Israel puts a target on the back of the rules-based order

Israel suggests those seeking to enforce international law on Gaza will meet the fate of a destroyed Iranian warship.

In a post from its official X account yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs directed a message towards The Hague Group, a growing coalition of sovereign states – including South Africa, Colombia, and Malaysia – that were meeting in an emergency session in The Hague to discuss the enforcement of international law and accountability for actions in Gaza. The Israeli ministry posted an image of 40 assembled nations alongside a photograph of thick black smoke rising from a targeted Iranian vessel, sunk earlier that same day. Part of the caption read: “We can expect the outcome of the Hague meeting to be as successful as Iran’s navy.”

The post was published on an official government account and has not been retracted. It references an active military operation. When announcing the strikes, President Trump told the Iranian people that the government would be “yours to take” once the bombing was finished.