"All Options Are On the Table" Making Israel Pay

Decades of experience shows that Western rebukes of Israel are like so much water on a duck's back.   Israel simply ignores them, mutters the usual garbage about self-defence, and continues to do as it damn well pleases.   The West goes on with its business, Israel goes on with its business and nothing changes except to get worse.

Israel's groundless and brutal retaliation against the Palestinians to punish them for the U.N. General Assembly's vote giving Palestine nominal recognition may finally have crossed the line.   The patience of Israel's traditional allies may have run out.

“This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel,” a senior European diplomat said.

Sky News confirmed that the British government was considering severe actions over the matter, quoting sources in the Foreign Office on Monday as saying: "All options are on the table," adding that there was an "appetite for action" within the bureau, and that officials may consider "revisiting" or even suspending EU trade agreements with Israel, based on human rights clauses. ...

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s decision Friday to move ahead on planning in E1 and to build 3,000 housing units in the settlement blocs and in East Jerusalem, has apparently shocked the foreign ministries and the leaders in London and Paris. Not only do Britain and France view construction in E1 as a “red line,” they are reportedly angry because they view Israel as having responded ungratefully to the support the two countries gave it during the recent Gaza operation.

If Israel wants to act outside international law, it deserves to be treated as an outlaw state.   Just because we have treated it as an ally doesn't mean it deserves our indulgence at any cost.