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• by Dr Mustafa Fetouri

Even in major democracies, of which Israel considers itself one, governments committing crimes typically try to conceal them from the public eye. They do so out of fear of the backlash, embarrassment, and—above all—accountability. Not so in Israel. In its ongoing war in Gaza, Israel is doing the exact opposite. It is openly defying international law and norms, broadcasting its actions with a public bravado that borders on celebration, even as it commits what many, including some of its allies and international organisations, classify as war crimes and a crimes against humanity. This is not a matter of a few rogue actors; it is a display of institutional and societal pride in a campaign of devastation.

Early in the war, then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant set the tone with a statement that shocked the world’s capitals from Washington to Beijing. Announcing a “complete siege on Gaza,” he stated, “We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly.” This dehumanising language provided a chilling moral license for a campaign of collective punishment, cutting off electricity, food, water, and fuel to over two million people. The sentiment has since been amplified on social media, where Israeli soldiers and citizens have uploaded a steady stream of videos mocking Palestinians, celebrating destruction, and flaunting their disregard for civilian life. These posts—often set to cheerful music—show soldiers gleefully detonating homes, rifling through personal belongings, and dedicating explosions to fallen comrades. The digital footprint of these actions creates a damning dossier of potential crimes, proudly broadcast for all to see.

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This perverse sense of entertainment has even bled into the civilian sphere, creating a macabre form of “war tourism.” In towns bordering Gaza, like Sderot, “resilience tours” have emerged, where locals and visitors are given guided tours of communities targeted on 7 October. More disturbingly, viewing platforms have been set up with telescopes, offering a unique and ghoulish experience for a small fee: a chance to watch the destruction unfold in real time on the ground just a few kilometres away. This commodification of suffering is a stark testament to a societal shift, where the violence of war is not a tragedy to be mourned but a spectacle to be consumed.

A fundamental factor enabling this open celebration of violence is the public sentiment in Israel itself. Polls consistently show a nationalistic fervour and widespread support for the war’s military objectives, even at the cost of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. The primary concern of the Israeli public, as articulated by commentators and political figures, is not a humanitarian crisis in Gaza but the fate of the hostages. According to a July 2025 survey by Israel’s Channel 12, a clear majority of Israelis—74 per cent, including 60 per cent of voters for the governing coalition—are willing to end the war in exchange for the release of all hostages. This desire to bring the captives home has become the most urgent national priority, overshadowing the government’s stated goal of eliminating Hamas. This is not to say that the public is ignorant of the suffering; rather, a majority of Jewish Israelis believe the IDF’s reporting on casualties and think Israel is making substantial efforts to avoid harming Palestinian civilians.

The widely held belief that Israel is a victim fighting for survival allows for a collective moral blindness to the devastation. As prominent Israeli journalist Gideon Levy has repeatedly argued, this war has been marked by a “moral blindness” on the part of the Israeli public. In his view, “a sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby.” Levy’s columns and interviews often describe a society that has become numb to Palestinian suffering, prioritising its own narrative of victimhood and security above all else. This selective empathy, where the pain of Israeli families is paramount and the suffering of Gazan children is an unfortunate and often justified casualty, is a key pillar of the institutional pride that allows these crimes to be so openly broadcast.

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The selective empathy of Israeli society is further illuminated by its reaction to the threat of international accountability. When the International Criminal Court (ICC) sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes, the response from much of the Israeli public and political establishment was not one of introspection, but of outrage and defiance. Polls from late 2024 showed that the majority of Israelis viewed the ICC’s as a political body not a legal one and its warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, are baseless and an anti-Semitic attack on their country’s right to self-defence, not as a legitimate legal challenge to their leaders’ conduct. A significant portion of the public, which consistently supports the war effort, has been unwilling to accept that the actions of their government or military could be criminal, despite the mounting evidence. This moral blind spot is particularly striking when juxtaposed with the country’s fixation on domestic political scandals.

The domestic and ideological factors enabling Israel’s proud defiance of international law are ultimately underpinned by a fundamental belief: that its actions will never result in meaningful international accountability. This conviction stems from the unwavering political and military protection afforded by major powers, particularly the United States. This protection insulates Israeli leaders from the very real consequences their actions would trigger for other nations. While the United States has vehemently rejected the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, describing them as “outrageous,” a critical shift has occurred among some of Israel’s allies.

Unlike the US which rejects the ICC jurisdiction despite its legal efficacy, many other member states have indicated they would execute the warrants if the Israeli officials enter their territory. This has created a growing chasm in the Western world’s response. Countries such as France and the United Kingdom have stated they will respect the court’s independence and would be compelled to enforce the warrants, as have Belgium and other EU nations. This dynamic places Israel’s leaders in a precarious position, no longer able to travel freely to every allied capital without risk. This reality is a testament to the dangerous turning point in global politics that is now playing out—a state openly defying international law, betting that Western protection will shield it from consequences, even as the global consensus on its actions begins to crack.

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.