Since 7 October 2023, the crisis in Gaza has rekindled major geopolitical tensions while exposing systemic flaws in international law and the system of global governance. In this context, ASF reaffirms the need to guarantee the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law.
Beyond the concrete violations committed by the Israeli government and its army, which have caused the death of at least 60,000 Palestinians, this crisis reveals deeper dynamics: asymmetrical media, legal and political treatment of serious human rights violations depending on the perpetrators, resulting in a serious challenge to international justice and the universality of human rights.
Structural racism and dominant narrative
Any attack on civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law. Yet in the ‘West’, the media treatment of and political reactions to the violence suffered by the Israeli population on the one hand and the Palestinian population on the other betray a blatant double standard, based on deep-seated structural racist biases. The vision of the conflict imposed by the Israeli authorities is widely shared and little questioned by governments and the main media institutions. The Palestinian perspective is completely absent from the dominant narratives of the conflict, with Palestinian losses most often reduced to abstract figures and presented as inevitable consequences, or even a legitimate backlash. It should be noted that these narratives offer little historical framing and make little reference to, or even deny, the decades of oppression, occupation and colonisation suffered by the Palestinian people, even though these violations are corroborated by the United Nations and international NGOs.
This double standard held by political and media institutions is the effect of a deep-seated structural racism, which ranks human lives according to cultural, geopolitical or ethnic criteria. By systematically dehumanising some of the victims, they help to legitimise their murder and justify the impunity of the perpetrators.
International justice under pressure
As part of his mandate, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has requested arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, as well as for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. These arrest warrants follow a complaint lodged by South Africa. It accuses Israel of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This initiative highlights the leading role of certain countries in the Global South that have suffered the worst human rights violations in activism in favour of international justice. Through this complaint, South Africa is seeking to reaffirm that the law applies to everyone, without distinction, despite the complicit silence of European countries and the United States.
Despite being based on international law and the universality of human rights, this approach has met with virulent opposition from many ‘Western states’. In response, they have sought to discredit and obstruct the work of the ICC, as well as attacking the civil society organisations that work with the institution. Through their actions, these states are directly attacking the independence of international justice. In order to fulfil its mandate, the ICC depends on the willingness of countries to support its work and procedures, regardless of the individuals involved and the political and economic relations they may have with the perpetrators of these crimes. Allowing the ICC to investigate freely is a moral and legal imperative, essential to guarantee the legitimacy of the international system.
Impact on international law and global governance
The current crisis raises a fundamental question. When international institutions are weakened by political pressure or bypassed by allied powers, their ability to uphold human rights collapses. This dynamic is not only a tragedy for the Palestinian people: it erodes global confidence in international governance, fuels cynicism and paves the way for new forms of authoritarianism.
ASF warns of the danger of eroding the universality of rights. If some lives are clearly worth less than others in the eyes of the law, then the system loses all credibility. The crisis in Gaza, and the differentiated response to it, is thus becoming a revelation – but also a catalyst – of the wider crisis of multilateralism and global governance.
