How two years after October 7 attacks Israel pays the price on world stage

It’s been two years since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 people abducted by Hamas.

In the days that followed the terror attacks, the sympathy of much of the world was with Israel. Across the world, many spoke of Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ and condemned the actions of Hamas. Thoughts and prayers were with the families of the dead and those who had been taken hostage.

But now, two years later, much has changed. Anger over Israel’s conduct during the war – which many human rights groups and experts have claimed is genocide – the death of thousands of Palestinians and the displacement of countless others, and the destruction of much of Gaza has been growing around the world.

Even Israel’s staunchest allies are seemingly tired of its continuous assault on Gaza. However, Benjamin Netanyahu remains unmoved. But how does Israel stand isolated two years after the October 7 attacks?

Let’s take a closer look.

Allies growing weary, recognition of Palestinian state

Even Israel’s staunchest allies are seemingly growing weary of the Gaza war. While the United States remains Israel’s chief arms supplier, with an estimated $4 billion flowing from Washington to Tel Aviv every year, discontent seems to be growing at the highest levels in Washington over Israel’s conduct of the war.

Trump, whom Netanyahu wanted in office at all costs during the 2024 election, has seemingly lost patience with ‘Bibi.’ The US president, who is pushing his 20-point plan – which would see Hamas release all the hostages – as a means to end the war, called Netanyahu last week after Hamas responded positively to his peace proposal.

However, after Bibi responded less than enthusiastically, Trump took Bibi to task. “I don’t know why you’re always so f***ing negative. This is a win. Take it,” Trump said.

“He was fine with it. He’s got to be fine with it. He has no choice. With me, you got to be fine,” Trump later said. The US president’s remarks reflect his newfound determination to push the plan through, even at the cost of upsetting Bibi.

France, Spain, Ireland, and several Nordic states have called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and a two-state solution. “The process led by France and Saudi Arabia is the most significant international effort in years to create the conditions for a two-state solution,” Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen wrote on X.

Britain, Canada, and Australia have also recently recognised the need to establish a separate Palestinian state, with France set to follow later on this year. Over 150 countries have already done so earlier. Over a dozen countries have also signed a statement “expressing the willingness or the positive consideration of our countries to recognise the State of Palestine.”

Boycotts and bans

Israel is also facing increasing boycotts and bans over the war in Gaza. Turkey in August completely cut off economic and trade ties with Israel and even closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking at the Turkish parliament, accused Israel of “committing genocide in Gaza for the past two years, ignoring basic humanitarian values right before the world’s eyes.”

Turkey had in 2024 cut off trade with Israel, demanding the immediate entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

The Arab League earlier this year had called on its members to halt military and economic cooperation with Israel over its conduct in the Gaza
war.

A number of Arab nations had established economic and military ties with Israel in the aftermath of the US-backed Abraham Accords in what many people hoped would normalise the situation in West Asia.

Hollywood is getting in on the act too.

Over 5,000 artists, including big stars such as Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, and Javier Bardem, signed an open letter vowing not to work with Israeli broadcasters, production companies, or have their films screened at Israeli film festivals.

The group, Film Workers for Palestine, says they were inspired by Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, who refused to screen their films in apartheid South Africa.

Several countries, including Spain, the Netherlands, and Ireland, have announced a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest from next year if Israeli participants are allowed. Some Israeli singers have been booed at the contest, which many in Israel see as a cultural touchstone.

Israeli lecturers and professors are also bearing the brunt of boycotts. A number of invitations for Israeli researchers to attend international seminars or present at conferences have been rescinded. Over two dozen higher education institutions across Europe, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, have ended all ventures with Israeli partners.

Israel’s leaders being targeted

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Norway, and New Zealand have imposed targeted sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers. The UK earlier this year sanctioned two members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank.

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have both been barred from entering the UK. The foreign secretary said any assets belonging to them would be frozen.

Some of these nations have also temporarily paused cooperation with Israel. The UK has said it would halt free trade talks with Israel and review the wider Israel–UK roadmap. Germany, the second-largest source of Israeli arms imports, also said it would halt sending arms that could be used in Gaza.

The European Union in September – which remains Israel’s largest trading partner – laid out plans to increase pressure on Tel Aviv to end the war. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has called on the bloc to increase tariffs on some Israeli goods and impose sanctions on Israeli settlers. Kallas also called for sanctions on Smotrich. “We are proposing these measures not to punish Israel or the Israeli people, but to really try to pressure (the) Israeli government to change course and to end the human suffering in Gaza,” Kallas said. “The war needs to end, the suffering must stop, and all hostages must be released.”

The assembly had also passed a nonbinding resolution urging Israel to commit to an independent Palestinian nation, which Netanyahu has described as a ‘nonstarter.’

Netanyahu himself is facing an arrest warrant. The International Criminal Court (ICC) had earlier issued an arrest warrant accusing Netanyahu of crimes against humanity, which Israel described as ‘preposterous.’

However, Netanyahu, while coming to the United States to attend the UNGA, avoided flying over countries that might enforce the arrest warrant against him. The UN’s highest court is also considering South Africa’s accusations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, which it steadfastly denies.

Netanyahu defiant even as dissent grows within

However, Netanyahu has remained defiant. Speaking at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September, the Israeli prime minister vowed to “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza. “Western leaders may have buckled under the pressure,” he said. “And I guarantee you one thing: Israel won’t.”

Netanyahu made his speech even as dozens of delegates from several nations began leaving the UNGA at the start of his speech. Netanyahu also derided the recent decision by Israel’s allies to recognise a Palestinian state. “Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere,” he said.

Dissent is growing even within Israel.

Every week, thousands of people take to the streets in Israel to demand a ceasefire to the war in Gaza, fresh elections, and accountability from Netanyahu’s government as to how it let the Hamas attacks happen.

However, the majority of people within Israel continue to have a warped view of the war in Gaza – much of it shaped by Israeli media. A poll taken by the aChord Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem showed that 62 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement “there are no innocent bystanders in Gaza.”

It remains to be seen whether Netanyahu buckles under the pressure from without or within.

With inputs from agencies