The barrage this week came fast, hard, and from all directions.
But it wasn’t missiles from Lebanon or drones from Iran that pounded Israel this time. Instead, it was a diplomatic onslaught: waves of condemnation, sanctions, and outrage from capitals across the globe, most notably in Europe.
The trigger: images of hungry children in Gaza flooding the airwaves, a wildly exaggerated claim by a senior UN official that 14,000 babies would die in Gaza if aid did not reach them in 48 hours, and Israel’s vow to intensify the fighting to free hostages and destroy Hamas.
A harsh statement signed by the leaders of Britain, France, and Canada, punitive threats – some already acted upon – and the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington all underscored a dangerous reality: Israel is not only fighting the war in Gaza but also a battle for legitimacy on the world stage.
The UK froze trade negotiations, the EU initiated a review of its association agreement with Israel, and foreign ministers queued up to censure. Yet, ironically, some of the sharpest blows came not from Israel’s enemies but from Israelis themselves.
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu tried to project calm at his first press conference since December.
“European countries will not influence us or cause us to abandon our core objectives: securing Israel’s future and safety,” he said. Israel, he asserted, would continue to aggressively pursue its war aims until Hamas is dismantled, the hostages are returned, and Gaza no longer poses a threat.
“We will do what is necessary to complete the war,” he said, adding that, in the end, Israel will have complete security control over the enclave.
Even as he dismissed European pressure, Netanyahu acknowledged the power of another force: images. Specifically, the images of hungry Gazan children and food lines that are dominating global headlines and eroding US political support.
Despite Hamas still holding 58 hostages, 20 of whom Netanyahu said were alive, and even with ongoing concerns about aid being intercepted by terrorists, Netanyahu reversed a policy in effect since March 2 and authorized renewed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Why the shift? Because the White House requested it – and because, as Netanyahu conveyed, even Israel’s closest allies could not bear the optics.
“Our best friends in the world,” Netanyahu said in a short video Monday explaining the new policy, “senators I have known as unstinting, enthusiastic supporters, who I have known for dozens of years, are coming to me and saying this: We give you all the assistance to complete the victory – arms, support to destroy Hamas, defense in the UN Security Council. There is one thing we cannot stand: We cannot take pictures of starvation, mass starvation. We won’t be able to support you.”
To retain international backing, Israel had to confront the humanitarian crisis; Netanyahu said: “To achieve victory, we have to solve the problem.”
IT’S A SOBERING message. Even in a war started by Hamas with its barbaric October 7 attack, optics and false narratives (such as 14,000 babies dying within 48 hours) are shaping the battlefield.
If the original logic in withholding the aid was to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages, the new approach suggests the opposite: resuming aid is essential to preserving international support needed to sustain military pressure on Hamas.
However, as the statements from some European capitals and Canada made clear – statements issued, ironically, the very day aid resumed – the intensified military campaign does not enjoy international legitimacy. But the move may help temper US criticism.
Critics on Netanyahu’s Right called the reversal capitulation. Critics on his Left said it was yet another example of incoherent policy. Both may have a point. But there’s another way to interpret it: tactical recalibration in a shifting geopolitical landscape.
At the core lies a truth too often ignored abroad: Hamas could end the humanitarian crisis immediately by releasing the hostages. It chooses not to because, for Hamas, the suffering of its own civilians is a weapon, not a liability.
“People have forgotten October 7,” said President Donald Trump during his Mideast tour, which ended last Friday in the UAE. “It was one of the most violent days in world history.” He’s right. And many have also forgotten that Gaza’s agony continues because Hamas refuses to yield, free the hostages, and surrender.
This war isn’t fought only in Rafah’s tunnels and in the alleys of Khan Yunis. It is also being waged in Washington’s corridors, at the UN, and on the world’s television screens.
Israel may have the upper hand militarily, but in Europe’s halls of power and in the court of global opinion, it is faltering. Some are arguing – with no small degree of justification – that Israel’s minimal public diplomacy suggests it has all but abandoned that front.
Adding to the public diplomacy challenge is that some of the damage is self-inflicted.
On the Left, Yair Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff and head of the Democrats Party, accused his own country this week of “killing babies as a hobby.”
On the Right, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke at a conference earlier this month of postwar Gaza where its “desperate” civilians will all be in the south, “understanding there is no future, no purpose, and nothing left for them in Gaza” but to seek relocation and start new lives elsewhere.
