Lessons from Gaza: A global reckoning

International bodies fail as fair arbiters but South is standing up to imperial impunity.

The carnage unleashed by Israel in Gaza has forced the world to confront painful but necessary truths about the structures governing international relations, the erosion of democratic freedoms, and the unchecked power of vested interests.

The destruction in Gaza is not just a regional tragedy but a global reckoning, laying bare the hypocrisies of the so-called rules-based international order, the complicity of Western institutions, and the sinister fusion of capital, technology, and militarism.

Yet, from the peripheries, a resistance is emerging, led by nations such as South Africa and movements such as The Hague Group, which demand a reimagining of justice on the world stage.

The Western construct of the rules-based international order has long been predicated on a selective morality, and nowhere has this been more starkly revealed than in the response to Gaza.

The swift invocation of international law against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contrasts sharply with the muted, evasive, or outright complicit stance adopted by Western powers regarding Israel’s actions.

The pretence of impartiality is shattered when Western capitals rush to shield Israel from accountability – blocking resolutions at the United Nations, suppressing legal mechanisms of redress, and continuing arms sales even as civilian casualties mount.

South Africa’s principled case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of genocide, has underscored the moral and political rift between the global South and the hegemonic West.

This initiative, supported by several nations outside the Western bloc, is a watershed moment in challenging the impunity historically granted to Western allies.

In the United States and Europe, the massacre in Gaza has not only revealed the fragility of the Western commitment to human rights but also exposed the hollowness of their self-proclaimed democratic values.

Protests against Israel’s military campaign have been met with violent crackdowns, mass arrests, and draconian restrictions in universities and public spaces.

Perhaps most damning has been the role of mainstream media, where structural biases and outright complicity have ensured that Israel’s actions are framed in a narrative of victimhood, while Palestinian voices are erased or demonised.

Major networks have engaged in misinformation, selectively reporting casualties, obscuring the scale of destruction, and platforming Israeli state propaganda as neutral analysis.

This moment has illuminated how corporate media, often beholden to political and economic interests, acts as an ideological apparatus rather than a free press.

The outsized influence of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the military-industrial complex in shaping US foreign policy has never been more evident. Billions of dollars flow into Israel’s war machine as elected representatives, irrespective of party affiliation, rubber-stamp military aid packages without question.

This nexus between arms manufacturers, pro-Israel lobbying groups, and US lawmakers demonstrates that the war in Gaza is not just an Israeli war – it is a war sustained by US tax dollars, advanced weaponry, and strategic shielding in global institutions.

The UN has been reduced to issuing symbolic condemnations while its resolutions are ignored or vetoed by Western powers. The International Criminal Court (ICC) remains shackled by political constraints, unable to hold Western-backed nations accountable.

The Trump administration has even imposed sanctions on ICC officials who attempted to investigate US or Israeli war crimes, a clear indication of how the global justice system is undermined when it challenges neo-colonial power structures.

The illusion that international bodies can serve as impartial arbiters is crumbling, forcing the world to seek alternative platforms.

Big Tech in war profiteering

The war in Gaza has also provided a chilling case study on the deadly fusion of Artificial Intelligence, surveillance, and military aggression. Israel has reportedly employed AI-driven targeting systems to generate kill lists, reducing human lives to algorithmic calculations.

US-based tech giants, whose platforms fuel Israeli intelligence and military operations, demonstrate how Silicon Valley functions as an appendage of state violence. Google, in particular, has drawn criticism for abandoning its pledge not to develop AI for weapons systems, effectively prioritising profit over ethics.

The commodification of war through advanced technologies, developed and sold by American monopolies, reveals the ethical crisis at the heart of the digital age. It is a stark warning about the future of conflict, where decisions of life and death are increasingly automated, and accountability is buried under vague claims of security and counterterrorism.

Yet, amid this bleak landscape, a counterforce is emerging. The Hague Group, a coalition of nations from the global South, is gaining traction as an alternative to the failing institutions of the West. This alliance seeks to reclaim international law as a tool of justice rather than an instrument of Western hegemony.

The case brought by South Africa to the ICJ is a defining moment in this shift, proving that nations outside the Western orbit can challenge entrenched power structures. It represents a clarion call for a new world order rooted in genuine multilateralism, where justice is not dictated by might but by collective moral action.

The lessons of Gaza are many, but the most profound is this: the old world order is unsustainable. The global South is no longer willing to be a passive witness to imperial impunity, and a new justice movement is taking shape. The Hague Group is not just a legal effort; it is the nucleus of a new vision for international relations – one that must be joined by all nations committed to dignity, equity, and the fundamental worth of human life.

(The writer is an assistant professor with the Department of Professional Studies, Christ Deemed to be University, Bengaluru)