SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Why are Western govs suddenly waking up only now? why not before?

https://x.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1926565033925910604

Muhammad Shehada

Why are Western govs suddenly waking up only now? why not before? Well, Israel kept telling them if they make the slightest criticism of its genocide, it'd embolden Hamas in the negotiations; undermining Israeli captives' release & pushing the group to reject disarmament & the exile of its leadership & members. Israel's main talking point was that a deal was imminent & pressure is needed for Hamas to soften its positions; that Hamas was in severe crisis & its defeat was near. Most diplomats & civil servants I spoke to knew too well those talking points were complete garbage. Their ministers & leaders, however, conveniently chose to hide behind those talking points to justify their silence & full complicity. For instance, a senior Biden official told me Blinken would say to the majority of State Dep who opposed his policies on Israel that "you don't know how to talk to the Israelis. You don't know how to handle this". A senior German diplomat told me in March their approach was to say to Israel "we are your absolute best friends, that's why you should listen to our advice that x & y are not good for you." Western leaders have long claimed that any pressure on Israel "would weaken Israeli moderates & empower hardliners" (how is that working for you now with Smotrich/Ben Gvir?) They simultaneously maintain that maximum pressure on Palestinians was "necessary to weaken hardliners & empower moderates" & that giving Palestinians a symbolic victory as simple as recognition of Palestine would "empower hardliners & weaken moderates". (Do they ever hear themselves when saying this?) But why are things changing now? Well, because Israel is overreaching & blowing up the pretence that allowed those Western gov to keep silent. Feeling invincible by Trump's return to power, Netanyahu rushed to fully starve Gaza for 80 days; declare that he would never end the genocide; admit that he is the uncompromising party in the negotiations where he's only offering a 45-day "pause" in return for releasing all the captives; resume massacring over 100 Gazans per day (after European leaders had literally asked Israel to keep the daily killing below 100); & most importantly declare that even if Hamas disarms & leaves Gaza, he would still depopulate the entire enclave & forcibly expel its population. His ministers also began competing who's more genocidal. Smotrich made clear "we're destroying everything that is left of Gaza" & "we're pushing them to Rafah then out". MK Zvi Sukkot declared that the world has gotten used to Israel killing 100 per day, so they should increase those numbers. Ben Gvir loudly called for bombing food storages, while Netanyahu admitted that Israel is deliberately destroying homes in Gaza one by one "so people would have nothing to return to & would leave". The two steps that "broke the camels back" were: 1- Israel's dystopian, sinister & extremely dangerous "aid" plan to use American mercenaries to set up concentration camps in Rafah, then force the starved population there by weaponising food against them. 2- Israel preparing to invade all of Gaza at once in "one full swoop" & destroy everything that remains. Both of which would mean mass expulsion. At the same time, Israel is gradually replicating this Gaza experience in the West Bank. That's how Israel itself made it increasingly difficult for Western govs to keep silent. But are Europe's latest steps sufficient (e.g. strong worded statements, UK suspending free trade talks, EU's Kallas announcing a review of the association agreement)? ABSOLUTELY NOT! These are mostly minimal symbolic steps to save face. For instance, an EU diplomat told me Kallas's announcement is completely empty; the EU did such a review twice recently & found Israel in violation of the agreement but did nothing. Another redundant "review" without a timeline is merely a step to buy time. Nonetheless, in Israel they are beginning to sense a threat in this change of tune & are freaking out about it. That's why they resumed a trickle of aid that is way less than what prisoners in Gulag concentration camps got; as a PR stunt to appease Western govs. We need to keep the pressure, keep speaking up. Change is often slow until it's not.