Israel: A Rogue State?

  •   Wed, Jun 18 2025
  •   By Sunney Tharappan

June 18, 2025

It was in the middle of the 1990s that the phrase ‘rogue state’ came to be used first. The United States coined this term for a few countries which included Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, Syria under Assad, North Korea and Cuba. Evidently, these were countries which did not accept the supremacy of the United States, and some even threatened their plans for regulating them. The US waged wars against Iraq and Libya and got the two leaders killed and the two countries are still in miserable conditions as far as political stability is concerned. As for Syria, it is still in turmoil after the removal of Bashar Assad who sought political asylum in the USSR. North Korea is not easily defeatable for the US because it is under a one-man rule and Kim Jong Un is a despot and the Marxist side of the modern world supports him. Similarly, Cuba, despite being small, is a country which confronted the US and its supporters under Fidel Castro who threw Baptista, a tyrannical ruler. Cuba is still a developing country, though small. Therefore, all these countries which were considered “rogue states” were all on the opposite side of the United States and its approaches to other nations.

Indian politicians called Pakistan a rogue state though it did not qualify the term like Iraq or Libya, or for that matter, North Korea or Cuba or Syria. There is no doubt the term cannot be used, but for political gain by some Indian political parties, against Pakistan because most of the recent times, it has been a democratic republic though Islamic in structure and even philosophy. It does have a political system and does not interfere in the affairs of the other countries, except for a border issue with India in which it can be accused of housing terrorists and monitoring terrorist groups for its internal gains. Undoubtedly, Pakistan is a weak state from the points of view of financial stability, especially with a large number of people who live under extreme poor conditions. Also, its economic or military power is nowhere near a country like India though it has strong connections with China which India does not have.

In all its meanings and negative attributes, Israel could be the worst rogue state in the world at present, not the countries mentioned earlier. It has all the attributes of a rogue state that does not listen to world opinion. More importantly, it has inflicted the worst cruelty that has been exhibited by any country in the twenty-first century. Worst still is the inhumanity that it inflicted on ordinary people, with neither women nor children spared. The unreasonable ways in which it attacks schools and hospitals with children inside are unheard of in the history of the modern world after the world war. The fact that its homicides were done in a defenseless country of extremely poor and simple people is to be condemned with the choice of the worst words available. The way they stopped humanitarian aid for the suffering people from different countries is abhorable as an act of extreme torture. The ways in which this country blocked all sides of a small country that was a part of their country for centuries before a few decades and suffocate them is a sign of defeatingly abject treatment of a vulnerable section of humanity.

Hence, Israel is the worst rogue state in the world today.

The land of Canaan was divided between Abrahamic religions after the Second World War with the hope that they would live and progress together. Israel with a population of six crores and Palestine with a population of less than one crore were no matches at all. However, Israel had the support of powerful nations and could amass wealth and use it for building military capabilities that would attack any neighbouring or nearer country. In a period of quarter of a century after the establishment of Israel as a Hebrew nation, they bought up lands from Arabs who were the original inhabitants of those places earlier than the immigration of the Jews. The Arabs were poor who gave up their land and settled in nearby Arabian countries. Israel meted out the same treatment to the small community of Christians in their country. Israel became a completely protected small territory of big powers. It was supported by very powerful nations like US. Israel made greater onslaughts on smaller nations like Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and a much smaller nation in the making which was an immediate neighbour and a part before they established their nation.

The history of Palestine as a state is a story of great suffering. As of now, no other part of the world has as much suffering as the Palestinians have. There may not be any family in their country without at least one member of the family dead; in some cases, it is in larger numbers, who got killed in a war with their neighbour. The abject cruelty that they suffer in the hands of Israeli soldiers and missiles and bombs are unparalleled in the history of modern wars. The implacability of the state of mind of the people there are equated only with those of their other neighbours. They suffer from a despicability which borders on a negation of the existence of human life even in the middle of suffering and destitution. All these because they are the immediate neighbour of a rogue state.

A rogue state is powerfully so when it refuses to listen to the sane voices of not only peaceful countries but also the international organisations or be willing to accept applicable international laws. A rogue is one who refuses any type of help to persons who are incapacitated or desolate and attacks them and that is what is being done by Israel. There are powerful nations which support Israel not only through international forums but also through supply of lethal weapons for Israel to use at its whims and fancies. They could abduct anyone from the small neighbour or shoot down anyone whom they meet in their neighbouring state and there is no one to question them because they are emboldened by the support of many other countries, particularly the United States. A worse reason for Palestine to suffer is not that it is a poor small nation but that it does not have financial or military support from any other country which can supply them enough arms to defend any Israeli attack. There may not be any healthy man alive in this small country and there may not be enough women to look after or protect the wounded ones. In addition, they also have large numbers of orphan children who were left behind unlike some of the families which were wiped out fully through Israeli missile or army attacks.

A rogue state is one which does not accept international rules and conventions. The fact that Israel attacked Iran unilaterally proves that it is a rogue state. No country has a right to attack another with a justification that the attacked country has weapons of mass destruction. If this can be proved, there are international conventions that can be applied. Further, if Israel’s attack on Iran is because the latter are enriching and making nuclear weapons, it is the duty of Israel to do everything possible through international intervention to negate it. Also, one does not know whether Israel is also doing the same as they are silent about it. Iran did accept that they are researching on nuclear devices which Israel has not declared that they are not doing. Therefore, Israel has no moral right to attack Iran. Therefore, again, Israel can be called a rogue state.

No country has the right to take offence and act on it directly. It has only to move through international organisations or other nations. A direct attack killing people, especially those in important position of the hierarchy of different organisations, is not acceptable to the international community and peace loving nations. Therefore, it is high time that international interventions are done to stop Israel from attacking other nations which are near it.

Israel will continue its attacks on neighbouring countries as long as it is provided with enough arms and ammunition by the United States which needs Israel as a rallying point for it in the Middle East. More importantly, as long as Israel wages war against any of the Islamic countries, the US will be able to sell as much supporting material for military warfare as its internal economy is very highly dependent on the sales of warfare materials. Therefore, it may not be wrong to call the United States a rogue state by attributing and proving a large number of areas of support that it offers to Israel against many international laws, conventions and directives.

One wonders which is a more rogue state, Israel or the US?

 

 

 

 
By Sunney Tharappan
Prof Sunney Tharappan, is director of College for Leadership and HRD, Mangaluru. He trains and writes and lives in Mangaluru.
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