I wish I shared your optimism but I'd have to disagree. The US is finally coming under the crosshairs of the international community for their complicity in Israel's crimes, so I'm seeing their slight maneuvering as a means to weather that storm, feigning the impression that they're concerned about the human cost of this conflict. When it comes to anything remotely tangible though they'll revert to form - vetoing any resolution that condemns Israel, passing legislation that makes boycotting illegal, and widening the threshold that blurs the lines between condemnation of Israel and antisemitism. These gestures don't exactly convince me of there being a paradigm shift just yet. For that to happen, congressmen and women will have to start losing their jobs via the ballot box on account of their stance, and it becomes politically (and financially) untenable for politicians and organisations to hold a ironclad and zealous commitment towards Israel.
Great post and a perfectly valid opinion to hold, but I now personally think that 10/7 radically changed the game's rules.
I've never seen, in my lifetime at least, the US so worried from the get-go and the appeals to de-escalation starting from Biden's very first visit in Israel, despite the current bloodbath. Israel is absolutely playing into Hamas' hand right now and already handed them a "great victory", no matter what some posters might think and still persist, one month in, to categorize it as
"an epic miscalculation". It's thanks to the US that we didn't see an even greater bloodbath, and probably a regional escalation.
Still, it will never change the fact that Hamas, using the most rudimentary methods and operating from the most monitored open-air prison in human history, managed in an absolutely gruesome way, to utterly shatter the myth of Israel's invincibility in the region that's been built in the last six decades. Hence the relentless and horrifying pounding of Gaza at the moment. People still don't realize what an impact 10/7 had and will have in the years to come, not only in the region but also worldwide.
It's a case that will be studied by historians, geopoliticians and in military academies for decades, if not centuries. And we will definitely feel its ripples in our lifetime.
I believe that the US understood that it can't allow Israel to go on this destructive path anymore. It acknowledged the fact that Netanyahu, who's a goner, and his current policy or anyone following his footsteps, is simply suicidal and would transform a crucial regional ally into an absolute liability. In this day and age, you just can't unconditionally support a government that has people like Ben Gvir and Smotrich in key governmental positions. Not even Israel, and not when you posture as a champion of democracy in the world. Israel might've gotten away with it until 10/7 but things are different now. There are after all, limits to horseshit.
Netanyahu's government thought of using the massacre as an opportunity to ethnically cleanse the Gazans once and for all by pushing them into the Sinai Desert. That's how low it stooped and how far the West was actually willing to run with until Egypt said,
"Yeah, no.We know the drill. We take them in and they're then never allowed to come back.
So, feck you. You broke it, you bought it."
Then we heard of so many kind-hearted people lamenting about how cruel the Arab countries are, because the most humane solution would've been to take in
this stateless bunch of historical annoyances confined in the biggest open-air prison the world's ever seen. Spare them an even greater suffering from the most civilized, democratic and occupying country in the region that sadly sees itself forced to bomb and starve the shit out of them in self-defense. In order to get rid of the terrorist organization which they, the beacon of light in the region, have fed for decades in order to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
Not to exonerate the Arab dictators, who are a despicable and cowardly lot, but no one can pin on them what's happening in Gaza right now, nor their response to it.
By the way, the much touted
right to self-defense can't be invoked here for two reasons: Palestine is not a recognized state and, more importantly, Israel is an occupying power. Here's the
ICJ judgment dating from 2004. Again, you broke it, you bought it.
But I digress. The paradigm shift you rightly mention might not be visible just yet, at least not through the official discourse. However the magnitude of 10/7 is simply something no sane leader concerned can sweep under ther rug. To my eyes, there's something that's been fundamentally broken after the massacre and it means that there's no turning back. No return to the previous "status quo" in any form, no dilly dallying. I personally believe that we truly are witnessing a historical moment. Something has to be done now, simple as that. It will take time, years if not decades, but it really was a game changer, in my opinion.
