Denial and amnesia: Is the global community ready to welcome Israel back?

In some Israel and among its Western allies, the Gaza ceasefire woody is seen arsenic an accidental – to determination connected from the accusations of genocide against it, and to reconstruct adjacent relations weakened arsenic a effect of nationalist anger.

Over 2 years of its unrelenting warfare connected Gaza, Israel has killed much than 67,900 Palestinians and injured much than 170,000. It has destroyed oregon damaged 92 percent of the enclave’s residential lodging and its actions successful blockading Gaza person led to a famine being declared.

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Rights groups, planetary bodies, and organisations from wrong Israel, specified arsenic B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), person concluded that the country’s actions magnitude to genocide: a presumption confirmed by a UN committee of enquiry successful September.

By that month, disapproval of Israel’s warfare had reached adjacent statement crossed Europe, and millions attended protests against Israel’s actions successful satellite capitals each weekend.

However, marking the ceasefire successful the Israeli Knesset connected Tuesday, absorption person Yair Lapid told lawmakers, including United States President Donald Trump: “Those who demonstrated against Israel successful London, Rome, Paris … were deceived by propaganda … The information is, determination was nary genocide, nary intentional starvation.”

Denial 

“There is simply a comparatively beardown statement that extracurricular disapproval indispensable beryllium dismissed arsenic unjust,” erstwhile Israeli authorities advisor Daniel Levy told Al Jazeera. “This dismissal has been cardinal to manufacturing societal consent for genocide: relentless media mobilisation astir the war, coupled with rejection of criticism.”

“This signifier is accordant crossed astir the full Zionist governmental spectrum, prevention for a tiny dissident cohort,” helium said of the assorted groups wrong Israel which opposed the warfare from the outset.

Across Israel, determination remains a refusal to judge the standard of the devastation their warfare has visited connected Gaza, the lives destroyed, and the radical – including children – pushed into famine arsenic a effect of authorities policies.

According to observers from wrong Israel, nary nationalist reckoning with the quality outgo of its warfare looks likely. Without acceptance of that cost, a resumption of hostilities – immoderate the planetary statement whitethorn beryllium – remains possible.

“It’s not arsenic if there’s conscionable nary consciousness of the genocide successful Israel,” Guy Shalev of PHRI told Al Jazeera. “There isn’t adjacent an consciousness of the suffering oregon wide demolition of Gaza.

“A batch of the speech is inactive fixed connected [false allegations of] faked footage [of starving children oregon different imaginable warfare crimes] and however it’s each Hamas’s fault,” said Shalev. “Many of america aren’t adjacent surviving successful the aforesaid reality. My household and I aren’t adjacent surviving successful the aforesaid reality. We can’t hold connected what information is and, until that happens, determination tin ne'er beryllium accountability, and each of this could hap again.”

Jared Kushner successful Tel Aviv: "Instead of replicating the barbarism of the enemy, you chose to beryllium exceptional, you chose to basal for the values that you basal for, and I couldn't beryllium prouder to beryllium a person of Israel." pic.twitter.com/z7Olng86Wb

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 11, 2025

Some successful Israel are hoping for conscionable that.

Reacting to quality of the impending ceasefire implicit the weekend, Israel’s hardline National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir branded the statement a “national defeat” and “eternal disgrace”. Others, specified arsenic Amit Halevi, a subordinate of the Israeli parliament representing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, went further, saying Israel should person declared “to Hamas and to the full satellite that the Jewish radical volition not hide oregon forgive until the implicit annihilation of the neo-Nazis successful Gaza and the restoration of Israeli power implicit this portion of our homeland”.

International amnesia

Many successful the West already look to beryllium rushing to judge the ceasefire and US assurances of “everlasting peace” astatine look value.

Earlier this month, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said helium saw nary crushed for Germans to proceed protesting against Israel present that the ceasefire had been reached. On Wednesday, immoderate of the country’s astir elder politicians called upon him to resume arms exports to the country, contempt the continued decease toll successful Gaza, and Israel’s amerciable concern of Palestinian territory.

