Displaced Palestinian Samah Matar sits beside her malnourished son Youssef, who suffers from cerebral palsy, on July 24, 2025, at a school serving as their shelter as Gaza undergoes a hunger crisis. [Mahmoud Issa/Reuters]

On October 27, 2023, only 3 weeks after the disastrous Hamas incursion into Israel, I wrote an article in which I predicted that the Israeli vengeance on Gaza would severely, and negatively, impact their international stature. I was wrong about one of my predictions in that article. The US has not yet abandoned Israel,

I wrote a few other things that still ring true today. “I believe that Iran is delighted to see what’s happening in Gaza, and I believe that world opinion will slowly but surely turn against the Israelis if this nightly parade of suffering continues…there are still forces in the Middle East who want to wipe Israel out of existence, and both the political calculation and the deep-seated antisemitism of those forces must be countered….will ignite the flames of anti-Israel sentiment.” 

What the world has witnessed in Gaza and in the west bank in Lebanon since October 2023 has been absolutely horrific:

• At least 72000 dead in Gaza and another 3000 in Lebanon.
• 23000 of the dead are children
• 1100 children’s deaths attributed to starvation. Many more died of other causes  but which were exacerbated by malnutrition.
• 4% of all children in Gaza either killed or maimed.
• 92% of Gaza’s housing and infrastructure destroyed.
• Rebuilding Gaza will take an estimated 77 years. 

Not surprisingly, there was an uptick in support for Israel following the Hamas incursion in October 2023. But nightly exposure to the attacks on the civilian population of Gaza (inside of  which the Hamas militia were hiding) soon soured world opinion. Opposition to the Netanyahu led government of Israel has steadily mounted. Although there is now a tenuous ceasefire in place, there have been approximately 830 people killed by Israel’s defence force since that ceasefire went into effect, and so the shit show continues.

Two actions are currently underway at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). South Africa has brought a case against Israel for perpetrating a genocide in Gaza. Nicaragua has filed suit against Germany for facilitating a genocide by providing military support to Israel. (Notably, although Senator Bernie Sanders is pursuing a motion to stop the USA from selling arms to Israel, the Americans are still arming Israel and no country has yet taken them to court.)

Meanwhile, at the International Criminal Court (ICC), arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli President Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. If they can ever haul their asses into court, they will face prosecutions for “War crimes and crimes against humanity, specifically “starvation as a method of warfare” and “murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” 

International governments’ opposition to the Netanyahu government is spreading. Belize, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba have completely severed relationships with Israel. Another 8 countries have “recalled their ambassadors for consultation” or other acts of diplomatic censure. Economic sanctions have been imposed by Türkiye, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. Canada? I’m afraid our reaction has been rather weak.  We’ve  passed a resolution to stop new arms sales, although that resolution does not affect existing orders. 

Those actions have resulted in some reductions in trade volume, increased Israel’s international balance of trade deficit, and contributed to inflation within Israel. But they have not deterred Israel in any way. 

One of the reasons why Israel has not been deterred is, of course, the support of the orange idiot. While the Biden administration was sharply critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, and although Biden had been restricting the sales of certain munitions, the Trump Administration has reverted to uncritical support. In fact, Trump’s only criticism is that Netanyahu has been ineffective in pursuing his destructive path. He has publicly urged Netanyahu to get on with it and finish the job. He removed all restrictions on arms sales to Israel and appears to be willing to sell them whatever they need. Trump has defunded the UNRWA, which Israel accused of being a cover front for Hamas, and threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with sanctions if they attempt to execute arrest warrants against Israeli leadership. And now, to help Israel finish the job, as of February 28th, he has embroiled US forces as Israel’s partner in an ill-considered war with Iran.

International diplomacy and sanctions have been ineffective. The American government is turning a blind eye to the humanitarian issues in Gaza and is offering mostly uncritical support to Israel. What about the UN?

The UN has passed a Security Council resolution which endorsed a three phase plan to restore Gaza. The first phase is the ceasefire under which 830 people have been killed, so – not notably effective. Phase 2 is the total withdrawal of Israeli forces. Those forces would be the guys doing the killing noted above, so let’s call that one ineffective too. Phase 3 is the re-building of Gaza infrastructure, The UN proposes a peace-keeping force, (but no country has a yet volunteered to provide troops for that),  and a reconstruction fund which is currently less than 10% subscribed. The General Assembly has passed a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire and the creation of a “sovereign and viable Palestinian State”. The resolution is non-binding, and is therefore about as useful as any other non-binding agreement might be.

The United States, Russia and China have been playing diplomatic “gotcha” games by using their veto powers to block any action initiated by the other side of theEast/West divide that might have terminated this massacre earlier. The US has argued for Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas invasion, and has refused earlier ceasefire proposals because that would handcuff Israel in its attempt to negotiate release of their hostages. Russia and China have supported proposals for a two-state solution, but have vetoed broader regional security resolutions, presumably because they were proposed by Western nations and must therefore be opposed. And Israel has raised the diplomatic middle finger to the “provisional measures” ordered by the UN’s International Court of Justice.

