Israel is steadily destroying trust with much of the West

Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on the leaders of Britain, Canada and France for having the temerity to ask for adequate humanitarian aid for people in Gaza is as offensive as it is absurd.

The very notion that Sir Keir Starmer, Mark Carney and Emmanuel Macron are supporting the gangsters and terrorists of Hamas, “emboldening” its leaders to launch more 7 October-style attacks, is simply beneath contempt.

Mr Netanyahu, illogically, claims that just because Hamas welcomed the calls for a ceasefire and free access for food and medicines, that makes the UK, Canada and France the loyal allies of Hamas.

Or, as Mr Netanyahu put it in his broadcast: “I say to President Macron, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer, when mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice.”

No, Mr Netanyahu – these leaders are on the side of human life and human rights, and, by the way, for the right of the state of Israel to exist and live in peace with its neighbours. The British, French and Canadian governments do not sponsor antisemitic terror, and they’ve roundly condemned the murders of Israeli diplomats in Washington.

Obviously, the Israeli prime minister also hasn’t noticed, for example, the political attacks and electoral damage Sir Keir has had to suffer from his own party and its supporters over his staunch advocacy for Israel’s right to defend itself.

He has done more than anyone to drive antisemitism out of the British Labour Party. For too long, in fact, sympathetic to the atrocities suffered by innocent Israeli citizens, Western leaders more generally have tolerated the deeply flawed way Israel has conducted the war in Gaza (to put it mildly), and given diplomatic cover to the Israeli government at the United Nations and elsewhere.

But such unqualified support is no longer morally possible or practically appropriate – and the fault for that lies firmly with the way the Israeli government has behaved.

David Lammy, the British foreign secretary, is typical of many in having long had to suppress his instinct to speak out, but confronted by the scenes of starving Palestinians, including infants, and with famine stalking the Holy Land, such restraint is no longer feasible.

“Netanyahu, right or wrong” is not a sensible way for any country to conduct policy towards Israel. The foreign secretary was right to tell parliament that Israeli cabinet ministers talking about “cleansing Gaza”, “destroying what’s left” and Palestinians “being relocated to third countries”, is “extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous.” That doesn’t make him antisemitic.

Given such circumstances, the “concrete steps” taken by the British government against Israel are relatively mild – a halt to trade talks, a dressing-down for the Israeli ambassador in London, and sanctions against militant settlers.

Evidently, none of these actions is going to cripple the Israeli war machine; but the manner in which Mr Netanyahu has reacted suggested that he is stung by the criticisms, and is more than aware of the risks Israel runs in losing the support of friends and allies, and becoming still more isolated.

This is already the case with the Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan, who have previously concluded peace treaties with Israel and now feel aggrieved, as well as the Gulf states and other nations that have signed up, or were going to sign up, to President Trump’s Abraham accords project.

Israel is steadily destroying trust with much of the West. Other “concrete steps” may follow, most likely recognition of the Palestinian state (a step already taken by Ireland, Norway and Spain).

In terms of raw power, though, there is only one friend Israel needs – America. Thus far, Mr Netanyahu has broadly retained US backing, but there are (from his view) disturbing signs that his relationship with Donald Trump is undergoing strain.

One early and very public sign of that was when the president suggested turning Gaza into a Mediterranean beach resort under American administration during one of his now-notorious photo calls in the Oval Office. Sitting alongside, such an audacious plan was obviously news to Mr Netanyahu.

More disturbing for Israel are the direct talks with Iran now underway in Rome, the truce with the Houthis, and Mr Trump’s admiration for the new Syrian leader.

Such initiatives seem to have been undertaken without consulting Israel, let alone gaining its consent. Mr Netanyahu cannot rest easy with the prospects of the British, Europeans, Canadians and others urging the White House to take a firmer line with the Israeli authorities.

Nor can he have appreciated that President Trump appears so very fond of the likes of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, and skipped dropping by on Israel during his recent tour of the Middle East.

Perhaps, like the Qataris, Mr Netanyahu should have gifted Mr Trump a jumbo jet. As it is, Mr Netanyahu’s endless war in Gaza is impeding Mr Trump’s other regional ambitions.

So much that the Israeli prime minister does, as one of the world’s great political survivors, is designed to preserve his own increasingly precarious domestic position. His condemnation of Western leaders is probably as performative as anything else, seeking to divert attention from some inconvenient truths about the way he has conducted the conflict in Gaza.

Not only has it been cruel, disproportionate and, shamefully, attracted allegations of crimes against humanity at the International Court of Justice, but it has proved counterproductive. The war aims set by Mr Netanyahu’s government have not been achieved. Gaza has been reduced to rubble, but Hamas has not been smashed.

Such of its leaders who have been eliminated have been mostly taken out by precisely planned acts of assassination – not carpet bombings.

The terrorist threat hasn’t been removed. Israel has lost whatever goodwill and economic links it was so hopefully building up with its neighbours. It is losing support in the West, and even in Washington.

The citizens of the state of Israel are less secure now than they were before 7 October 2023 – and Mr Netanyahu has no plan for peace and security. It is he who should be ashamed of himself.