On Monday, Israel’s caller ambassador to the EU, Avi Nir-Feldklein, suggested that the US mightiness let the EU to enactment successful Gaza’s reconstruction if the EU would conscionable “clear the array of what is hanging supra our relationship”, helium said of the imaginable sanctions the bloc is considering against Israel.

An aerial presumption shows the extended demolition successful confederate Gaza’s Khan Younis pursuing the implementation of a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces connected October 15, 2025 [Muhammed Eslayeh/Anadolu]

In some athletics and culture, imaginable bans connected Israel’s information by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Eurovision are reported to beryllium successful uncertainty pursuing the US-imposed ceasefire.

“Israel is anxious to normalise relations with Europe and its different Western allies,” Levy said. “The existent communicative [in Israel] emphasises that, with the ceasefire, Israel is nary longer isolating itself, that Hamas is contained, and that planetary sentiment has swung successful its favour.”

“In galore respects, Israel and the Western governmental constitution stock this extremity of quieting nationalist dissent,” helium said, earlier noting that portion Western governments whitethorn beryllium anxious for rapprochement, their publics whitethorn not. “The taste and nationalist zeitgeist has shifted. Increasingly, radical volition not judge the communicative that ‘everything is fine’ oregon that authorities complicity successful structural unit and genocide is acceptable.”

Toleration of violence 

With nary drastic reappraisal of Israel’s interior policies towards Palestinians oregon the occupied West Bank likely, analysts specified arsenic Royal United Services Institute’s HA Hellyer suggested that lawmakers successful the West and beyond whitethorn beryllium preparing for a instrumentality to relations akin to the play pursuing the Oslo Accords successful the 1990s.

The accords were expected to yet bring astir a Palestinian state, but arsenic Israeli intransigence made that progressively improbable successful the years that followed, Western rhetoric shifted from claiming outright enactment for the two-state solution to supporting the process towards it.

“I deliberation we tin spot a akin signifier ahead,” Hellyer said, “as agelong arsenic the unit is beneath a definite level, it volition beryllium acceptable.”

Displaced Palestinians, including children, returning to their homes aft the ceasefire statement locomotion among the destroyed buildings successful the Israeli attacks connected October 12, 2025, successful the Sabra neighbourhood successful confederate Gaza City, Gaza [Khames Alrefi/Anadolu]

“For now, the absorption volition beryllium moving rubble and rebuilding; not connected the information that fractional of Gaza remains off-limits to each Palestinians isolated from collaborators and the different fractional remains nether occupation,” helium told Al Jazeera from Washington.

However, portion lawmakers – wary of US unit and, for some, their ain country’s imaginable complicity successful Israel’s genocide – whitethorn beryllium anxious for a instrumentality to pre-war detente, among the public, particularly the young, 2 years of carnage successful Gaza person produced a seismic shift.

“Public attitudes person changed,” Levy said. “More and much radical are refusing to judge the communicative that ‘everything is fine’ oregon that authorities complicity successful systemic unit and atrocities is acceptable.

“The world connected the crushed – Israel’s ongoing dehumanisation of Palestinians, its structural violence, and harsh concern – gives radical plentifulness of crushed to talk out.”

However, for the remaining colonisation of Gaza, inactive suffering from hunger and Israeli attacks, the implications of immoderate planetary rehabilitation of Israel carries acold much contiguous consequences.

“People volition determination on, not conscionable successful Israel, but for the galore states who weren’t excessively acrophobic astir the genocide oregon privation to debar questions implicit their complicity successful it,” Shalev said.

“It’s not lone that that’s immoral,” helium added, “it conscionable doesn’t work. The victims are not going to conscionable locomotion away. Organisations specified arsenic ours, oregon anyone who cares astir humanity isn’t going to locomotion away. The victims can’t forget.”