The Diminishing Power of Public Opinion

Are Israel the new Millwall FC?

No one likes us, we don’t care

Millwall FC football chant

The nation of Israel seems to have become the latest beneficaries of the attitude embodied by the much-feared fans of south London football club, Millwall FC.

It seems to have been the Israelis learning, over the decades, that the only way to deal with potential threats to their very existence is to meet them with absolute, crushing force. That it is necessary to utterly destroy the enemy. And that all humanitarian concerns must be put aside.

Faced with overwhelming global opinion demanding a ceasefire to the military action in Gaza, bar certain key players like the US, EU and UK, they appear quite unconcerned. Would it make any difference if those Western players demanded a ceasefire too, rather than a humanitarian pause? I’m not convinced that it would.

I wonder if we are actually witnessing a shift in the power of public opinion to shape the political landscape of our world?

In February 2022, when Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, within days I think that it is fair to say that 800 million Westerners were absolutely up in arms and hating on him and the Russian people. Did it make any difference to Putin or to the military action he was taking? Not visibly. Of course, outside the West there was little negativity towards Putin or Russia, and few sanctions neither.

I have been brought up to believe in a world where public opinion had impact. It mattered what we thought about a situation. This actually seems to me to be a cornerstone concept of Western democracy and our culture itself. People and their opinions matter. To be honest, I have long suspected that this seemingly caring state of affairs was somewhat stage-managed and applying only to those of us who lived in the West.

I think it’s a little early to say definitively whether a global shift has occurred. Perhaps Israel will yet bow to world opinion. But I’m feeling like equally they may not. And that stuff really is changing in our world.