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Heather du Plessis-Allan: I know we're at a global tipping point with Israel

Author
Heather du Plessis-Allan,
Publish Date
Wed, 13 Dec 2023, 5:06PM
Israeli soldiers take part in a ground operation in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood on December 8. Photo / AP, Moti Milrod, Haaretz
Israeli soldiers take part in a ground operation in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood on December 8. Photo / AP, Moti Milrod, Haaretz

Heather du Plessis-Allan: I know we're at a global tipping point with Israel

Author
Heather du Plessis-Allan,
Publish Date
Wed, 13 Dec 2023, 5:06PM

Look, I feel like we are now at a global tipping point with Israel and I think tolerance is running very short- and probably about to run out completely for their bombardment of Gaza.

A lot has happened in just the last few days, even just today, to indicate that this is on the cards now.

We've had New Zealand, Australia and Canada putting out a joint statement this morning calling for a sustainable ceasefire, saying that they are alarmed at what's happening to the civilians in Gaza.

A few hours ago, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

And in probably the biggest sign that the time is up, Joe Biden, who has of course been Israel's biggest backer globally, has started to pull his support away from Benjamin Netanyahu and warned Israel it risks alienating its allies if it continues.

He said that they cannot say no to a Palestinian state, and then he went as far as quite pointedly saying to Netanyahu that he had to change this Government- which I think a lot of people will agree with.

A lot of people will blame this Government and the past Governments of Netanyahu for the situation that Israel is currently in. The fact is, these world leaders are basically doing this because they are losing domestic support for continuing to support Israel.

You've seen the pressure mount here in New Zealand on the Government. Labour and Te Pati Māori and the Greens have all put pressure on the Government to call for a ceasefire, there have been protests up and down the country as a result.

In the states, a poll has found that only 20 percent of Americans think that Biden's approach is going to lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

It is not surprising that Israel's running out of runway at all- on this show we said pretty much immediately after the October 7 massacres by Hamas that Israel would only have so long to do what they always do, which is disproportionately punish the Palestinian people before sentiment would change.

Sentiment is now changing, the only thing that is surprising is how long the tolerance lasted, how long the runway was for this bombardment. Especially given that the bombardment was never going to work.

We all knew that, right? We'd never fully root out Hamas, we'd never be able to get all of those people out of the tunnels, all it ever was going to do was punish the civilians - which it has - and foment anger and probably create another generation of terrorists.

And only time will tell whether that's going to happen- but I say it probably will.

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