The Israel-Hamas war is sowing strife in national capitals around the world

Although 999 of every 1,000 people on Earth live outside the theatre of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it has long had a hold on the public imagination stronger than that of many larger and deadlier conflicts.

Much of the world barely noticed the war that tore Ethiopia apart between 2020 and 2022, causing innumerable atrocities and hundreds of thousands of deaths. It featured rampages of murder and rape against civilians even deadlier than those Hamas perpetrated on October 7. It saw the bombing of cities and the deliberate starving of civilians.

The death toll of Ethiopia's war far exceeded that of the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict going back to 1948, combined with all of the Arab-Israeli wars since the foundation of the Jewish state. But the war in Ethiopia did not send foreign politicians into Twitter frenzies, divide campuses, or provoke outrage around the world. The communities decimated by that war struggled to get outsiders to notice what was happening.

An explosion in Gaza or Tel Aviv travels around the world in a way that one in Syria, Colombia, Congo or Myanmar does not. That's partly due to the wide dispersal of diaspora communities. It's also explained by the ideological dimensions that outsiders have attached to the conflict.

This war is proving to be no exception and its shock waves have rippled through all six inhabited continents.

The highest officials of the European Union have struggled to find a voice that represents all of their members.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been widely criticized by governments that felt her remarks on a trip to Israel following the Hamas massacres of October 7 gave the Netanyahu government a green light to break international law. She was also accused of showing more sympathy for Israeli victims than for Palestinians. 

European Council President Charles Michel complained that he was not consulted, or even informed, about von der Leyen's trip to Jerusalem.

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell seemed on Wednesday to reproach von der Leyen when he told the European Parliament that "the right to self-defence, like any other right, has limits. In this case, it's the limits set by international law and, in particular, by international humanitarian law."

"Condemning one tragedy shouldn't prevent us from condemning another tragedy," he went on. "Showing our sympathy for the victims of terrorist attacks shouldn't, and doesn't, prevent us from showing our feelings for the other dead."

Von der Leyen defended her stance. "I believe it was important to pass this message of solidarity in person, in Israel, just days after the Hamas attack," she said.

"Only if we acknowledge Israel's pain, and its right to defend itself, will we have the credibility to say that Israel should react as a democracy in line with international humanitarian law. And that it is crucial to protect civilian lives, even and especially in the middle of a war."

She also warned of a rise of antisemitism in Europe and said "it is our shared responsibility to make sure that our dark past does not return. We have to protect Jewish life in Europe."

EU leaders, who called an emergency meeting on Tuesday to try to reach consensus, have all stressed the need for Europe to speak in unison, but remained at odds Wednesday over what that message should be.