The suffering of the Palestinian people, which began with the Nakba and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, has reached completely new depths in the past 14 months. More than 46,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 110,000 injured in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Tens of thousands of others disappeared, arbitrarily detained or buried under the rubble of their destroyed homes. Relentless Israeli attacks did not spare homes, schools and even hospitals in the encircled belt. Hundreds of thousands of survivors, forced from their homes into makeshift tents in so-called “safe zones”, face indiscriminate airstrikes, daily massacres, outbreaks of disease, hunger and harsh winter conditions with no end in sight to their misery. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are also attacked by Israeli forces and are deprived of most basic rights and freedoms.
Palestinians are documenting the crimes committed by Israel against their people one by one and sharing them with the world in real time for all to see. South Africa launched a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, with the support of a number of countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Turkey. The ICC also took action against Israel, issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The global public is also clear in its support for the Palestinians, with tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protests, vigils and sit-ins held around the world, attracting the support of millions of people from all walks of life, since the beginning of the genocide. in October 2023.
However, despite all this, Israel seems to be able to continue its crimes openly and with impunity. This is because its Western backers and benefactors, especially the United States, turn a blind eye to all of Israel’s excesses and refuse to recognize – let alone punish – its flagrant violations of international law.
Washington in particular, as the main supplier of arms, bombs and other military equipment to Israel, has done nothing to help end the genocide in the past 14 months. On the contrary, he did everything in his power to shield Israel from responsibility. For example, it used its veto power four times, most recently on November 20, to prevent the UN Security Council from passing a resolution demanding a ceasefire. He also voted against a UN General Assembly resolution, supported by 154 member states, calling for an immediate end to Israel’s war on Gaza. It also seeks to punish the ICC for issuing warrants against Israeli leaders, and the House of Representatives passes legislation sanctioning the court.
As such, as long as US military, political and financial support for Israel continues, supporters of Palestine appear to be unable to do anything to end the suffering of the Palestinian people or ensure respect for their basic human rights.
Fortunately, the past 14 months have not only been marked by losses and disappointments. Supporters of Palestine also achieved important political, legal and electoral victories during this time. Most importantly, despite the world’s inability to put an end to Israel’s genocide and illegal occupation, the Palestinian cause has more support in the global public today than ever before. Israel becomes a pariah. And this is important.
Indeed, even in America, where politicians seem committed to protecting Israel at all costs, people regularly take to the streets to demand an end to the brutal war against the people of Gaza. American universities from coast to coast have been taken over by solidarity camps in Gaza. Although most of these protests were suppressed by force, and many of their participants were severely punished, they still managed to show the world that Americans do not support genocide. They also made Americans pay attention to what their country was funding in Gaza and helped change public opinion against the genocide.
In Western Europe, another traditional base of support for Israel, Palestine also began to receive unprecedented support at the official and local levels.
Of course, Europe’s dependence on historic US-Israel ties and heavy lobbying investments in most European countries means that official support for Israel’s war is still strong on the continent.
The German government, for example, has been unwavering in its support for Israel since the beginning of the genocide and to this day supports and defends all the actions of the Netanyahu government.
But pro-Palestinian and anti-antigenocide voices have gained significant prominence in Europe’s political, legal, media, entertainment and economic sectors, as well as in trade unions, academia and among students, gradually encouraging several European governments and leading institutions to advocate for international law and Palestinian human rights. .
According to data collected by the European Palestine Information Center (EPAL), during the first year of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza, more than 26,000 demonstrations and other activities in support of Palestinian rights were held in 619 cities in 20 European countries.
In response to the growing call of the European public for justice in Palestine, European governments are slowly beginning to show support for the struggle. Belgium, Ireland and Spain officially sided with South Africa in the genocide lawsuit against Israel. Spain and Ireland also recognized a Palestinian state, bringing the number of EU countries that have done so to 10. French President Emmanuel Macron called for arms exports stop and the UK has suspended some licenses. Ireland has so loudly condemned the genocide that Israel recently decided to close its embassy in the country.
