Le Monde: The Time Has Come to End Israel’s Impunity

Watan-The French newspaper Le Monde stated in its editorial that it is necessary to say clearly: what is happening in Gaza is unacceptable. But this must be accompanied by the acknowledgment that many of Israel’s allies no longer share anything in common with Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which has chosen a path that places Israeli authorities outside the circle of nations that respect human rights.

In the editorial titled “The Time Has Come to End Israel’s Impunity,” Le Monde asserts that the accumulation of inciteful rhetoric inevitably turns into policy. It accuses Israeli authorities, particularly Prime Minister Netanyahu, of pursuing a course that removes Israel from the community of human rights–respecting nations—through his promises to “destroy” Gaza, his declaration that nothing will stop the war, his commitment to use “all the power” of the Israeli army, and his stated aim of “emptying” Gaza of its population, with half of all Palestinians being forcibly displaced from a region that has been deliberately and systematically rendered uninhabitable.

And this is not mere rhetoric, the paper adds. There is a deliberate use of starvation as a weapon, alongside a unilateral campaign—under the pretext of fighting Hamas—of massacres against Palestinian civilians under U.S.-supplied bombs. Thousands of children have been killed, paralyzed, or denied essential care. Forced displacement has resumed, pushing residents into falsely labeled “safe zones.”

These facts, coupled with the inciting declarations, only increase the likelihood that the situation will ultimately be classified as genocide by international justice—the only body legally authorized to make that determination.

According to Le Monde, the time for unconditional solidarity with a state that was attacked on October 7 has passed. It is now imperative to openly and firmly oppose the most extremist coalition in Israel’s history—a coalition bent on realizing the “Greater Israel” project, which erases all hope of Palestinian self-determination.

Everything points in this direction: the plans for Gaza, the intensifying settler violence in the occupied West Bank—shielded by an Israeli army that has lost its moral compass—and the recent full takeover of land registration across most of the West Bank, clearly signaling annexation.

Netanyahu’s coalition, says the paper, does not hide its agenda—it flaunts it. Yet it continues to benefit from a level of international leniency that can now only be described as complicity. In the face of this political bulldozer, public reaction has largely been marked by total inaction, especially from those who still claim to support a future Palestinian state—even as the land for that state vanishes before their eyes.

Le Monde: Empty Words Won’t Stop Gaza Tragedy—It’s Time for Sanctions and Real Consequences

Le Monde acknowledges Hamas’s role in this tragedy and admits the Palestinian camp is far from beyond criticism. But it insists that Palestinian political forces have been deliberately weakened to the point of irrelevance. What’s happening in Gaza is, in the words of French President Emmanuel Macron, “a disgrace.”

However, such statements are meaningless unless they are matched with action. That means recognizing that Israel’s government no longer represents shared democratic values and can no longer enjoy blanket impunity.

The editorial closes by referencing the May 19 joint statement by Canada, France, and the UK threatening “concrete measures”—a first step, but insufficient. The next step must be the implementation of sanctions and the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which is based on “respect for human rights and democratic principles” and is now due for review.

To end the humanitarian catastrophe, save the Palestinian national project, and protect Israel from its own self-destruction, the editorial concludes, Israel’s chosen path must carry a heavy price.