What Was the Tipping Point on Gaza?
After almost two years of war, Israel is feeling the growing weight of governmental opprobrium.
In July, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France plans to recognize a Palestinian state—joining the ranks of more than 100 global states, mostly non-European, that have already done so. His decision was a clear shot across the bow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israeli conduct in Gaza. The point was made even more blunt in the following days by the news that the United Kingdom also intends to recognize a Palestinian state if no progress is made toward a cease-fire before the United Nations General Assembly in September.
For France and the U.K., the choice to recognize a Palestinian state comes less from any sense that this mostly symbolic gesture will work, and more from the fact that it will increase the pressure on Netanyahu to change course. Yet these are only the headline developments of a period of several weeks in which it feels as if the tide of global public opinion and governmental action has swung from indecision and apathy toward Gaza, to a more open sense of popular disgust and a willingness to critique Israel. Even Bari Weiss’s Free Press, long a stalwart of pro-Israel journalism, published an article arguing that while there is no way to know if crimes against humanity are being committed in Gaza, the possibility exists.
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