Transformations in International Public Opinion Towards Palestine

How long can the occupation continue its vandalism and criminality while disregarding international laws?

It kills, seizes land, demolishes, arrests, displaces, and evicts without any accountability or moral, political, or legal deterrent, disregarding friends, allies, and Arab normalizers before anyone else, especially those attempting to claim balance and objectivity between the victim and the executioner.

The prevailing opinion among most people is that Israel is a state above the law, and no one can hold it accountable, as those standing behind it are the ones deciding states’ policies in the world, and their influence in America and Europe is firmly entrenched, seemingly causing major countries to fear their wrath.

Israeli leaders have succeeded for more than seven decades in imposing their facts on the ground through the force of occupation, backed by a permanent American veto, supported by France and Britain, and European complicity, especially Germany, which considers itself primarily responsible for Israel’s security as a historical debt to the Jewish people.

In its early decades, Israel enjoyed a pool of shrewd and evasive political leaders who denied their desire to annex any part of Arab land, including the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and Sinai. They succeeded in portraying Israel as a weak victim seeking peace in a hostile and savage environment, far from civilization, that seeks to obliterate its existence.

This reality has changed significantly since the Camp David, Oslo, and Wadi Araba agreements, as it has become apparent that Arabs and Palestinians are interested in peace and ending the conflict, which has met with further savagery of the occupation and the display of its ambitions, armed with immunity against international laws under the guise of peace negotiations and normalization.

The genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, ongoing for more than 630 days, has witnessed documented massacres by sound and image, which did not exclude any group, demographic, medical institution, or otherwise, forcing the international community, albeit gradually, to hold the executioner accountable after prolonged bias and indifference.

The issue has witnessed unprecedented international movements, most notably what South Africa has done in breaking the silence and filing a complaint with the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide.

Institutions like "Hind Rajab" have emerged, established in honor of the memory of the Palestinian girl Hind, five years old, who was killed in a public massacre in January 2024 along with those with her in the car and medical teams that attempted to rescue her.

The Hind Rajab Foundation, established in Belgium, compiled a list of names of Israeli officers and soldiers and filed complaints against them in Europe and Latin America, accusing them of war crimes.

Even if these actions do not immediately result in arrest warrants or public trials, restricting the freedom of movement of some Israeli officers, exposing their names in the media, and presenting them as defendants rather than as heroes are all steps paving the way to remove the moral and political immunity from the occupation that has long served as a protective shield for it, claiming to be the most moral army in the world.

The voice of Western conscience has not come from governments but from universities, unions, and the street. Social media platforms have played a crucial role in conveying a true picture of war crimes. This is thanks to the Palestinian youth, especially those trapped in the Gaza Strip, and the Arab youth who found a window to express their solidarity with Palestine despite the stances of silent Arab governments, which play a neutral role in the conflict to gain the approval of the occupation and America, suppressing various forms of solidarity with the people of Gaza to the extent of expelling and assaulting foreign activists during the resilience marches.

There have also been unprecedented waves of protests in the United States and Europe, in dozens of universities, against Israeli war crimes.
Students have staged sit-ins, raised Palestinian flags, and called on their administrations to sever academic and investment ties with Israel.

The issue is no longer merely a student activity, but has transformed into a confrontation between a clearly solidarity-driven student generation with the people of Palestine, and traditional university administrations still subject to the weight of outdated layers.

In this context, the phenomenon of Zahraan Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for the mayoralty of New York, has emerged. He is a Muslim with African-Indian roots who caused a political storm after publicly declaring that he "will seek to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he enters New York on charges of war crimes." Trump described him as an extreme communist, and Zionist lobbying groups are trying to tarnish his image, and then revoke his American citizenship to prevent him from reaching the leadership of a city as significant as New York, but so far it seems they will not be able to stop him from attaining this important position.

Zahraan represents a reflection of a moral boiling point in American society, especially among youth, who are beginning to side with Palestinian rights, acknowledging the historical injustice against them, and are increasingly seeing the occupying government for what it truly is: criminal.

Despite this popular momentum, the West continues to provide protection for the occupation in the Security Council, and most sanctions remain mere demands without enforcement power.

However, the indicators are unmistakable; the moral legitimacy of the occupation is eroding day by day, and there are Israeli officers who are beginning to avoid traveling to certain countries for fear of arrest.

Tens of millions of people are now raising the question loudly: how long will the state of occupation commit its crimes without punishment? And how long can Arab regimes, in particular, continue to pretend to be deaf and maintain a false neutrality between truth and falsehood, between the executioner and the victim! It is shameful for Westerners to ask: where are the Arabs in what is happening in Gaza?

What we are witnessing in international public opinion is a blessed reaction to the massacres in Gaza, and this needs to evolve from a reaction to becoming a steadfast attitude towards the Palestinian issue.

European governments, unlike their peoples, direct their policies by interests and the many power dynamics on the international stage, therefore, it is unnecessary to highlight the role of Arabs, both peoples and leaders, and it must rise to the level of the imminent danger faced by the people of Palestine and the entire Arab region. The role of neutrality between the executioner and the victim played by most Arab regimes serves the executioner, placing them on the same side as the accomplice.