Will Israel ever get blowback for bombing its neighbours?

Of course, the Israelis point to their justifications for the attacks on Syria – principally, in Israel’s telling, to defend the Syrian Druze minority. A US-brokered ceasefire has taken effect, but whether it holds remains to be seen.

In Lebanon, Israel claimed it wanted to stop the threat posed by Hezbollah.

The attacks on Iran, it said, were to end that country’s attempt to build a nuclear bomb.

And in Yemen, Israel’s bombing was a response to attacks from the country’s Houthi rebels.

Explanations aside, the question becomes whether the Israelis can continue to act in a manner that has many around the world, and particularly in the Middle East, seeing them as the aggressor.

Impunity over relationship-building
The Israeli argument is that all these conflicts – and the more than 58,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza – are necessary because Israel faces an existential battle that it has no choice but to win.

The Israeli government, in its current far-right makeup, at least, does not seem to care if its neighbours do not like it. Rather, it seems to care that they fear it.

And as the most powerful military force in the region, with the backing of the most powerful military force in the world, the Israelis feel that they can largely do what they want.Israel is taking advantage of a weakening international order and a moment of flux in the way the world is run, particularly with the United States under President Donald Trump openly moving towards a more transactional foreign policy.

Western countries had previously attempted to maintain the idea of a liberal international order, where institutions such as the United Nations ensure that international law is followed.

But Israel’s actions, over decades, have made it increasingly hard to maintain the pretence.

The world has been unable to stop Israel from continuing its occupation of Palestinian land, even though it is illegal under international law.

Settlements continue to be built and expanded in the West Bank, and settlers continue to kill unarmed Palestinians.

Human rights organisations and international bodies have found that Israel has repeatedly violated the rules of war in its conduct in Gaza, and have accused the country of committing genocide, but can do little more.