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Unlike the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council has no power to enforce its resolutions. He can neither impose binding economic sanctions nor use military force. So his demands are essentially appeals.
What is crucial is whether those states that are currently supplying Israel with military equipment are ending their deliveries out of their own conviction or due to political and diplomatic pressure. Individual countries, such as the Netherlands and Canada, have already done this, and Great Britain is considering it. However, the decisive factors would be the USA, which alone accounts for almost seventy percent of Israel’s arms imports, and Germany, by far the two most important suppliers. Last but not least, Israel procures combat aircraft, precision bombs and missiles from the USA, and submarines, among other things, from Germany.
Anger over Netanyahu’s actions is growing
What was striking was that the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva explained why her country rejected the arms embargo resolution, but at the same time she clearly criticized the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Shortly before that, US President Joe Biden had announced for the first time the consequences for supporting Israel if it no longer took civilians into account in its war against the terrorist organization Hamas and made it easier to provide humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. Biden did not say what support would be cut, how quickly and whether there might be less arms aid. But his anger at Netanyahu’s actions is clearly growing.
If the arms embargo called for by the UN Human Rights Council were fully respected, it would have serious consequences for Israel’s defense capacity. The country itself has a highly developed arms industry and is even an important arms exporter. But it is economically senseless and technologically demanding for a small country to develop and produce all types of weapons on its own. A transition to completely independent armaments could not be achieved overnight.
Signal to Israel
The most important signal sent by the Human Rights Council resolution is not a military one, but rather a political one. And this should be disturbing from an Israeli perspective. The decision was extremely clear. Even numerous western and democratic states agreed to the resolution, such as Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Chile. And the number of those who abstained is even larger, including France, the Netherlands, Japan, Romania and Lithuania.
The longer the Gaza war lasts and Israel wages it using current means, the more countries distance themselves from Israel. Or at least to its current leadership.