The world is finally turning against the war on Gaza

It is still too little, but it is not too late.

It’s impossible to know what, precisely, sparked the change. For the past 20 months we have seen horrifying images and video clips depicting the death and suffering of innocent Palestinians in Gaza – and yet so many in the West defended Israel’s brutal assault. The bombing of hospitals, the targeted shooting of children, the slow starvation of an entire population was, until very recently, met with near silence from some corners or tepid calls for a ceasefire from others. But something has undeniably shifted.

On 19 May the leaders of the UK, France and Canada joined together to finally call Benjamin Netanyahu’s escalation in Gaza “wholly disproportionate” and “egregious”. The following day David Lammy announced that the UK was suspending trade talks with Israel. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said that Israel’s actions in Gaza “can no longer be justified”. The European Union has launched a formal review of its association agreement with Israel after 17 member states voted in favour of doing so. The review will determine whether Israel has complied with Article 2 of the agreement, which requires it to “respect human rights”.

It’s not just political leaders who have found their voices. Journalists, celebrities and other public figures have shifted as well. Piers Morgan, once a defender of Israel’s war, now conducts increasingly hostile interviews with Israeli officials and ambassadors on his YouTube show Uncensored, where he condemns Israel for “killing babies daily” and its “starvation” of civilians. Some of the biggest podcasters in the world, including Joe Rogan and Theo Von, have spoken about their opposition to the war in recent weeks. Von openly wept while discussing Gaza on his podcast, which has millions of listeners, and has said, “We’re watching one of the sickest things that’s ever happened.” On 28 May, more than 400 prominent writers signed an open letter calling for an end to Israel’s “genocidal” war. In many ways it was like the dozens of open letters that came before it, but this one was notable for including prominent names who had either been previously absent, like Ian McEwan, or previously ambivalent, like Zadie Smith.

For those who have been unwaveringly, publicly against Israel’s war on Gaza since it began following the 7 October attacks, the sudden surge in condemnation has been disorientating. Some have even found it infuriating, suspecting that the abrupt about-face is less about a genuine revelation concerning the war, and more an accurate reading of the near future, when being the last one defending the indefensible will be a permanent stain on one’s legacy. A pivot against the war now, 20 months in, some suggest, is too little, too late.

This is partially true. For political leaders with the power to apply real pressure on Israel, a change in rhetoric alone is far too little. Saying that the indiscriminate killing of civilians, the deliberate withholding of much-needed aid or the flouting of international law is wrong should be the bare minimum. While the US is the nation with the most sway over Israel, other allies have influence. As the former diplomat Peter Ricketts has argued in the New Statesman, Keir Starmer must now “align his actions with his words” by suspending all arms exports licenses to Israel – rather than the partial suspension it introduced in September 2024 — and sanctioning the most extremist ministers in Netanyahu’s government, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have advocated “cleansing” Gaza and deliberately withholding food.

The EU, meanwhile, is Israel’s largest trading partner. If the bloc’s formal review of the EU-Israel association agreement were to conclude with the suspension of the preferential trade agreement – a move that would only require a majority of member states to approve, rather than unanimity – it would have real economic consequences for Israel. And all Western states could do more to advance the prospect of Palestinian statehood: the Saudi-French conference on Palestine at the UN will take place from 17-20 June in New York, and was conceived as an opportunity to coordinate an international response to Gaza. The French are reportedly hoping the event will spur more countries to formally recognise a Palestinian state, joining the more than 140 UN member states that have already done so.

So yes, too little has been done. But it is not too late to come out against the war, even if it’s for the first time. While the shift regarding Gaza has been palpable, there are still too many examples of people being censured for speaking out. International students in the US are still being detained and deported for protesting the war. German universities are still cancelling events featuring prominent critics of Israel’s actions. The American children’s educator and YouTube star Ms Rachel, who last year began fundraising for children in Gaza and using her considerable platform to highlight their suffering, was recently reported to the Department of Justice by a pro-Israel group, which spuriously suggested she is being funded by Hamas. But the more people call for an end to the war, the more difficult they become to silence.

Crucially, it’s not too late for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still in Gaza, still under siege, still fighting to survive. They have not yet been killed, they have not yet been expelled. They can still be helped. The best time to come out against the war was any time in the last 20 months. The second best time is now.