Impotence comes in many forms. As massacres, starvation, and dispossession unfold daily in Gaza with medieval brutality, international hand-wringing over Israel’s conduct has become its own farce. The global chorus calling for an end to the war grows louder—even among Israel’s allies—yet these voices remain largely performative. Words serve as balm for a wounded conscience but fail to stop the bleeding on the ground.

The latest installment of such moral theatre came on July 21, when 28 international partners—27 foreign ministers from Europe and one eager EU commissioner—issued a joint statement urging an end to the war in Gaza. Australia abstained, but otherwise, the cast was predictably Western. “We, the signatories listed below,” it read, “come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now.”

What followed was a familiar litany of platitudes. “The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.” The “drip feeding of aid and inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of food and water” was denounced, albeit in oddly sterile terms. The deaths of more than 800 Palestinians in pursuit of humanitarian aid were described as “horrifying.” Yet even here, the language felt curiously muted. Israel’s obstruction of essential assistance was deemed “unacceptable,” and a bland appeal was made for compliance with international humanitarian law.

The statement called on Israel to restore the flow of aid and permit the UN and NGOs to resume their work in the Strip—objectives the Netanyahu government has systematically resisted as part of what amounts to a policy of engineered deprivation.

In the spirit of balance, the document also expressed concern for the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, calling for their immediate and unconditional release, and argued that a negotiated ceasefire was the surest path to securing it.

To the signatories’ credit, the statement acknowledged Israel’s incremental attempts to redraw the region’s demographic and territorial boundaries. The E1 settlement plan—if realized—would bisect any viable Palestinian state, a direct violation of international law and a critical blow to the ever-fading two-state solution. Violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was also condemned, with the group urging a halt to settlement expansion and settler-led violence.

But these statements are often most revealing in their omissions. There were no concrete consequences proposed for Israel’s actions. No sanctions, no suspensions of arms sales, no referrals to international courts—just a soft exhortation for “a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end.” At most, the group dangled the possibility of “further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.” That could hint at eventual recognition of Palestinian statehood—but such promises ring hollow amid Gaza’s ongoing devastation.

Crucially, Germany and the United States—arguably the most influential players in Israel’s corner—were conspicuously absent from the list. The omission was not lost on observers.

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, gave us a flavour of feelings in Washington about the signatories in a post on X. “How embarrassing for a nation to side [with] a terror group like Hamas & blame a nation whose civilians were massacred for fighting to get hostages released.” In another post that made a vague shot at justifying the unjustifiable, the ambassador absolved Israel in its conduct; only the militant group Hamas deserved exclusive blame. The nations in question had “put pressure on @Israel instead of savages of Hamas! Gaza suffers for 1 reason: Hamas rejects EVERY proposal. Blaming Israel is irrational.”

The Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar, ever lurking in the twilight of alternative reality, reasoned the statement away, much as relatives would the views of a demented, unloved aunt. “If Hamas embraces you – you are in the wrong place.” Praise from the group was itself “proof of the mistake they [the signatory countries] made – part of them out of good intentions and part of them out of an obsession against Israel.”

While diplomats in Brussels and other European capitals paraded their humanitarian convictions, the Israeli Defense Forces were reportedly initiating operations in Deir al-Balah, one of the few remaining humanitarian hubs in Gaza still housing UN personnel. More violence appeared imminent.

Till Israel assumes the status of a pariah state it seemingly craves to become, its rogue army confined and depleted, its economy humbled and isolated, the industrial appetite for slaughter and dispossession will only continue. The Palestinians will be left to be relics of moral anguish, banished to the footnotes of bloodied history along with many more statements of concern and sheer impotence.