In electoral politics, despite the comprehensive rise of the right and the apparent successes of right-wing parties in various elections, supporters of Palestine have also made significant gains in several European countries in the past year.
The French national elections held in mid-2024, for example, were won by the leftist France Unconquered, whose leader Jean-Luc Melenchon played a key role in organizing pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the country. The pro-Palestinian party also secured 11 seats in the European Parliament.
Pro-Palestinian votes also made important gains in the European Parliament elections. Sweden’s Left Party, for example, which enjoys strong support from Sweden’s Palestinian, Arab and Muslim minorities for its active advocacy of Palestine, won two seats. Denmark also elected several vocally pro-Palestinian representatives.
In the UK, where weekly protests calling for a Gaza ceasefire and an end to the occupation drew tens of thousands of people, five pro-Palestinian candidates – including former Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn – won seats in last year’s general election. These MPs later formed a parliamentary group called the “Alliance for Independence” and began pressuring Keir Starmer’s Labor government to support a ceasefire in Gaza and condemn Israeli war crimes.
In Austria, pro-Palestinian candidates ran in national elections in September under the name “Gaza List: Voices Against Genocide” after securing enough support to get their names on the ballot in seven of the nine states. Not only did they manage to draw attention to the Gaza genocide within the Austrian political conversation, but they actually secured nearly 20,000 votes in the election, demonstrating the growing strength of the pro-Palestinian vote in the traditionally pro-Israel nation.
Those fighting for justice in Palestine have also secured important legal victories in the past year.
In Italy, supporters of Palestinian rights won a case at the Supreme Court of Appeal against the Italian state television network “Rai”, which incorrectly called Jerusalem the capital of Israel in a newsletter. The judge ruled that Rai must publicly correct his mistake in the next newsletter, stating that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel.
Meanwhile, anti-genocide activists filed a lawsuit against the Dutch government to stop arms exports to Israel in light of its behavior in Gaza. Dutch state television broadcast the court proceedings live, which raised considerable awareness among the Dutch public about the country’s role in aiding Israel’s genocidal war.
Another prominent legal action in support of Palestine was the cases brought by the Hind Rajab Foundation, founded in Belgium last September, before the ICC and several local courts against Israeli soldiers who participated in the genocide in Gaza.
The foundation, named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza while she was stuck in a car full of the dead bodies of her relatives, sent the ICC a list of the names of a thousand Israeli soldiers suspected of involvement in war crimes in the besieged Strip. The foundation collected evidence against the accused Israeli soldiers through various means, including their personal social media pages, where they bragged about committing crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The foundation also monitored the movements of Israeli soldiers in foreign countries and filed lawsuits against them in local courts. She found and filed charges against suspected war criminals vacationing in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia, Ireland, Cyprus and most recently in Sweden. The foundation’s actions prompted Israel to instruct its soldiers to exercise caution when planning vacations abroad and strengthened his status as an international exile.
Meanwhile, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has also had significant success in reducing support for Israel in the past year.
According to a Reuters analysis published in November, several of Europe’s biggest financial firms have reduced their ties to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, amid pressure from activists and governments to end the war in Gaza. Total foreign direct investment in Israel fell by 29 percent in 2023 to the lowest level since 2016, according to the UN on Trade and Development.
In short, while the global community has still failed to end Israeli atrocities, the relentless advocacy of activists around the world has brought us closer than ever to achieving justice for the Palestinian people. The Israeli genocide in Gaza, committed in plain sight and documented in great detail, has greatly changed public perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict around the world. Even if the US appears no closer to abandoning its support for the settler colony, international opinion is rapidly shifting in favor of Palestine.
The tide is undoubtedly changing, but the fight is far from over. It is imperative that Palestinians and their supporters continue to expose the truth about Israel’s war crimes, illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing operations, until Palestine is free and Israel is held accountable for the many crimes it has committed and continues to commit against the long-term Palestinian people.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
