There is a troubling anomaly in contemporary geopolitical architecture that defies the usual categories of political analysis: Israel. Not the Israel of original Zionist aspirations, nor that of the kibbutzim and socialist pioneers, but this political entity that has gradually established itself outside the norms governing the community of nations, building its identity on permanent exception.
For that is what it is: a state that has methodically placed itself above international law, not by accident or negligence, but by strategic calculation. This position of legal extraterritoriality is accompanied by an even more disturbing phenomenon: the complacency, even active complicity, of an international community that has chosen to look the other way. It is as if the West’s historical guilt towards the Jewish people has created a zone of moral impunity where common rules no longer apply.
This architecture of exception feeds on a constant reversal of humanitarian principles. Where other nations see their actions scrutinized, weighed, and sanctioned, Israel has managed to transform its transgressions into legitimizations of its security policy. Human rights thus become a variable instrument: sacred when they concern Israeli citizens, negotiable or trampled upon when they affect the Palestinian population.
Even more troubling, this state seems to know no other language than that of force. Not force as a last resort of exhausted diplomacy, but violence as the preferred mode of political communication. This culture of fire, elevated to a doctrine, reveals a particularly brutal conception of international relations in which the balance of power systematically supplants the law.
Hypocrisy reaches its peak in this remarkable ability to forbid others what one shamelessly allows oneself. Denouncing regional nuclear programs while developing its own atomic arsenal, condemning “terrorism” while practicing targeted assassination, demanding recognition while refusing to acknowledge the political existence of others: this double standard is the very DNA of contemporary Israeli politics.
But it is perhaps in the art of lying and propaganda that this singularity reaches its highest level of refinement. The remarkably effective Israeli media machine has succeeded in imposing its narratives far beyond its borders, transforming aggressors into victims, occupiers into resistance fighters, and violations of international law into acts of self-defense. This systematic semantic inversion reveals a consummate mastery of information warfare that far exceeds the capabilities of most contemporary states.
And this is where the contradiction becomes most striking: this political entity, which methodically flouts fundamental democratic principles—respect for minorities, equality before the law, recognition of the rights of the opposition—continues to claim the democratic label with astonishing confidence. This lexical misappropriation reveals more than mere manipulation: it testifies to an authoritarian drift that borrows the trappings of democracy in order to better empty it of its substance.
Behind the façade of parliamentary institutions and regular elections lies a political system that displays all the hallmarks of contemporary fascism: the cult of force, the dehumanization of opponents, the exploitation of fear, the militarization of civil society, and the gradual restriction of civil liberties. This fascism is all the more disturbing because it cloaks itself in the garb of democratic modernity and enjoys the unconditional protection of Western powers.
This Israeli anomaly fundamentally challenges our era. It reveals the gaping flaws in an international order that proves incapable of enforcing its own principles when power relations come into play. Above all, it demonstrates that democracy, when it loses its moral and legal safeguards, can become the most effective mask for modern tyranny.
The time for diplomatic euphemisms and complacent accommodations is over. We must call a spade a spade and recognize that what is at stake in the Middle East goes far beyond the Palestinian question: it is the very future of the international legal order that is at stake.
Flagrant violations of UN resolutions
Security Council Resolution 242, adopted in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967, remains the most emblematic example of this institutional defiance. By demanding the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the occupied territories, this resolution established a clear legal framework that Tel Aviv has chosen to ignore with remarkable consistency. The ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights thus constitutes a direct violation of international law, transforming a military exception into a territorial fait accompli.
Violations of international humanitarian law
Israel’s military operations, particularly those affecting Gaza and the West Bank, have regularly crossed the red lines established by the Geneva Conventions. The 2004 Rafah operation, sanctioned by Security Council Resolution 1544, illustrates this drift: massive destruction of civilian homes, forced displacement of populations, disproportionate use of force. These practices reveal an instrumental conception of the law of war, where security imperatives justify the abandonment of the most basic humanitarian principles.
Systematic violations of sovereign airspace
Added to these transgressions is a particularly worrying dimension: the constant and repeated violation of the airspace of sovereign countries in the region. Israeli military aircraft regularly fly over Lebanese territory, carrying out daily incursions that constitute violations of Lebanon’s national sovereignty. These violations of airspace, documented by UNIFIL and repeatedly denounced by Beirut, are part of a logic of regional domination that flouts international air law.
Similarly, Syrian airspace is subject to recurrent intrusions, often followed by military strikes against targets chosen unilaterally by Tel Aviv. This practice transforms the Israeli air force into an instrument of foreign policy that disregards all international legitimacy, imposing its will by force in total disregard for the sovereignty of neighboring states.
Prison opacity and the treatment of prisoners
The Israeli prison system also reveals profound shortcomings in terms of respect for fundamental rights. The conditions of detention of Palestinian prisoners, documented by numerous human rights organizations, contravene the international standards established by the Geneva Conventions. Prolonged administrative detention, poor sanitary conditions, and restrictions on visiting rights are all practices that reflect a punitive approach to justice that goes far beyond what is legally permissible.
Information lockdown
Israel’s attitude toward the international media and investigative bodies reveals a deliberate desire to escape democratic scrutiny. The restrictions imposed on journalists, particularly blatant during military operations in Gaza, constitute a clear obstacle to press freedom. This calculated opacity aims to shield Israeli military action from the critical gaze of the international community, creating a veil of impunity that facilitates the perpetuation of violations.
Nuclear ambiguity and non-proliferation
Finally, the nuclear issue perfectly illustrates this logic of exception that Israel grants itself. By refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty while developing an atomic arsenal, the Jewish state deliberately places itself outside the international disarmament regime. This “nuclear opacity” constitutes an anomaly in the international security architecture, creating a dangerous precedent for regional stability.
This accumulation of violations reveals more than a series of isolated incidents: it outlines a systematic policy that places reasons of state above international law. In a world where the legitimacy of state actions increasingly depends on their compliance with international norms, this exceptional stance fundamentally calls into question the international community’s ability to enforce its own rules and, above all, excludes Israel from the international community.