Turkey halts trade with Israel, tensions are stirring in Saudi Arabia, and in the US, pro-Palestinian protests are spreading across campuses and deep into campaign politics.
Seven months in, the ripple effects of the Israel-Hamas war are showing no signs of abating. After upending assumptions about Middle East security and disrupting Red Sea trade, a conflict which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians and has put Israel and Iran in direct confrontation is now reshaping events further afield.
In Turkey, where a halt on all trade went into effect yesterday, officials said the policy would continue until Israel allows uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The move adds to already high-running tensions between the once-close allies as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan steps up criticism to try to consolidate his conservative base.
That’s in part because the war has boosted the profile of one of his opponents: Islamist politician Fatih Erbakan. This week Erbakan added his voice to those demanding the shutdown of the Kurecik radar installation, a NATO defense system he says is used to support Israel’s defenses.
In Saudi Arabia, where the war in Gaza has resurfaced debate over tentative ties with Israel and the Palestinian cause, authorities have stepped up the arrest of citizens for social-media posts related to it.
And yesterday, US President Joe Biden broke his silence over the campus rallies, saying that “there’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos” and no room for antisemitism or Islamophobia.
Biden faces a challenge in mobilizing young voters and progressives dismayed by his support for Israel to bolster his chances in November’s presidential election.
The unrest has led to nearly 2,000 arrests at dozens of academic institutions and has put a faraway war on the US political agenda.
Biden’s only comfort is that he is not alone in feeling the heat. — Sylvia Westall