Ex-PM says Israel losing Western public opinion

The former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, has warned that Tel Aviv is losing global public opinion, most importantly in the US, over its war on the besieged Gaza Strip, adding that friction with the Americans will appear within a few weeks.

“The rhetoric of US officials has shifted in recent days with a mounting chorus of calls for a humanitarian pause in the fighting,” Barak said, according to Politico yesterday.

He added that there was global “sympathy” toward Israel following the Palestinian resistance’s surprise infiltration of the towns surrounding the Gaza Strip on 7 October, but this is now “diminishing”.

“You can see the window is closing. It’s clear we are heading towards friction with the Americans about the offensive. America cannot dictate to Israel what to do. But we cannot ignore them,” he added, referring to the recent ground aggression launched by Israel’s military in the Gaza Strip.

An infographic titled “Death toll in Gaza reached 10,328” created in Ankara, Turkiye on November 7, 2023 [Elmurod Usubaliev – Anadolu Agency]

“We will have to come to terms with the American demands within the next two or three weeks, probably less,” he said, adding: “It will take months or even a year to eliminate Hamas, but Western support is weakening due to the number of civilian deaths in Gaza,” and fears that it will lead to a broader and more disastrous war in the region.

Barak pointed out that “Western countries are also concerned about their citizens who are among the 242 prisoners held by Hamas in Gaza.”

“We are losing public opinion in Europe, and within a week or in two weeks we will start losing governments in Europe. After another week, friction with the Americans will come to the surface.”

For thirty-two days, Israel has been indiscriminately bombing the Gaza Strip, including residential buildings, hospitals, churches, mosques, UN schools, universities and even ambulances carrying wounded civilians, killing at least 10,000 Palestinians, the majority of them being children.

READ: Pakistan sends more humanitarian aid to Gaza