The unthinkable has become a reality - Israel is becoming a pariah state

This Green and Surprisingly Pleasant Land returns to the fallout from the Gaza war

The beleaguered fans of London’s success-challenged Millwall Football Club are famous for chanting: ‘no one likes us, we don’t care’.

It kind of works for them but almost certainly doesn’t work for Israel’s Prime Minister, the cynical and egotistical Benjamin Netanyahu, who nevertheless gives a good impression of standing on the Millwall terraces as he shrugs off the mushrooming groundswell of global opprobrium being heaped on the Jewish state.

The war in Gaza has spawned anti-Israel protests in literally every corner of the planet. Campuses across the United States are awash with demonstrations turning increasingly violent, London is (falsely) said to have become a no-go area for Jews during very large pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Throughout West Asia itself pro-Palestine activity has been intense, most markedly so in Turkey which has a Muslim majority but is not an Arab country. Elsewhere in the Muslim world the size of demonstrations, largely unseen in the West, has been extraordinary, for example in Indonesia, where some two million people were mobilised in protest.

In Europe the majority of pro-Palestinian protestors are not Muslim but every single capital city has witnessed large and persistent demonstrations. It’s the same story from South to North Africa.

Pro-Israel demonstrations, largely led by Jewish organisations, have been much smaller and nowhere near as widespread as those supporting the Palestinians although it should not be forgotten that the most impressive and persistent demonstrations criticising the Israeli government have been held inside Israel itself; a testimony to the nation’s strong democratic tradition and the unease of those closest to the conflict about the way the war is being conducted.

It is hard to think of any other confrontation in modern history that has had such universal resonance.  The situation in which Israel finds itself is propelled by outrage and a sense of injustice which has been transformed into a wider sense of anger against ‘the system’. Much of this has little intrinsically to do with events in Gaza – indeed I often wonder whether those who chant: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ could actually find the River Jordan on a map, let alone identify the sea in question.

But this matters little as what counts are impressions, largely formed by a barrage of images of distraught people mourning over mounds of bodies encased in white bags, interspersed with the unending portrayal of pencil thin Palestinian children on the verge of death or indeed dead. On October 7 Israeli civilians were also the subject of an appalling attack but its impression has been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Palestinian causalities and the extent to which Gaza has become a smouldering ruin.

As these images flash across our screens, they are interspersed with Israeli spokespeople intoning the mantra that every effort is being made to avoid civilian casualties and insisting that none of this would have happened were it not for October 7 attack.

In Israel this propaganda effort is described as Hasbara – the Hebrew word that can be translated as explaining. In essence the hasbara of today explains little but instead follows a dismal pattern of trading atrocity stories. Israel’s experience with terrorism is filled with them. The Palestinians have their own terrible stories going back to the Nakba, or catastrophe of the establishment of the Jewish state accompanied by the mass expulsion of their people.

This is a bitter history which cannot end if the way forward is entirely mapped by constant repetition of past injustices. These injustices cannot be forgotten but relying on them as a guide to the future will not bring a single person back to life, whereas finding a way to live with history, offers the prospect of averting further tragedy.

Israel came into being as the definitive assertion of moving on from the tragedy of the Holocaust. It enjoyed a high degree of universal goodwill and self-consciously set itself higher standards than those of terrorist organisations, which included the Zionist terrorists from the pre-state period who were supressed by the new Israeli government.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence says that the state is ‘based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex’.

These words are learned by every Israeli schoolchild but ring increasingly hollow. The democracy and rights envisaged by the founding fathers turns out to be only for Israel’s Jewish citizens.

The stated objectives of the Gaza War – to eliminate Hamas, are unobtainable and have not even vaguely been obtained. If Hamas was indeed to be eliminated, does anyone seriously believe that after the devastation of Gaza it will be replaced by something better?

The logic of the extremist Israeli leadership is that Israel will triumph if it keeps on doing what has so evidently failed. A sense of hubris explains why they are showing indifference to what the rest of the world thinks. Yet, from the day of Israel’s foundation, it has relied on foreign support to keep Israel alive.

The hitherto unthinkable truth is that Israel is becoming a pariah state. Perceptions of the Jewish state, as reflected in numerous global opinion polls, are extremely negative.

No military victory will retore Israel’s image and once pariah status has set in the implications for international support are profound. Emulating Millwall FC fans is clearly not a viable option for a nation that somehow has to find a way to live in this turbulent neighbourhood.