If Not Israel, Then Who?

World leaders gathered at the United Nations this week with plenty to talk about.

They could talk about Ukraine, where Russia launched an unprovoked invasion more than four years ago and continues its war against a sovereign neighbor. Credible estimates put the number of dead in the hundreds of thousands.

They could talk about Iran, where thousands of citizens have been killed by their own government for taking to the streets in protest.

They could talk about Sudan. North Korea. The Rohingya. The Uyghurs. The Democratic Republic of Congo. Haiti.

There is no shortage of human suffering demanding the attention of the international community.

But then Benjamin Netanyahu approached the podium.

And scores of diplomats walked out.

Perhaps that tells us something about the United Nations and about the peculiar place Israel occupies in the world’s moral imagination.

Israel Should Be Scrutinized

Let’s dispense with the easiest objection first.

Gaza and Hamas’ war against Israel deserves the world’s attention.

Tens of thousands of Gazans have died. Gaza has suffered extraordinary destruction. Civilians have endured enormous suffering.

Israel’s conduct deserves scrutiny. Its government can be criticized. Its military decisions can be questioned. If international law has meaning, Israel must be subject to it.

But so must everyone else.

And that is where things become uncomfortable.

The war in Gaza did not begin with an Israeli attack on October 7, 2023.

It began when Hamas attacked Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Israel responded.

That is why I call this Hamas’ war against Israel. Not because that phrase resolves every argument over everything Israel has done since. It doesn’t.

It identifies who started the war.

We have little difficulty making that distinction elsewhere.

Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine fought back. We call it Russia’s war against Ukraine. We don’t decide Ukraine became the aggressor because hundreds of thousands of Russians subsequently died.

Yet something peculiar happens when the country defending itself is Israel.

Eventually, the world’s attention shifts almost entirely from who initiated the war to how Israel responded.

Meanwhile, the Rest of the World

Consider what else is happening.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands.

Iran’s government has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths during its crackdown on protesters, while independent investigators say the true number may be in the tens of thousands.

Sudan has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes.

North Korea continues developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles while brutally repressing its population.

China has faced years of allegations involving arbitrary detention and serious abuses against Uyghurs.

Violence continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Rohingya remain displaced.

Haiti continues to be consumed by gang violence and instability.

None of this makes the suffering of Gazans less important.

That’s the point.

Human suffering shouldn’t have to compete for importance.

Yet somehow, one tiny country repeatedly manages to inspire a degree of international outrage, diplomatic attention, and symbolic theater that atrocities elsewhere struggle to generate.

Where are those walkouts?

Without Double Standards

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly this week that international law and the UN Charter must be defended “without double standards.”

Exactly.

If civilians matter, they matter in Gaza.

And Tehran.

And Khartoum.

And Kyiv.

If international law applies to Israel, it applies to Russia, Iran and China.

The question isn’t whether Israel deserves scrutiny.

The question is why Israel deserves so much more of it.

Why does this one country, roughly the size of New Jersey, so reliably command such an extraordinary share of the world’s diplomatic outrage?

Why does Israel inspire gestures that atrocities elsewhere seemingly cannot?

And why do representatives of some of the world’s most repressive governments retain their seats in an institution whose diplomats feel compelled to leave theirs when Israel’s prime minister begins to speak?

If Not Israel, Then Who?

Imagine if Israel wasn’t on the agenda.

What would the world’s leaders talk about?

Would they suddenly run out of violated borders? Murdered protesters? Political prisoners? Displaced families? Dictators threatening their neighbors? Children caught in wars they didn’t start?

Of course not.

So by all means, talk about Israel.

Debate Israel.

Criticize Israel. Feed your obsession.

Hold Israel accountable to international standards.

But if those standards really are international, apply them internationally.

Perhaps the strangest thing about the world’s obsession with Israel isn’t what it says about Israel.

It’s what it says about everyone else.

Because if not Israel, then who?

Tragically, there is no shortage of answers. One only needs to open their eyes.