Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week.
Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership.
The motion was said to have been put forward by the far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, and the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law.
What Israel is doing is among the most heartbreaking things I have ever witnessed—not only because of the actions themselves, but because of the world’s response. From now on, no one will be able to speak of an international order based on law, of mutual respect between states, or of universal principles without a deep sense of hypocrisy. Only the rule of the strongest seems to matter, and this makes it painfully clear. Israel does not act with any right—nor does it even pretend to—it simply acts with power, and the world appears content to look the other way. The level of cynicism this will leave in anyone with eyes to see and a conscience to feel is truly terrifying.
Those of us whose ancestors were on The Trail of Tears have known this for a long time.
In fairness, the international rules based order was a result of World War 2, despite it being generally a farce.
Always has been; the West is simply waking up to it. There’s a reason most people convicted by the ICC are African.
The west ended occupation of orher countries but never abondonned the ideology behind it. The west never respected their own rules when it come to other countries