Policy on Israel set to earn for US rising international flak

Quite understandably, the government of Israel is coming in for scathing international criticism for its current military operations against Arab and Islamic states in the Middle East coupled with its atrocities in the Gaza Strip. However, the US is as much to blame as Israel on these questions.

- BY LYNN OCKERSZ

Because it is the US' unyielding support for Israel on the policy front that is helping to sustain Israel's war of aggression in the region.

While it is doubtful whether Israel would change course drastically in the Middle East in the event of the US pursuing a tougher policy line on it and pressuring it to deescalate its war of aggression, there is no doubt that decreasing material and moral support for Israel by the US would set Israel thinking and compel it to weigh more seriously the consequences of its actions. However, as matters stand, such a situation is unlikely to come to pass any time soon and the US would need to countenance rising international censure.

While it is quite some time since the US lost considerable European support for its policy course in the Middle East, the prospects currently are that even the few but important allies it had in the Arab and Islamic worlds may not be there for it on account of Israel's continuing military campaigns in the region.

Meanwhile, the US would also need to contend with the fact that, as this is being written, a UN Commission of Inquiry has found Israel guilty of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. In other words, Israel is facing the censure of almost the totality of the international community over its excesses in the Gaza. Relevant UN organs are now obliged to make Israel face the full force of International Law and subject it to a stringent accountability process.

The consequences from the recent Israeli military strike on Qatar, aimed at wiping out the Hamas leadership, prove the point. An Arab-Islamic Summit was held in Qatar in the aftermath of the attack and the overall tone of the meet did not give the US much cause for comfort.