Continuing Gaza crisis poses quandary for the West

"Be on the right side of history."

Those words are sometimes heard in the United States. They serve as a reminder that when history judges the people involved in a conflict, including analyzing what they said or did, or which side they supported, it will be impartial: Those who fought the good fight will be honored; those who did not will face an ignominious sentence.

As the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continues — it has lasted well over 100 days and shows no sign of ending — it is a legitimate question to ask which nations will be "on the right side of history".

One nation — South Africa — has made clear what it sees as being on the right side when history issues its judgment. Representatives from that country recently made the case to the International Court of Justice that Israel had violated the Geneva Convention and was committing genocide in Gaza as it carries out its military onslaught on the enclave.

Of course, Israel views its actions there differently.

The international court's interim ruling was not a full victory for the South African delegation, which had sought a declaration ordering an immediate cease-fire. Nevertheless, the court's judges did affirm that Israel had to do more to prevent potential genocide, had to stop the destruction of any evidence that might suggest genocide had taken place, and had to allow humanitarian efforts to be implemented without interruption.

Israel was also ordered to return to the ICJ in one month to verify that it was following through on these and other issued orders.

Although the ICJ has no mechanism to enforce its ruling or any future rulings, South Africa could ask the United Nations Security Council to support the ICJ's decisions and seek their enforcement. Should that happen, US President Joe Biden would face a conundrum: support the UN Security Council and end its support of the actions of one of its closest allies, or vote against any Security Council declarations and risk being defined as endorsing Israel's actions.

The US president should then ask himself which decision would "be on the right side of history".

That quandary would not be limited to Biden, of course. As CNN recently reported, the US and its allies are not unified in their response to the ICJ's order. The report said: "Reactions from the Global North to the ICJ case have been mixed. While some nations have maintained a cautious diplomatic stance, others, particularly Israel's staunchest allies in the West, have criticized South Africa's move." The US and the United Kingdom have been the most prominent in the latter camp.

Meanwhile, we should also recognize that there is another issue at stake here. The waning influence of the US and the West throughout the developing Global South helps to explain why South Africa was confident enough to demand that Israel be held accountable for what has happened so far in Gaza.

Without question, while the West seems confused about what to do next, many countries of the Global South support South Africa. One of the reasons is the legacy of struggle against apartheid in that country, while the other is the history of oppression by the West throughout the Global South. South Africa has validated ridding itself of apartheid and now wants no other nation to ever conduct activities that would equate to that awful form of racism and hatred.

Throughout the Global South, memories are long. Whether reflecting on US actions in Latin America, British actions in South Asia or French actions in Africa (to name just three broad examples), one conclusion continues to be reached: The dominant powers increased their wealth at the expense of the poorer nations.

According to a study published in New Political Economy in 2021, the Global North, roughly defined as the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea and well-to-do Europe, beginning in 1960 and continuing through 2020, pilfered" $62 trillion in real terms. If this value had been retained by the South and contributed to Southern growth, tracking with the South's growth rates over this period, it would be worth $152 trillion today". The continuing extraction of valuable raw materials, combined with rampant poor wage scales in the Global South, guarantees that the conquest will continue.

Furthermore, the West's influence over the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund assures that it will retain control over the Global South.

As a result, any claims from these nations suggesting that Israel will "be on the right side of history" are mocked.

One is left to wonder how Western leaders think history will judge them.

The author is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and Organizational Leadership at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania.