The South African government of apartheid broke in the 1990s under the weight of international sanctions and condemnations. In contrast, despite its long history of war crimes and violations of international law over the course of 72 years, successive Israeli governments are repeatedly rewarded with favored trading status, state welcomes for officials, and more. Yes, resolutions have been passed chiding their behavior, but actions are needed if anything is to change. Sanctions must be deployed consistently, fairly and humanely.
Normalisation instead of sanctions
In September 2020, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed a normalisation agreement with Israel, followed by Sudan in October.
UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid Al-Khalifa signed the agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ironically, the latter is included in a secret list Israeli government officials have assembled of people likely to be arrested abroad if the International Criminal Court investigates alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories. Netanyahu, led the 2014 war on Gaza that a U.N. commission found rampant with possible war crimes.
