The Israeli state is now universally seen as a rogue state Is it time for that experiment to be wrapped up and consigned to oblivion Let them go to the USA and leave the Middle East in peace ?
Another day, another massacre in Gaza. Rescuers were pulling bodies from the sand following an Israeli airstrike on displaced tents in a "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza's al-Mawasi, near the city of Khan Younis.
Human rights organizations and UN specialists have charged Israel with collective punishment of Palestinians following the Hamas-led retaliatory assault on 7 October, including the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
Since that time, Israeli forces have killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the enclave, the majority of whom are women and children. In addition, Israel has killed more than 692 Palestinians, including more than 159 children in the West Bank.
The designation of "rogue state" possesses an unsavory history. It has long been utilized as a weapon against regimes deemed hostile to Western interests. The label flourished during the Clinton administration, applied to nations perceived as erratic, stubborn, and generally resistant to adhering to international standards.
The Clinton administration ultimately replaced the term “rogue states” with the more politically acceptable designation “states of concern.” However, when the US-led "war on terror" polarized the global landscape into dichotomous groups of good and evil, the Bush administration resurrected the phrase "rogue states" as a comprehensive label for nations deemed part of the "world of evil."
This designation undoubtedly reinforces the West's self-image as a "force for good" globally. However, it also rationalizes the disdainful treatment and isolation of rogue states, presumably to prevent their potential to "wreck public order, set off wars, and subvert whole areas of the world".
The irony is that Israel, typically viewed as a bastion of Western interests in the Middle East, seems to display all characteristics commonly associated with a rogue state.
Indeed, it has definitely violated all international norms and regulations during its genocidal campaign in Gaza.
International humanitarian law mandates that states and non-state actors involved in armed conflict must protect civilians, medical personnel, and humanitarian workers while also ensuring the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid.
Israel has disregarded all of these laws. The vast majority of Palestinians massacred since October 7 were civilians. This encompasses nearly 16,500 children. In January, Oxfam International reported that the daily death rate in Gaza exceeded that of all other major conflicts in the 21st century.
The tactics employed by Israel on the battlefield have proven unjustifiable. Israeli forces have persistently targeted medical facilities in Gaza. During the campaign, Israel has executed over 900 strikes on healthcare facilities, killing at least 885 health workers. Presently, about 17 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are partially operational.
Israeli officials have falsely claimed that Hamas used hospitals in Gaza as military bases. This served as the official rationale for Israel's two-week blockade of al-Shifa Hospital, the enclave's largest and most advanced medical institution.
Upon the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the facility, witnesses recounted harrowing scenes of “human heads eaten by crows, unidentified and decomposing body parts, and hundreds of corpses piled up and buried in mass graves." No Hamas bases were founded there.
Israeli forces have likewise targeted humanitarian workers. In early April, there was widespread outrage and condemnation following the murders of seven workers from the humanitarian assistance organization World Central Kitchen, in a "targeted Israeli strike." However, that assault was merely one of numerous others. More than 289 workers have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past 11 months, making it the most dangerous place for humanitarian workers.
Contrary to established rules and norms, Israel has restricted aid deliveries to Gaza, despite alerts from humanitarian organizations of the impending famine. In violation of Article 79 of the additional protocols of the Geneva Conventions, which mandates the protection of journalists as civilians in war zones, there has been a systematic Israeli assault on journalists and media professionals in Gaza, including their family members. In 2023, 75 percent of all journalists killed in Gaza were due to Israel's military operations. In addition, Israeli forces destroyed all Palestinian universities in Gaza. As of July 31, more than 125 journalists, mostly Palestinians, have been killed since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7.
Israel has been keen to maintain the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, hoping that a regional war would compel the direct engagement of the US and other Western allies. Between October 7, 2023, and March 15, 2024, Israel, Hezbollah, and various armed factions engaged in 4,733 assaults along the Lebanese front. Israel accounted for 3,952 of these events. In conjunction with Hezbollah operatives, those assaults resulted in numerous civilian casualties, including children, journalists, and medical personnel.
Israel's strike on the Iranian mission in Damascus resulted in the killing of Brigadier-General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a high-ranking leader in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Zahedi was the most senior Iranian official killed since the US assassination of Major-General Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Iran’s retaliation was also the 1st time that a foreign nation had directly assaulted Israel since 1991.
Ironically, Iran—frequently regarded in the West as a typical rogue state—has advocated for a moderate approach, asserting that the “matter can be deemed concluded." However, it has necessitated diplomatic negotiations to persuade Israel to maintain a restrained approach. US President Joe Biden has reportedly advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "take the win" after Israel and its allies “thwarted” Iran’s attack. Despite widespread opposition from all regional actors, Biden green lighted the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in exchange for a constrained Israeli response. Cairo warned that the incursion into Rafah may jeopardize the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
More evidence that Israel is an out-of-control, rogue state that considers itself above the law and can do whatever it wants regardless of the consequences is provided by the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.
The murder of Haniyeh, the political leader and negotiating partner of the leading resistance movement in Palestine, and a high-ranking Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, are dangerous escalations that may be met with forceful retaliation by both the Lebanese group and Iran. Israel's decision to target Haniyeh in its capital city guaranteed the latter's participation.
Numbers do not lie. The vote results for the United Nations General Assembly resolution advocating for a ceasefire in December clearly demonstrated Israel's isolation. Although 153 nations supported the resolution, merely 10—including Israel and the United States—opposed it. In the UNSC vote on March 25, 2024, 14 of the 15 members endorsed the resolution advocating for a quick ceasefire. Significantly, the US opted to abstain instead of exercising its customary veto against any measure aimed at restraining Israeli activities towards Palestinians.
Israel continues its rogue behavior and persistent evasion of international rules, regulations, and conventions due to its robust, year-round friends such as the United States in the West. Labeling Israel as a rogue actor and treating it accordingly is a prerequisite for any punitive measures the international community may impose on a nation that has egregiously violated the rights of Palestinians for 75 years with complete impunity.
Countries including Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, and Belgium have suspended military shipments to Israel, indicating a growing acknowledgment of its rogue behavior. Ultimately, I hope that the support for Israel will become excessively burdensome for the United States, facilitating Palestinian liberation.