As Israel's prolonged assault on Gaza enters its third month without signs of de-escalation, international concern escalates. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, empowered by unwavering Western support, continues his genocidal campaign in Gaza, damaging Israel's image internationally and damaging its economy and societal fabric nationally. Concurrently, under President Joe Biden, the U.S. extends its support, providing both rhetorical and military backing despite increasing global criticism.
The conflict's complexity intensifies with the Houthis' strategic gambit in the Red Sea. Washington found itself dragged into the Middle Eastern quagmire once more and tried to form a multinational naval coalition, aiming to restore integrity to the so-called international rules-based order. However, the subsequent events deviated from the expected scenario. The decline of the American leadership was ongoing for a long time. However, this trend has accelerated in Biden's tenure, and the U.S. faces a pronounced regression in its global standing and growing skepticism about its leadership capabilities.
In the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Israel's use of carpet bombing, collective punishment and siege warfare, which primarily targets innocent civilians and children, is pushing warfare outside the realm of civilized conduct. Equally problematic is the apparent failure of international organizations and their affiliated bodies to fulfill their missions of peacekeeping and conflict prevention and hold Israel accountable for its colonial practices, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A closer look at the relationship between the U.S. and Israel reveals a disturbing reality. While the White House routinely champions values such as peace, freedom and human rights, its staunch support of Israel highlights a glaring contradiction between American rhetoric and action. Such inconsistencies and double standards, as exemplified in Washington's position toward the Ukraine war, further corrode trust in the international order under U.S. leadership.
The same can be said about the credibility of international law and the global covenants. A growing number of nations, including Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and Honduras, are recalling their diplomatic envoys from Israel, expressing their discontent with the situation. Leaders such as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva openly criticize Biden's unwavering pro-Israel stance, underscoring the perceived ineffectiveness of both the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council.
Public sentiment further challenges Washington's role as a credible steward of global order. There is a growing disillusionment with Washington's ability to uphold a just world order, especially in light of Israel's genocidal war.
Houthi attacks in the strategic checkpoints of the Red Sea have thrust international maritime trade into a precarious position, posing a threat from an economic and insurance point of view. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait's crucial role in oil and LNG transit offers a cost-effective route to Europe.
Due to the economic risks and the maritime firms' angst in the face of these threats, the U.S. launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, gaining nominal support from 20 countries. However, Spain, Italy and France have defiantly declared their capability to safeguard freedom of navigation autonomously, rebuffing any inclination toward operating under American directives. Their reluctance to join a U.S.-led venture signals a clear preference for leveraging the existing EU anti-piracy operation.
Washington seemed surprised by the lack of commitment from its European allies, ignoring recent events, such as the sudden U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which the Donald Trump administration unilaterally declared. Likewise, the fallout from Trump's predecessor Barack Obama's 2012 assertion regarding Syria's chemical weapon stockpile as a "red line" for military intervention, followed by collaboration with Moscow, elicited profound divisions with European partners. These blasts of the past signify that cracks can emerge within key NATO allies. The European stance on the anti-Houthi coalition shows that there are always blowbacks from past and historical disappointments that can lead nations to chart their independent courses of action.
Washington's decisions since Oct. 7 are a catalog of errors. The Biden administration has revealed an elite American class completely subservient to Israel, without any influence on the Netanyahu government. The signal this apathy sent to the rest of the world is that the "rules-based" order is a myth, mainly destined to shield key Western nations, primarily the U.S. This situation has led the masses worldwide to be increasingly vocal about the blatant double standards. Contradictory statements from key figures like the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby went viral on social media, further fuelling global public discontent.
The professed allegiance of Western nations to the liberal framework of order and their duplicity in practice presents a looming threat. This dual standard risks fracturing the collective commitment to order. Take, for instance, the continual advocacy for Israel's "self-defense" narrative by the U.S. and Europe. This sets a dangerous precedent where any state might claim self-defense to justify war when feeling threatened, reminiscent of Israel's audacious state terrorism. A "rules-based" order that bends for different actors only breeds a disorder grounded in arbitrariness. It leads to a discordant scenario where interpretations of rules vary widely, leaving little room for a coherent global order, with the U.S. standing as the main culprit of this looming global cacophony.
The concept of a multipolar world gains traction amid these developments, particularly in the context of the Gaza conflict. With its significant humanitarian implications, this crisis underscores the urgency of re-evaluating global geopolitical dynamics. These transformative times reflect the prominent 20th-century Italian philosopher and activist Antonio Gramsci's self-fulfilling prophecy: "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters."
