EDITORIAL: While it’s no surprise that America vetoed the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, what follows may well shock the whole world, including Israel and its protector-in-chief, the United States.

More than 100 countries called for the ceasefire, and the fallout of the resolution left America as the only country defending Israel’s war crimes even as the death toll races to the 20,000 mark. The whole world has joined Hamas, and even the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, in condemning the veto, with Iran going a step further and warning, in no uncertain terms, of an “uncontrollable explosion” in the situation.

Already, the unfolding and worsening genocide in Gaza is not a contained affair. It has created new and widened existing cleavages in the international diplomatic calculus. The Muslim bloc no longer considers Washington the ultimate arbiter like before, taking their concerns to Russia and China instead, deepening the cold war of the new century.

And Iran’s threats and warnings are now complemented by stiff, unprecedented rhetoric out of Turkey, with President Erdogan flatly refusing an urgent American request to publicly condemn Hamas, instead calling the group “mujahideen, freedom fighters fighting for their land and people”.

The Nato member also called Israel, specifically Netanyahu, a “terrorist and war criminal” who needs to be dragged to The Hague.

With the diplomatic arena clearly on fire, there’s every chance of this war spreading to the wider region. That’s another thing President Erdogan touched upon during the recent GCC conclave in Doha. IDF’s incursion into southern Gaza, leaving no space at all for civilians, means Hezbollah is poised to enter the conflict, possibly triggering Israeli air raids in Lebanon and Syria. That would cross the line as far as Iran is concerned and then, without a doubt, all hell would break loose.

Yet Israel is pressing ahead with its genocidal campaign, which would not be possible without solid US backing. It is also adding insult to injury by circulating videos of Palestinian youth stripped to their underwear for the whole world to see. Such tactics only confirm the perception that the war has gone terribly off-plan for Israel.

There’s very little to indicate that it will be able to completely eradicate Hamas, which leaves the campaign open ended. And now it’s only a matter of time before severe blowback and revulsion on a global scale make Washington reconsider the degree of support it gives to Israel.

But it would be no good if such realisation comes after the conflict has spread to other countries, perhaps even regions. Already much of the world, including countries used to offering blind support to Israel, has revised its opinion of the Jewish state and wonders in amazement at the length to which America is going in support of its actions, which clearly constitute war crimes according to international law. The UN is also fed up with Israel’s wanton destruction of Palestinian lives and land and America’s support for all its actions.

Whatever is happening, and what is going to happen now, especially in terms of lives lost, will be the sole responsibility of the United States and Israel. There are no more diplomatic levers left for the world to push to get a ceasefire.

The only options left now are extremely volatile, and sooner or later some of them are going to be exercised. The day could come soon when America would rue its veto at the Security Council, unwisely wasting the last chance to stop this madness before things get completely out of everybody’s control.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023