The international rift over Israel and the collapse of Western taboos!

By Adem Kılıç, Political scientist

Israel’s military and economic siege of Gaza, which began after October 7, 2023, has reached a point where it is calling into question not only the Middle East but also the moral positions of Western capitals and the legitimacy of the international order.

The developments at the United Nations Palestine Conference in New York last week brought this historical fracture to a diplomatic turning point, and the conference focused on the question, “Where will humanity stand at this point of fracture?”

The summit in New York, attended by 125 countries, was entirely shaped by the destruction in Gaza and Israel’s systematic violations of international law.

However, perhaps even more importantly, this time the discussion did not center solely on Arab and Middle Eastern countries.

France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and even Germany—which historically has defined itself as Israel’s greatest supporter due to the Holocaust—joined the ranks of countries expressing outrage.

Many EU member states openly stated from the podium that Israel had committed crimes such as “war crimes,” “genocide,” and “starvation through siege.”

And especially; UN Secretary-General Guterres’ statement that “Gaza is not just a battlefield, but a testament to the moral bankruptcy of the international system” summed up the summit.

At the end of the summit, for the first time since 1948, a UN document clearly emphasized that “Israel has systematically violated fundamental humanitarian norms.”

This marked the official beginning of the end of the Western-centric international system’s almost untouchable status granted to Israel.

On the other hand, Israel was forced to face the reality that almost every institution, from the International Criminal Court to Amnesty International, from global media outlets such as the BBC to the Red Cross, had begun to raise their voices against Israel’s genocide.

Indeed, the International Criminal Court has entered a new phase in its investigation into war crimes against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The court announced that direct evidence of Israel’s use of “starvation as a weapon of war” in Gaza had been presented to the court, and ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan summarized the current state of the process with the statement, “Gaza is the conscience of humanity.”

In a special report published in July 2025, Amnesty International noted that child deaths in Gaza were “not preventable but deliberately organized.” UNICEF published a report informing the international community that 8,200 children in Gaza have died since the end of 2024 due to starvation, thirst, and lack of health services, and that Israel is directly responsible for this.

Taboos overturned in the West

After 22 months of occupation, genocide, and war crimes, anti-Israel protests, which were previously limited to the streets in European capitals, have now become state policy.

Indeed, following the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, and Norway, Switzerland and Portugal have also joined the list of countries that have officially recognized the State of Palestine.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated during the UN Conference that “the systematic starvation policy in Gaza is one of the most organized genocides we have witnessed in modern times,” while Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynder described the Netanyahu government as “a systematic violator of international law.”

These were the harshest statements ever directed at Israel in diplomatic literature.

France has already informed the UN General Assembly that it will recognize Palestine at the UN Summit in September. According to information in the French media, Macron’s advisors have informed him that the Palestinian issue is now “one of the French people’s internal conscience issues,” and France’s traditional cautious policy toward Israel has been consigned to history.

Conclusion: Exceptional privileges are being overturned and a new norm is emerging

The tragedy unfolding in Gaza has now turned into a crisis that questions the moral legitimacy and value system of the Western world, rather than merely triggering political reflexes, and political elites are now forced to accept this, following the people.

Israel’s position as the “untouchable ally of the West” has effectively ceased to exist, and the issue is no longer just about international law. 

Israel’s actions have become a matter of global collective conscience, moral consistency, and the construction of a new world order.

According to official figures, 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, while unofficial figures put the number at over 200,000. This reality, which emerged after the deaths of Palestinian children, women, and civilians, has already taken its place in history as a source of shame. 

The only question remaining is whether the West will be able to turn this historical rupture into a permanent norm.