France and Britain change their tune

Although Israel has faced a lot of criticism from the international media since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, it has still been able to count on Western governments for support and Arab states for silence. But starting Monday, after what has been described as a "massacre" at a U.N. school in Rafah on Sunday, things changed.

"Israel's right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the slaughter of civilians," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking out harshly against Israel as journalists around the world reported extensively on the bombing of the school that killed 10 and injured 30.

It was the third incident of its kind, as reported in the international media, leading to widespread condemnations and perhaps explaining why politicians, and not just the public and the press, have changed their tune regarding Jerusalem. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who already condemned Israeli attacks on schools in the past, did not name Israel this time, but called the incident a "moral outrage and a criminal act."

France sided with Israel in the early stages of the conflict, leading French President Francois Hollande to be condemned by his country's Left. However, Paris has also started changing its tune. Fabius said Monday that world powers should impose a political solution to end the fighting in Gaza and to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole.

"The two parties, despite countless attempts, have unfortunately proved unable to conclude the negotiation," he said. The French Foreign Ministry has been talking about imposing a solution since the Second Intifada. Hollande, who is losing popularity in his country, called the U.N. school bombing "unacceptable."

'Impose an embargo'

Britain too has changed its tune. British Prime Minister David Cameron has avoided criticizing Israel since the beginning of the campaign. However, after The Independent newspaper published an article about the sale of British parts to Israel for drones that are used in the Gaza Strip, the British government announced that it will examine contracts worth 8 billion pounds ($13 billion) between British arms manufacturers and Israel to ensure that Israel is not using British-made weapons in Gaza. Meanwhile, the British opposition is calling for an immediate arms embargo on Israel.

"I think the U.N. is right to speak out in the way that it has, because international law is very clear that there must not be the targeting of civilians or the targeting of schools if that is what has happened," Cameron said.

Speaking about the incident, Ban said, "This madness must stop." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, "The savage aggression by the army of this child-killer regime [Israel], continues with a deliberate policy to commit genocide and massacre civilians and destroy infrastructure, houses, hospitals, schools and mosques."

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