By Adem Kılıç, political scientist
Beginning on October 7, 2023, Israel’s attacks on Palestine continued throughout 2024 and took their place in the pages of history as a process that caused massive destruction, ethnic cleansing, starvation and genocide, especially along the Gaza Strip.
While the US’s “unconditional” support for Israel virtually locked the international institutions and the international system, especially the UNSC, the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in 2024 against Netanyahu, the main perpetrator of the genocide, was a glimmer of hope that global conscience still exists in such an environment.
On the other hand, Netanyahu and Israel’s far-right ministers have continued to say that the attacks on Palestine will continue, and even that steps will be taken to legitimize the occupation and lead to annexation.
To date, more than 45,000 innocent people, mostly women and children, have been massacred by Israeli occupation forces, and international reports estimate that many more are still under the rubble.
Throughout 2024, there have been numerous brutal attacks by Israel, from the massacre of Palestinians waiting for an aid convoy, which will go down in history as the “flour massacre”, to hospitals, bakeries, markets, power grids, water stations and refugee camps.
Israeli atrocities have even extended to the murder of international aid workers from the World Central Kitchen, UNWRA, a UN agency, and 201 members of the press.
On the other hand, the State of Palestine, recognized as a state by more than 130 countries around the world, is not allowed to establish an army, while Hamas, which has been defending the people of Gaza against half a century of Israeli aggression, continues to be defined as a so-called terrorist organization.
What awaits Palestine in 2025?
First of all, emboldened by Trump’s return to the White House, the Netanyahu administration and its far-right ministers have begun to define 2025 as a year of “annexation” and “victory”. Trump, who in his previous term declared Jerusalem the so-called capital of Israel, recognized the occupied Golan Heights as so-called Israeli territory and signed the Abraham Accords for Israel’s so-called security, will undoubtedly act as Israel’s patron in 2025 and seek to deepen his relationship with Israel.
However, Israel’s diplomatic isolation will continue to increase and 2025 will be the year of saying “stop” to this mentality. Israel’s isolation at the UN, which does not implement about 30 different international resolutions and continues its 57-year occupation of Palestine, will increase even more. However, it is critical that people of conscience around the world raise their voices. Throughout 2024, the protests that spread to universities in the US and all over Europe should continue.
On the first day of 2025, the march against Israeli oppression, which will take place in Istanbul under the slogan “Yesterday Hagia Sophia, Today Umayyad, Tomorrow Aqsa”, will set an example for people of conscience around the world.
In this march, 308 different non-governmental organizations and thousands of people will condemn the Israeli oppression and raise their voices for human rights in an environment where the West has lost its moral value, and international institutions have lost their functionality. We hope that this wave will spread all over the world and that the year 2025 will be a year in which Israel will not be able to achieve military victory, but also a year in which it will be isolated and held accountable by the international community. This is the only way to pave the way for Israel to account for its brutal massacres.