How Benjamin Netanyahu Turned 'Israel' into a Rogue and Crazy State

The Israeli occupation has not only waged a fierce war on Gaza over the past year, which has so far resulted in more than 145,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, but has also gone beyond that to adopt a blatantly hostile approach towards international and UN institutions.

The Israeli war on Gaza has sparked successive calls and demands from UN officials to take a decisive stance towards the Israeli government, reaching the point of demanding the suspension of its membership in the UN.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Francesca Albanese, recently recommended considering the suspension of Israel’s membership in the UN and declaring it an apartheid state, due to the systematic genocide it is committing against the Palestinians.

She said in a report she submitted to the UN that “Israel” is not only committing war crimes in Gaza, but is also committing systematic genocide in the form of a project aimed at erasing the Palestinians from existence in order to establish the so-called “Greater Israel”.

Systematic Targeting

“Israel” has repeatedly violated UN resolutions and treaties, including the genocide convention during its war on Gaza. Some UN officials have accused “Israel” of committing war crimes. 

“Israel” has also come into direct conflict with UN agencies – some 230 UN personnel have been killed during the offensive, and many governments and UN officials have alleged that Israel deliberately targeted UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

But the enmity between “Israel” and the UN came to a head on October 28, when the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, banned the UNRWA from operating inside “Israel”, sparking a wave of condemnation.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that the decision to ban our activities is unprecedented, sets a dangerous precedent, and contradicts the UN Charter.

Commenting on the ban on UNRWA activities, The Guardian said that banning UNRWA without finding an alternative would only paralyze the aid provided to the Palestinians in times of hardship.

In its editorial, the newspaper described the decision as a largely irresponsible step on the part of Israeli lawmakers.

It added that the right-wing Israeli government shows blatant disdain for international standards governing human rights, conflicts, and diplomacy, making “Israel” a rogue state.

It is noteworthy that the UN considers the Gaza Strip to be a territory occupied by “Israel”, and international law obliges the occupying power to approve and facilitate relief programs for those who deserve them by all means available to it.

On the other hand, “Israel” systematically targeted members of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) following its ground invasion of Lebanon last month.

Recently published reports have documented how the Israeli army forcibly stormed a UNIFIL base in Lebanon, and is suspected of using incendiary white phosphorus near the peacekeeping forces, at a distance sufficient to injure 15 of its personnel.

Reports indicated that the Israeli army began firing directly at UNIFIL bases after October 8.

UNIFIL provided photos documenting the damage to its forces’ bunkers, watchtowers, and several of its bases.

Legal experts have confirmed that the recent Israeli attacks on the UNIFIL constitute a violation of international law.

Israeli hostility and contempt were not limited to the UN institutions, but extended to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

A few days ago, Guterres condemned the Israeli attack on the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, which led to a horrific massacre in which a large number of Palestinian civilians were killed.

In September, he issued a report indicating a worrying increase in Israeli settlements inside the occupied Palestinian territories and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

However, these positions in support of Palestinian rights were met with a storm of angry reactions from “Israel”.

Earlier last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz decided to declare Guterres persona non grata in “Israel”, after Tel Aviv considered that Guterres had failed to condemn the Iranian attack that targeted military sites in the occupied Palestinian territories on October 1.

After Operation al-Aqsa Flood, “Israel” expressed its anger at the UN official’s statements in support of the Palestinians.

The Israeli government did not stop at demanding Guterres’ resignation, but also announced that it would refuse to grant visas to UN employees in response.

It is worth noting that it has been more than 6 decades since any country in the world dared to make the UN Secretary-General persona non grata.

Legal Challenges

In the same context, the Israeli government and its ally the United States challenged the jurisdiction of the ICC after its prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested, last May, to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Army Minister Yoav Gallant.

On May 20, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that his administration rejects the equality between Hamas and Israel in this case, and that the court has no jurisdiction, and the Israeli government presented similar arguments.

In September 2024, the Israeli government submitted two legal memoranda to the ICC, challenging the legitimacy of the arrest warrant requests against Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as the jurisdiction of the court.

The intensity of the Israeli attack on the ICC did not stop there, as 12 members of the US Congress sent a threatening letter to Karim Khan to prevent him from making the expected decision to arrest Israeli officials.

Investigations published by The Guardian and +972 magazine on May 28 revealed that the ICC has been subjected to a nine-year campaign of espionage and threats by Israeli intelligence services.

Legal experts commented on the news by saying that the efforts of Israeli intelligence agencies to undermine and influence the ICC could amount to crimes against justice.

In a previous interview, Karim Khan revealed that ICC officials had received personal threats from supporters of “Israel”.

Netanyahu's Madness

As the brutal Israeli war on Gaza continues, the problem of curbing the Israeli occupation has risen to a critical level, especially with the continued Western support for the Israeli government since October 7, 2023, indifferent to its violations that have crossed all limits.

Despite the high costs internally and externally, and the serious repercussions that cast their shadows regionally and internationally, “Israel”, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, continues its war on Gaza and Lebanon, threatening Iran and Yemen, and increasing regional tensions, in clear disregard for the simplest principles of international relations, and amid broad US and European support.

According to observers, given Israeli policies and practices, especially after Operation Al-Aqsa flood, “Israel” can be considered a pariah rogue state and a crazy state in the field of international relations.

According to many criteria, “Israel” is an ideal model of a rogue state, given its practices and regular, continuous violations of international laws, charters and human rights, in addition to its negative interactions with its regional environment.

In a Western-dominated international system, the veto power that the United States wields against any UN resolutions against “Israel” is a blatant example of preventing it from being classified as a pariah state on the international scene.

Many say that the ongoing Israeli escalation in Gaza and the region is due to Netanyahu's desire to continue the war because that ensures he maintains his power for as long as possible.

But political analyst Ismail Maslamani explained in a statement to Al-Estiklal that Israeli practices stem from a carefully studied and precise strategy called the absolute madness strategy, a strategic concept originally associated with US President Richard Nixon, who embodied Machiavelli’s theory of acting madly.

“For decades, the Israeli occupation has been deliberately destabilizing the region and acting in an unexpected manner, which makes opponents afraid to take bold steps against those who adopt this hysterical approach,” he said.

On the other hand, the support of Western allies for “Israel” provides additional cover for adopting reckless strategies, without any repercussions, based on the fact that any escalation against it will have unexpected consequences on the international level, according to Mr. Maslamani.

He concluded by saying: “Israel, with its current actions, is a rogue and pariah state, and the strategy of absolute madness that it follows will ultimately have dire consequences, and if it is not controlled and curbed, it will lead the region to a large-scale war, and will be a cause of global instability.”