The UN, once again, is pretty damn useless. I admire the concept of the UN, but I abhor the reality of it. I seriously question the wisdom of Canada spending more money on the UN. I don’t think we advance the cause of peace in the world very much by our participation there.

Israel’s disregard for international approval was illustrated on May 1st when they interdicted an international aid flotilla bringing relief to Gaza. The flotilla included 1000 health care professionals, specialized medical equipment, and some moderate amount of food aid. Israel intercepted that convoy more than 1000 km from the Gaza strip. They stormed at least 22 vessels, smashed some vessels engines to disable them, and detained and questioned about 175 activists for several days before releasing them to Greek authorities. Two high profile activists were transported to Israel, questioned for about ten days and then deported back to their countries of origin.

So we know that international governments are signalling their disapproval of Benyamin Netanyahu and his genocidal government. But how are people, individual people, reacting? Well unfortunately, they are signalling their disapproval, not of the state of Israel, nor of the Israeli military, nor of the Israeli government. Instead, they are turning against Jews everywhere.

No rational, thinking, responsible human being could fail to see the inappropriateness of that response. We don’t blame all Christians for the Iranian deaths caused by the bombing of Iran by the fundamentalist Christian-driven government of Donald Trump. We don’t have anti-Buddhism movements because Buddhist rulers are slaughtering Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar. But yet, we are seeing a world-wide increase in hatred directed at the Jews.

Part of the problem of course is the divisive nature of the conflict in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian rallies by largely Muslim communities in the  wake of Israel’s police action in Gaza led to pro-Israel counter rallies by mostly jewish communities. And that creates the impression that the Israeli government speaks for Jews everywhere, and that Jews everywhere are responsible for the cruelties inflicted by Israel’s government. 

Remember that in my last article, I made the statement that it’s politically unwise to be openly racist in the liberal democracies, like you can be in Russia or China. But monitoring by agencies like the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has revealed an increase in political rhetoric that often “conflates Israeli government policy with collective Jewish responsibility.” Such political anti-semitism is carefully coded to avoid the censure of openly anti-semitic slurs, but the experts are seeing policy statements that reflect a growing hostility to Jews.

Jews don’t need a policy rhetoric analysis to understand that they are being blamed for whatever Israel does. they are feeling it as direct personal and sometimes violent attacks.

In 2024, when campus demonstrations were running hot, there was a sharp increase in online hate and graffiti vandalism. In 2025 that form of anti-semitism gave way to physical confrontations. Twenty Jews were murdered in anti-jewish confrontations in 2025, the most in thirty years. By comparison to 2022, violence against Jews has risen in just three years by  145% in Canada, 70% in America, 270% in Australia, 203% in France, 122% in the UK. I could go on, but you get the picture. Anti-jew hate is on the rise. 

To date, the countries of the Middle East have stayed aligned with Israel. But politics in the Middle East is a very complicated game. There is sectarian conflict between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. There is also the old and still smouldering fires of resentment of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. There is oil in them thar dunes, which brings the inevitable meddling in Arab states governance by the United States (and other countries) into the picture. How and why countries remain committed to supporting Israel’s right to exist as a nation is therefore complicated. 

However, the Economist reports, the man in the street is less cautious than government leaders about reviving the old hatred for the Jews. “Ask any Egyptian and they’ll tell you we back whoever backs the Palestinians,” says a young doctor in Cairo…..Across many Arab countries a martial anthem praising Iran’s defiance of America has gone viral. Take me to the streets of Tehran,” it urges. “The banner of honour has been raised by Persian hands.”…. in private some wonder whether the region’s American bases do more to invite Iranian strikes than deter them.” The conclusion is that although governments are still aligned on the broadening integration of Israel into the mid-east fabric according to the Abraham Accords, the people in the region are losing patience with Israel and re-igniting their antipathy towards jews.

So what? What can we do? Precious little, I’m afraid as individuals. As a country?  I think it’s time to get very aggressive with Israel. They need to stop killing people. They need to stop their aggressive war of expansion. The massive destruction of infrastructure in Gaza and on the West Bank is notionally to un-seat Hamas and Hezbollah and counter the risk that those groups bring to Israel’s embattled citizenry. But there is reason to believe that Israel intends to create such a shattered wasteland that Palestinians cannot live there, leaving the land empty for Israel to march in and manage the rehabilitation of those lands for themselves. In light of the woeful inadequacy of the United Nations, I think individual countries need to make it difficult for Israel to continue on their chosen path. 

Should we impose economic sanctions? Sure, why not. Should we sever diplomatic relations? Probably not, because it’s never good to stop communicating. But I would love to see Canada leading a movement of nations to censure Israel and bring that nation to their collective senses. I’m sick of them. And that’s not anti-semitism. It’s a judgement of a faith-based nation’s war policy, not of it’s faith nor of its individual citizens.