These voices may lie on the ideological fringes, but their words shape how the world sees the conflict.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy cited Smotrich’s “monstrous” rhetoric as justification for UK sanctions.
Golan’s grotesque claim reverberated in international media, feeding narratives long used against Israel.
The irony is tragic: Israelis themselves have become unwitting amplifiers of anti-Israel sentiment.
Avri Gilad, cohost of a late-night news show with Yair Cherki, mocked Golan’s remarks by appearing on set with a fake blood-soaked bandage, symbolizing the damage of self-inflicted blows.
He quoted a strikingly fitting passage from Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon’s classic Tmol Shilshom (Only Yesterday): “The young men sat together pondering the troubles the Holy One, blessed be He, brings upon Israel. And they further wondered how, in every affliction that befalls the Jews, the mouth of a Jew is somehow involved. The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Were it not for Jacob’s whisperings, Esau would not raise a hand against Israel.”
And it’s not just Golan and Smotrich. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert told the BBC this week that Israel’s actions in Gaza were “very close to a war crime.” In recent months, Tamir Pardo, former Mossad head, has called Israel an apartheid state. Former prime minister Ehud Barak and ex-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon have in recent months warned of Israel being on the “brink of collapse” and of “ethnic cleansing.” These aren’t fringe voices – they’re former leaders, whose words echo in human rights reports and foreign parliaments.
If one were charitable, one could say they were speaking from conviction. Those less charitable might argue that they are afflicted with blinding envy and a pathological hatred of Netanyahu – what Channel 12 political correspondent Amit Segal has termed “Bibi Derangement Syndrome.” Another option is that through outlandish statements, they hope to reclaim some of the limelight they basked in before being forced from office.
Whatever the motive, the impact is real: their words fuel diplomatic isolation, influence the opinions of outside observers, and are seized upon by those inciting against Israel.
Further complicating the equation is that every outlandish quote, clip, or outburst is instantly disseminated and archived. A single sentence uttered in Hebrew on a local talk show reappears hours later – translated, reframed, and weaponized – in global headlines and UN debates.
Often, when Smotrich speaks to an audience, it feels as if he thinks he is speaking in a closed, insular Bnei Akiva setting. He isn’t. His words spread. Israel is feeling the effects of rhetorical recklessness in a hyperconnected world where words are often stripped of nuance and context to fit hostile narratives and to fuel incitement.That incitement, which exists even without Golan and Smotrich, turned deadly on Thursday.
Two young Israeli diplomatic staffers – Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim – were shot dead in Washington, DC, in what Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called a “shocking terrorist attack.”
He pointed not just to the attacker but to those who inflame the atmosphere: “There is a direct line from antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement to this murder…. Libels about genocide, crimes against humanity, and murdering babies pave the way for such murders.”
He blamed global leaders – especially in Europe – for echoing Hamas propaganda. “This is what happens when leaders surrender to Palestinian terrorist propaganda and support its statements and attacks, and blame Israel instead of Hamas.”
ISRAEL NOW faces a multifaceted challenge: a bloody war in Gaza, continued threats from the north, Iran, and Yemen, and a storm of international vilification – some of it self-inflicted.
To weather it, Israel needs to act decisively in four areas.
First, reclaim the narrative. The world may forget October 7. Israel must not let it. The war began with an atrocity. The hostages remain a moral emergency. Every press conference and every diplomatic engagement must return to this foundation.
Second, humanitarian aid should be viewed as a strategic asset. If Israel can deliver aid without empowering Hamas, as Netanyahu’s three-stage plan suggests, it can help defuse criticism and preserve American support.
Third, restore discipline in public discourse. Politicians must take responsibility for their words; if they don’t, the public should hold them accountable. Loose language doesn’t just embarrass; it has consequences.
Finally, remind the world of a fundamental truth: Hamas can end this war by releasing hostages and laying down arms. As Trump said, people have forgotten October 7. But even more, they have forgotten that the key to peace lies not in Tel Aviv or Washington but in Hamas’s tunnels beneath Khan Yunis.
That message gets lost when Israelis echo Hamas’s own propaganda.
This current storm will pass. But how much damage it leaves behind will depend not only on what Israel does but on what it says – and who speaks for it. In this war, where words are also weapons, Israel cannot afford friendly fire.
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