Israel faces unprecedented challenges as legal and diplomatic pressure mounts (Analysis)

(CNN) — It has been a tumultuous month for Israel. Never before has the Jewish state been under such intense and sustained international pressure from multiple fronts over its policies toward the Palestinians.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the ranks of world leaders labeled international pariahs by becoming the target of the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutors are seeking arrest warrants against him and his Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s war in Gaza.

The court has previously requested arrest warrants against figures such as Sudanese Omar al-Bashir, Russian Vladimir Putin and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

And on Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to immediately halt its controversial military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying the humanitarian situation there is “catastrophic” and expected to “acute”.

Seven months after Hamas attacks against Israel killed nearly 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, the Israeli revenge war has not achieved its objectives. Senior Hamas leaders are still at large and 125 hostages remain hostage. Gaza is now in ruins and more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli offensive.

Pressure is mounting on Israel to end the war from all fronts: American college campuses, international courts, American celebrities, Israel’s Western allies, and even the families of Israeli hostages.

But most significant may be the legal and diplomatic action taken against Israel this month.

Israeli officials have struggled to contain the fallout. They have accused critics of anti-Semitism and vowed not to bow to international pressure. “Even if Israel is forced to stand alone, we will stand alone, and continue to strike hard at our enemies until victory,” Netanyahu declared in a fiery speech at the opening ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day this month.

Palestinian State

For years, Israeli officials have opposed unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, fearing it would empower Palestinians to take Israel to international courts and weaken their position in future peace talks.

Therefore, the Palestinians have not achieved full membership in the United Nations due to the objections of the United States, Israel’s closest ally and main supporter on the world stage. However, a non-binding vote in the UN General Assembly on May 10 showed overwhelming international support for an independent Palestinian state, alienating the United States and some of Israel’s allies.

Israel and the United States maintain that a Palestinian state should only be established through a negotiated settlement.

But because Israel continues to reject the possibility of Palestinian independence, some states have chosen to act independently.

This week, Ireland, Spain and Norway announced their plans to formally recognise the Palestinian state, raising hopes that other European countries will follow.

“We are living at a moment in world history in which doing the minimum is both heroic and insufficient. That is why we cannot stop,” said the vice president of the Spanish government, Yolanda Díaz, in a video published on her Page X. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” she said, using a pro-Palestinian protest slogan that, according to Israel, calls for its destruction, a charge rejected by those who use it.

The move was swiftly condemned by Israel, which recalled its ambassadors from the three countries.

In addition to international efforts to end the war, Netanyahu is also under domestic pressure to reach a compromise with Hamas and get the hostages back. Faced with a pause in the talks, relatives of the hostages have put pressure on the prime minister to restart it.

This week, the families of seven female Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas released explicit photographs of their abduction to pressure the government to release them.

But there were signs that talks could resume. A US official told CNN that Israel’s war cabinet on Thursday ordered the country’s negotiating team to resume talks, without saying when the talks would take place, and CIA Director Bill Burns has traveled to Europe to try to get the deal back on track, saying the Israelis are “very committed.”

A dilemma for Israel’s allies

Cases brought before the ICJ and ICC have tested Western states’ commitment to the rules-based international order as they struggle to navigate the growing number of legal actions against their allies in these courts.

This has driven a wedge between Israel’s Western allies and a growing coalition of Global South countries spanning Asia, Africa and South America that have become increasingly vocal in demanding that Israel be held accountable for its actions in Gaza.

In a recent case before the ICJ, Germany was forced to defend its arms sales to Israel against charges of “facilitating genocide” leveled by Nicaragua. Despite the pressure, the court rejected a demand for Germany to immediately suspend arms exports to Israel.

Meanwhile, the ICC’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant has divided Israel’s Western allies.

In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan recounted a conversation with a senior politician who told him: “This court is made for Africa and for thugs like Putin,” underlining the complexity of international judicial proceedings.

Although the United States and the United Kingdom have condemned the measure, European countries such as France, Germany and others have affirmed the independence of the court and have not ruled out the possibility of detaining Israeli officials if they enter their territory after the issuance of the court order.

The court is also processing arrest warrants for three senior Hamas officials: Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif. A panel of ICC judges continues to deliberate on issuing these orders.

The response to the petition for an arrest warrant has been particularly fierce in the US Congress, where a bipartisan effort is underway to criminalise the ICC, which could include sanctions. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to work with Congress to draft legislation to declare the ICC a crime.

“If they do this to Israel, we’ll be next,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is leading the anti-ICC effort in Congress, declared at a Senate hearing this week. Very Powerful Friend.