The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world
The rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel – so much that the whole global order is on the verge of collapse. (...)
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People make their way past the rubble of houses in Rafah on 20 January 2025, a day after a ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas came into effect. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images.
Israel’s war in Gaza is chipping away at so much of what we – in the United States but also internationally – had agreed upon as acceptable, from the rules governing our freedom of speech to the very laws of armed conflict. It seems no exaggeration to say that the foundation of the international order of the last 77 years is threatened by this change in the obligations governing our legal and political responsibilities to each other.
This collapse began with the liberal world’s lack of resolve to rein in Israel’s war in Gaza. It escalated when no one lifted a finger to stop hospitals being bombed. It expanded when mass starvation became a weapon of war. And it is peaking at a time when total war is no longer viewed as a human abhorrence but is instead the deliberate policy of the state of Israel.
The implications of this collapse are profound for international, regional and even domestic politics. Political dissent is repressed, political language is policed, and traditionally liberal societies are increasingly militarized against their own citizens.
Many of us disregard how much has shifted in the last 20 months. But we are ignoring the collapse of the international system that has defined our lives for generations at our own collective peril. (...)
Tags: #english #world order #rule of law #international law #israel #palestine #palestinians #gaza #west bank #occupied territories #un #united nations #war crimes #ethnic cleansing #crimes against humanity #genocide #International Court of Justice #icj #icc #international criminal court