Israel’s diminished standing in the court of public opinion
JVL Introduction
The story in the New York Times about sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners has evoked a vehement backlash from the government of Israel who are suing the newspaper for “blood libel”. If they go ahead, they will soon learn that it is not libel if the dreadful thing is true and there is ample evidence that it is so.
Here the blame for Israel being the most disliked country in the world (!) is laid firmly at the door ofr this government and Netanyahu in particular and notes the impact for Jews outside Israel. That there is serious debate over granting a pardon to Netanyahu for a range of “midemenaours” beggars belief and will do nothing to raise Israel’s standing in the world and the writer goes as far as to say that “there is no redemption for Israel or for diaspora Jews if he and his family are not publicly denounced and condemned for eternity.”
LL
This article was originally published by Ha#aretz on Sun 17 May 2026. Read the original here.
Israel Has Lost Big Time in the Court of Public Opinion, and the Credit Is Netanyahu's
According to surveys, Israel has overtaken North Korea as the world’s most unpopular country. This trend could still be reversed, but only if the next government recognizes Israel’s war crimes and acts harshly against Jewish terrorists
Loading article text…
This article seems to pinpoint Netanyahu as the source of the problem. Unfortunately that is not true. The evidence is incontrovertible that the vast majority of the country support the government, if not Netanyahu himself. It is hard to see any change in the direction of even were Netanyahu to lose the next election.
It would be a start and a necessity to clean one’s own plate. But international law and justice should not be ignored. It could maybe also set off a domino effect for governments worldwide, but especially those of the US, UK, France and Germany (and every other EU country) to face trials at home and in Den Haag for facilitating, supporting and whitewashing the crimes of Israel and having neglected the legal obligation to intervene with every possible means and pressure Israel to comply with international law. In fact without those processes nothing really can change. Another Israeli government in a few years and it could be back to where we are now.
Also, there can be no redemption without áll rights of the Palestinian people being honored and restored, which can only mean one thing: getting rid of every Zionist aberration and the recreation of one state, a free Palestine from the river to the sea with equal rights for everyone of its citizens and with one justice system for all.
I totally agree with Sebastian and Diana. I think it will take the whole diaspora in each country to totally condemn what Israel is doing to prevent this backlash, starting with the condemnation by the chief rabbi . Zionism must be explained to the population that it is effectively destroying Judaism.