Le Monde investigation: A deep crisis is hitting the international system due to the Gaza war policy

Le Monde newspaper said that the Israeli war on the Palestinians contributes to the exacerbation of the crisis of the world order that was born after 1945, and heralded the emergence of new alliances that it saw beginning to emerge, but it warned of a real rupture in terms of international criminal justice.

The newspaper saw – in a lengthy investigation written by Frédéric Lemaitre and Philippe Ricard – that Israel’s launch of its war on the Gaza Strip in response to the attacks of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7, was a blessing sent by heaven to Russian President Vladimir Putin, by diverting attention from the war in Ukraine.

Although the war in Gaza enabled Moscow to partially break its isolation within United Nations bodies, it constituted a second major aggression against international law, given the record number of Palestinian civilian casualties, as Washington blocked, within the Security Council, draft resolutions that called for a ceasefire in the Strip. The Palestinian who was destroyed by a flood of Israeli army fire.

A year later, the war in Gaza is still continuing and shaking the entire region. The strikes directed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the region put Israel in a position of strength, facing Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon and even in Syria, where the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad surprised even his Russian protectors. And the Iranians, explains Le Monde.

It seems that a new Middle East is beginning to take shape – according to the newspaper – at a time of weakness for Iran and Russia, in contrast to strong Turkey, while the Arab countries are stagnant, and Israel is about to impose its peace on its neighbors. It has invaded the buffer zone with Syria and destroyed almost all of its weapons, and it is not unlikely that it will strike. Iran, and indeed Netanyahu said that “the State of Israel confirms its position as an axis of power in the region,” which has not been the case for decades.

Breaking point

But this war and its multiple repercussions go beyond the regional framework and burden international relations. Like the war in Ukraine, it contributes to exacerbating the fragmentation of the world, because more than 45,000 Palestinian civilians were killed, an Israeli prime minister was subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, and unconditional American support despite criticism. The vitriol of many emerging countries exacerbates the crisis of the multilateral system that emerged in the aftermath of World War II.

Le Monde quoted journalist Anthony Al-Samrani, editor-in-chief of the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient Le Jour, as saying, “Gaza is not just a war, but rather a breaking point, and the final nail in the coffin of the international system that has begun to weaken since the attacks of September 11, 2001.” He added in his article, “The Gaza war is neither the most strategic nor the bloodiest, but its symbolic power has no equal. This conflict is tearing apart the world and societies, and it makes dialogue impossible between the North and the South, even within these spaces.”

It is ironic that the United Nations, which is the symbol of the global order, was throughout the year 2024 the scene of its disintegration, as Netanyahu, from within it, described the number of resolutions of the organization’s General Assembly condemning Israel, which amounted to a total of 174 resolutions, as a “joke,” and he saw that the organization is nothing more than “A farce worthy of contempt.” He had barely finished his speech before he issued the order to liquidate the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and bury the truce in Lebanon with him, as the newspaper says.

Australian lawyer Tirana Hassan, director of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, says that the response to the war in Ukraine showed the world what can be done when a country violates its international obligations, as all tools were used to mobilize international protection, punish Moscow, grant asylum to Ukrainians, and support international justice investigations. This is in stark contrast to the way these same countries responded to the war in Gaza, where only silence and weak condemnations were heard, and thus Western countries appear to view international standards as a selective list.

Insufficient criticism

A fair number of “emerging” countries share this observation. “The oft-cited rules-based system cannot be one that applies principles selectively,” says Indian journalist Barkha Dutt in the Hindustan Times.

Gilles Yabi, founding president of the Wati Research Center in Senegal, told the newspaper: “In the reaction to the war in Ukraine, we noticed quite clear differences between Westerners and the rest of the world, but the war in Gaza reinforced the feeling of an international system that does not give the same importance to human life, according to his country.” The law of the strongest was seen in Gaza, without any criticism or sanctions from Israel’s allies.”

French diplomat Jean-Marie Guehenno, former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and responsible for peacekeeping operations, notes this bitterly, saying, “Even when the United States invaded Iraq, it made all kinds of legal distortions to try to show that it respects the law, but Israel does not make an effort in this area.” It attacks the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and declares that the Secretary-General of the United Nations is persona non grata.”

Under these circumstances, the continued support of Israel by the United States and other Western countries without reservation cannot remain without consequences. “Many countries criticize the West because it lectures them on human rights and international law with regard to Ukraine,” says Jean-Marie Guéhenno. “While they are being very cautious now that Israel is violating human rights on a massive scale in Gaza,” Le Monde highlights.

Indian judge and political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta says, “The war in Gaza destroyed what little authority remained in the West or in international law,” and concludes by saying, “Here are the democracies that are leading the international system to its destruction: Israel, through its brutality of conflicts, and the United States, through Through its complicity and cover-up.”

In the United States – Le Monde follows – Democratic senators criticized the policy of President Joe Biden’s administration for its inability to force Netanyahu to stop hostilities or open humanitarian access to Gaza, and the demonstrations there and in Europe highlighted the discomfort experienced by a portion of opinion. Western year.

Influence war

For its part, Moscow and its supporters do not hesitate to exploit the situation. Tirana Hassan says, “It is easy for Russia and China to use accusations of double standards in order to cast doubt on the international order,” especially since “the West has completely lost its moral sense,” in the eyes of Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and that the BRICS group Which includes China, Russia and India, despite their attractiveness, show extreme forms of transactions devoid of any ethical standards.

Arancha Gonzalez, dean of the School of Foreign Affairs at Sciences Po University, told Le Monde that the fire that has been raging in the Middle East since October 7 goes far beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is not a battle between North and South, but rather a war of influence between the middle powers, especially Israel and Iran, in the absence of an American policeman capable of influencing its ally.

Jean-Marie Guéhenno continued: “With the United Nations no longer performing its role, countries will seek reassurance, protectors, and alliances, and the vast majority of countries in the world would prefer that the United Nations Charter not remain just a scrap of paper, because there are many small fish that do not want to To be eaten by big fish.

Removal of Western hegemony

In a sign that the balance of power is shifting, the so-called countries of the “Global South” now feel confident enough to use against the West the tools that the West has had a virtual monopoly until now. Proof of this is the genocide complaint filed by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

“In this regard, Gaza represents a real change in the rules of the game,” says Vincent Hollender of the University of Paris II, explaining that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu shows this, and through Israel it is the West, especially the United States, who are being accused. To them.

Jean-Maurice Ripert, former French ambassador to New York, Moscow and Beijing, believes that “it is clear that the awakening of international justice is good news, because the advantage of judges is to remind that the rules of law exist even in the midst of conflict, when diplomats are no longer able to impose them, and international justice must raise “The issue of personal responsibility of leaders, and even to study the concept of genocide.”

However, this – also – divides the world, according to the ambassador, “While the situation in Ukraine brings together European countries and a few other countries with the support of the United States, it does not provoke mobilization on other continents, and the situation in Palestine arouses the commitment of non-Europeans, but it divides Europeans and provokes a very negative American reaction.”

Le Monde’s investigation concluded that, given the scale of the damage, it will take years not only to rebuild the devastated Palestinian enclave, but also to rebuild a credible multilateral system that no force seems able to maintain.