Gaza: Sanctions now against Netanyahu's plan

Tens of thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv, 100,000 according to the Hostage Families Forum, protested the cynical and tragic decision of Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right accomplices to launch a new phase of military operations in Gaza. "We are not going to occupy Gaza ," the Israeli prime minister dared to assert, "we are going to liberate Gaza from Hamas."

This is false, and the protesters have largely understood this, this time in line with international opinion. Not only will this not be the end of Hamas, but it will further worsen the fate of the hostages, even to the point of death, and, under armed surveillance, subject 2 million men, women, and children to abominable torture in an open-air prison.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Secretary-General say no different, for whom this new escalation "will lead to more forced displacement, more killings, more unbearable suffering, more senseless destruction, and more atrocities." But Netanyahu and his entourage cannot ignore this, since it is their goal: to take total control of Gaza. Let us remember Donald Trump's vision, which wants to turn the Palestinian enclave into a Riviera. This must be said clearly. We are facing one of the most criminal enterprises in decades, in front of the entire world.

No one, no leader of any country, can say "we don't know." Germany, until now the European country most reluctant to condemn this policy, has decided to suspend its arms exports to Israel. This is very late after so many crimes, but after the decisions of France, England, and Canada to recognize the State of Palestine, it is a sign of a serious change of attitude.

This is not enough. With Donald Trump, the United States remains at the side of its ally, but the duty of public opinion is to make itself heard, the duty of states is to take the strongest sanctions to stop these plans of annihilation. Words are not enough.