G7's political relevance at stake over Israel-Gaza response
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[November 06, 2023]
By John Geddie, Sakura Murakami and Kentaro Sugiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) - The Group of Seven (G7) bloc of wealthy democracies
risks eroding its relevance as a force to tackle major geopolitical
crises over an apparent struggle between its member nations to agree on
a firm, united approach to Israel's war in Gaza.
Foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
the European Union and the United States meet in Tokyo this week to
discuss the conflict, which several global powers have warned could
spiral and engulf the Middle East.
If ministers do issue a communique after the meeting, it will likely
address the conflict in general terms, reflecting the different
concerns, and the divergent political and economic loyalties within the
group, analysts say.
"Europeans are divided and this division is also certainly visible
within the G7," said Thomas Gomart, director of the French Institute of
International Relations.
Complicating matters is that the current chair of the group Japan has
taken a cautious approach to the crisis, resisting pressure to fall in
line with the pro-Israel stance of its closest ally, the United States,
officials and analysts say.
Officials from France and Canada, speaking on condition of anonymity,
also said the strong U.S. support for Israel, and concerns about a
backlash from either Arab or Jewish segments of the populations of the
G7 nations, have made reaching common positions challenging.
From the beginning of the conflict, Japan has sought a "balanced"
response, in part due to its diverse diplomatic interests in the region
and its dependency on the Middle East for oil.
Israeli diplomats, however, have intensively lobbied Japan in phone
calls, emails and visits to Japanese officials, according to two sources
familiar with the matter.
The mounting casualties in Gaza have reinforced Japan's cautious
approach, analysts say. Health officials in the Palestinian enclave say
almost 10,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed
since Israel's bombardment began in retaliation for Oct. 7 attacks by
the militant group Hamas.
"I don't think ever in the past history of the G7 presidency under Japan
it has come to this kind of a critical challenge," said Koichiro Tanaka,
a professor at Tokyo's Keio University who specializes on international
relations in the Middle East.
A spokesperson for Japan's foreign ministry said it was expected that
countries have different positions, but denied that G7 members were
struggling to find common ground.
The spokesperson declined to confirm whether a communique would be
issued. A statement issued by G7 trade ministers from a meeting in Osaka
late last month did not mention the war.
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Flags are pictured during the first working session of G-7 foreign
ministers in Muenster, Germany, November 3, 2022. REUTERS/Wolfgang
Rattay/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
DIVISIONS ON DISPLAY
The G7 was initially set up half a century ago to discuss global
economic problems, but its scope has since broadened to represent
the collective voice of major industrialized countries' on political
and security issues.
While the group in recent years has shown unity in sanctioning
Russia over its Ukraine war and calling out so-called 'economic
coercion' from China, they have not moved in lock step over the
Israel-Gaza war.
Since the war erupted, the G7 has issued just one joint statement on
the conflict amounting to a few sentences. Other group members have
issued joint statements.
G7 divisions have also been evident at the United Nations, with
France voting in favour of a resolution calling for a humanitarian
truce in the conflict on Oct 26, the U.S. opposing it and the
group's other members abstaining.
Agreeing specific wording on Israel's right to defend itself, the
civilian casualties in Gaza and calls for a temporary halt in
fighting will be difficult, officials say.
Aside from rhetoric, Hideaki Shinoda, a professor at Tokyo
University of Foreign Studies, said the G7 needed concrete proposals
on how to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, where fuel, food, water
and medical supplies are scarce, but that is also likely to prove a
tall task.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas after the Iran-backed group
attacked southern Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking more than
240 hostages. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected global
calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, saying any lull would play into
the hands of Hamas, while the United States has proposed temporary,
localized pauses in the fighting.
One G7 official said members were deliberately trying to hide their
differences so as not to "play into Russia's hands".
China and Russia are using the conflict as an opportunity to burnish
their credentials as the champions of the developing world, as well
as to oppose the United States.
Any sign of disunity or failure to stem the conflict may only
embolden these G7 detractors, analysts say.
"It's also a question of how China and Russia will interpret these
developments and how they will try testing us," said Kunihiko
Miyake, research director at The Canon Institute for Global Studies,
a Tokyo-based think tank.
(Additional reporting by Tim Kelly and Yoshifumi Takemoto in Tokyo,
John Irish in Paris, Andrew Gray in Brussels, Andreas Rinke in
Berlin, David Brunstromm in Washington D.C. and Steve Scherer in
Ottawa; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
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