John Rees looks at the astounding reversal in Western leaders’ rhetoric

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at Western leaders for handing Hamas a ‘huge prize’ by criticising Israel’s new offensive in Gaza and by calling for a Palestinian state.

The outburst comes as leaders across the world abandoned their defence of Israel’s recent actions and, verbally at least, made unprecedented attacks on Israel’s behaviour in Gaza.  

The UK, French, and Canadian governments issued a joint statement in which they ‘strongly opposed’ Israel’s operations in Gaza, demanding they be immediately brought to a halt. They accused the Israelis of ‘abhorrent language’ and of ‘risking breaches of international humanitarian law’. 

The Prime Minister told MPs of the about-turn. 

Starmer said: ‘I want to put on record today that we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel. We repeat our demand for a ceasefire as the only way to free the hostages. We repeat our opposition to settlements in the West Bank. And we repeat our demand to massively scale up humanitarian assistance into Gaza.’ 

The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, was even more direct in stark contrast to his recent defence of arms sales to Israel. He told the Commons, ‘Prime Minister Netanyahu, end this blockade now and let the aid in. Regrettably, Madam Deputy Speaker, despite our efforts, this Israeli government’s egregious actions and rhetoric have continued. They are isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world. Therefore, today I’m announcing that we have suspended negotiations with this Israeli government on a new free trade agreement’.

As well as halting trade talks with Israel, the government hauled in the Israeli ambassador for an official dressing down.

The astounding reversal of the government’s position comes after days of establishment backers of Israel abandoning their support. The Financial Times and the Guardian have both recently run editorials denouncing Israel’s actions. Tory MP, Mark Pritchard, stood up in the Commons a week ago and admitted he ‘got it wrong’ over Israel. Some 13 Tory MPs recently called for the recognition of Palestine. Co-op members voted to stop stocking Israeli goods. And even the UK Jewish Board of Deputies has seen a minority split demand that Israel abandon its current actions.

The same cracks in monolithic support for Israel are appearing internationally. The Spanish parliament passed a non-binding motion calling for an arms embargo on Israel. France’s President Macron is threatening to recognise a Palestinian state and has called for the EU to review its relationship with Israel.

Netanyahu knows the pressure is building. He said, ‘Our greatest friends in the world … come to me and tell me this: ”We are giving you all the assistance to complete the victory — weapons, support for your moves to eliminate Hamas, protection in the Security Council. There is one thing we cannot stand — we cannot accept images of hunger, mass hunger.'”

There are strong signs that US President Trump is tiring of Netanyahu. He refused to visit Israel on his recent tour of the Gulf States, and Vice President JD Vance pulled out of a visit to Israel because he did not want to be associated with the new Israeli offensive.

Trump’s plan for Gaza was a US-administered zone, as he recently reiterated. He told a Gulf meeting: ‘I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved. And make it just a freedom zone, have a real freedom zone. There’s no building. People are living under the rubble of buildings that collapsed, which is not acceptable.’

This is not Netanyahu’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Trump’s displeasure meant that the Israelis have been carved out of negotiations with Hamas, with the Houthis, and over lifting of sanctions on Syria.

US plans are certainly not intended to aid the Palestinians. Indeed, after Trump’s triumphal, gift-laden Gulf tour, they are aimed at revitalising the Abraham Accords and so normalising the apartheid Israeli state with the Arab dictatorships.

But Netanyahu’s forever war and its genocidal intent have now made Israel an international pariah, as even the BBC diplomatic correspondent admitted. And this makes Trump’s overarching goal harder to achieve. This is why the international establishment has turned on Netanyahu. He is the guard dog who is biting the hand that feeds him.

Palestinians and their supporters can rightly feel that their resilience and resistance have produced this reversal of fortune. The massive demonstrations maintained over an unprecedented period, plus all the other huge waves of solidarity action of all kinds, have made this breakthrough possible. 

Some say ‘its only words’. And that is largely, though not wholly, true. But words still matter. They reveal a total ideological collapse by Zionist supporters. They vacate the moral high ground and relinquish political legitimacy to the Palestine movement. The key now is to fight to turn words into deeds, to make sure Palestinians take advantage of their enemies’ ideological disarray on their own terms, not those of Donald Trump.