. Additionally, it imposed sanctions on settlers and Palestinian-supporting organizations.
Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza and the government’s support for illegal settlements is” damaging our relationship with your government”, said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Regarding the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, my joint statement is with @EmmanuelMacron and @MarkJCarney. pic. twitter.com/76vYpB42xf
Nine aid trucks were allowed to enter Gaza on Monday despite intense international pressure, prompting accusations that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.
However, the United Nations ‘ relief chief Tom Fletcher called the entry of the trucks a” drop in the ocean”, adding that” significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza”.
Fletcher called the number 14, 000 Palestinian babies “utterly chilling” on Tuesday when he warned that if aid didn’t arrive, they could die in 48 hours. Some half a million people in Gaza, or one in five Palestinians, are facing starvation due to the Israeli blockade.
The 2.3 million people in Gaza are in acute need of food, with the 2.3 million people who are starving, resorted to eating animal feed and flour mixed with sand.
The UN humanitarian office’s spokesman Jens Laerke said on Tuesday that about 100 more trucks have been approved by Israel to enter Gaza.
The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada opposed all attempts to expand Israeli settlements because they are “illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians,” according to the leaders of the UK, France, and Canada, shifting their focus to the occupied West Bank.
” We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions, “they said.
The statement made by the UK, Canada, and France is “reflective of states wanting to backtrack and try to cover up their complicity,” according to Yara Hawari, co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, highlighting that the situation in Gaza is the “worst that it has ever been” and that the genocide is escalating to new levels of cruelty and inhumanity.
” They can point to the statement and say, you know, well, we did … stand up against it, “Hawari told Al Jazeera, adding that none have stopped arms sales to Israel.
Hawari specifically made a reference to the role of the UK, claiming that it was “particularly complicit in this””. There are reports coming out every day on how many weapons have been transferred from the UK to Israel over the course of the last 19 months, “she said.
What other statements have been made by Western nations?
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on Tuesday that her country will push for EU sanctions against Israeli ministers because of insufficient steps to protect civilians in Gaza.
We need to change the tone because we don’t see a noticeable improvement in Gaza’s civilian population. We will therefore now also push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers, “Stenergard said in a statement.
Jean-Noel Barrot, the country’s foreign minister, requited that Israel’s “blind violence” and the humanitarian aid stop.
On Monday, 24 countries, overwhelmingly European ones, issued a joint statement saying Israel’s decision to allow a” limited restart “of aid operations in Gaza must be followed by a complete resumption of unfettered humanitarian assistance.
The foreign ministers of nations like Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK all signed it.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kallas, has decided to order a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a free trade deal between the two regions.
Kallas informed Al Jazeera that the Netherlands earlier this month had requested that Article 2 of the Association Agreement be reviewed, which requires that both parties adhere to human rights.
The move has been backed by other member states, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Sweden.
The recent criticism from Western capitals, according to Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand, was in part due to public pressure.
” I think there’s a sense that in liberal democracies, they can’t ultimately be indifferent to public concern about the situation … I think another factor is a perception among many countries that]US President Donald] Trump himself is getting impatient with the Netanyahu government, “he told Al Jazeera.
According to Patman, many nations in the Global South were more quick to condemn Israel’s actions because they had previously experienced colonialism.
” They have a history of having to struggle for their own political self-determination, and given that experience, they can empathise with the Palestinians who’ve been denied the right, “he said.
What has Israel done to combat it?
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday criticised Carney, Macron and Starmer following their joint statement.
The leaders of London, Ottawa, and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 by calling on Israel to end a defensive conflict to stop Hamas terrorists from attacking our borders and launching a Palestinian state, he wrote on X.
By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more…
Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at the three leaders, saying his country” will not bow its head before this moral hypocrisy, antisemitism, and one-sidedness”.
Smotrich accused the three nations of “morally aligning themselves with a terrorist organization” in a post on X.
In particular, Smotrich took issue with the three countries saying they are” committed to recognising a Palestinian state”.
He claimed that they have even attempted to reward terrorism by granting it a state.
Netanyahu’s government and his far-right coalition partners have been vocal against the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state despite broad international support for the so-called two-state solution.
What exactly is “Operation Gideon’s Chariot”?
This major ground offensive, launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, came after days of intense bombardment that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
More than 200 people have died as a result of a constant barrage of strikes since Sunday.
Major hospitals, including the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, have been rendered nonoperational after attacks by Israeli forces. According to medical professionals, it could cause the deaths of tens of thousands of sick and injured people.
With the backing of Israel’s lethal air force, the operation is targeting both southern and northern Gaza.
The Israeli military claimed that the offensive was intended to expand “operational control” in the Gaza Strip. Israel says its campaign also aims to free the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas.
However, Netanyahu has faced repeated criticism from Israeli society, including the families of the captives, for failing to prioritize their return. He has also rejected Hamas’s offers to end the war and free the captives.
How will the Western actions impact Israel, and what’s next?
The UK, France, and Canada’s threats against Israel, according to Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at King’s College London, set a precedent for other Western governments to follow.
” While it will not have a direct impact on Israel’s behaviour on the ground, it widens the boundaries of discourse internationally and makes it easier for other governments to openly stand against Israeli atrocities, “he told Al Jazeera.
The United States is still essential to a change of course in Israel, he said. The US supplies the bulk of arms to Israel as well as providing diplomatic cover at the United Nations.
However, there is a pronounced deterioration of international opinion regarding the portrayal of Israel, which makes it appear to be a rogue actor, according to Krug.
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told Al Jazeera that the” number one “thing the three countries could do was impose an arms embargo on Israel”. Some measures have been taken by the UK to halt some arms exports. It’s not enough. He said it needs to be thorough and in-depth.
Zomlot also said that the states should act to ensure that” war criminals “were” held accountable””. They must vouch for our efforts to establish the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, he added.
Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant face ICC arrest warrant for war crimes, but some European nations have said that they won’t arrest them.
The UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, questioned the intended purpose of the sanctions.
” Targeting whom? You must impose sanctions on the state. It’s not about the prime minister. She told Al Jazeera, “This is the entire government enterprise.”
Krieg from King’s College London says the reputational damage will affect Israel far beyond the current war in Gaza.
Source: Aljazeera
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