Published: 27 May 2025
Last updated: 27 May 2025
After 19 months of war in Gaza, Israel is now facing growing pressure from some of its closest Western allies. The pressure escalated earlier this month when Israel launched an operation to reoccupy and flatten Gaza, rather than accept a deal to free the hostages and end the war.
The ongoing offensive, worsening hunger, and tragedies such as last weekend’s Israeli air strike—killing nine of a doctor’s ten children—have intensified international scrutiny.
While US President Trump and his aides have privately urged Netanyahu to wind down the war and allow aid in, other world leaders have gone public. On 19 May, the British, French and Canadian leaders issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s “egregious actions” in Gaza. The leaders noted that the 11-week blockade on humanitarian aid had caused “intolerable” human suffering.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman plan to co-host a UN conference next month promoting a two-state solution, and may announce unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
Comments1
Rachel Sussman29 May at 10:23 am
When I was a little girl my mother taught me the lesson of my life. You see whenever I said to her: ‘but everyone else says….’ or ‘everyone else is allowed…’ or similar, she reminded me: ‘If all the people will jump from the roof to proof that gravity is non existent, will you follow them or will you call them the fools they are before they break their bones?…’
She was right, and she is right today. It is unpleasant and really distressing that Western countries are abandoning Israel, but does this make them right?
To my view, no, it makes them shameful… Personally, I am tired of hearing of the fabricated ‘starvation’ in Gaza, of the ‘genocide’ and whatever else, not because the people of Gaza are not suffering, they are, war is horrid. Yes, they lost their homes, they are misplaced, lost their livelihood and lost lives of dear ones… To be honest, many Israelis are in similar places… but this said, there is no ‘famine’ nor ‘genocide’… As for the nine children, it is horrid but we are yet to hear what really happened and still we are also to remember that conducting a war that is fought on civilian grounds (by insistence of Hamas) will at times result with such horrid tragedies…. The Western Countries including Australia would have shown far more integrity if they pressurized Hamas and forced it to release the hostages, to give up its governance over Gaza and surrender its arms. By putting the pressure on Israel they simply show their weakness not their integrity, they ask Israel to surrender to Hamas, they show no concern for the hostages nor for the future of Israel nor for the future of the people of Gaza or Israel…
So yes, Israel is being abandoned, now the question is – are we going to join the mob or are we going to have the courage and integrity to say ‘no, we will not stop unless all hostages are home, unless Hamas is done in Gaza, unless the future of Israel is secure and it needs not face another 7/10 ever again, unless the people of Gaza can rebuild knowing it will not all be destroyed again in a few years times when Hamas rebuild enough to attack again and Israel will have to respond’.
Creating a ‘Palestinian State’ is a fallacy… Gaza was intended to be the first step when Israel withdrew in 2005, it has miserably failed, do you really believe that creating a State in Gaza and West Bank will satisfy? I assure you, it will never be enough, whatever will be given will not be enough unless the likes of Hamas will have ‘from the river to the sea…’ Hopefully this is the lesson of 7/10 however unpleasant… So we can join the mob and once more sacrifice ourselves and Israel for the sake of a ‘fake peace’, or hold with courage and integrity to what is true for our survival as a people and for Israel’s survival….