SECRETARY General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres was uncompromising on Tuesday on the UN’s attitude to what’s happening in Gaza at present. In the most significant and hard-hitting intervention thus far by any Western agency of note, Mr Guterres said he is “deeply concerned about the clear violations of international law that we are witnessing in Gaza.”

Israel reacted with predictable fury, with its ambassador to the UN demanding Mr Guterres’ resignation, but in reality it knows better than anybody what effect UN disapproval has on the occupation: None.

While the UN’s latest intervention is welcome, anyone who believes that it will deter Tel Aviv from its genocidal rampage in Gaza would do well to consult the history books. The list of UN resolutions down through the decades condemning the  Israeli occupation are enough to paper that country’s racist separation wall, but through it all Israel has pressed forward. Not only has it consolidated its illegal presence in Palestinian lands, but increased it to the extent that today settlements are appearing with unprecedented regularity while settlers act with appalling brutality towards Palestinians in the role handed to them as the de-facto police force.

So the appalling war crime of carpet-bombing densely-populated residential areas will continue; we will keep seeing the long lines of innocents wrapped in white sheets; and the shattering of international law that is the blocking of water, food and fuel to Gaza will go on without interruption.

Among the nations of the West, Ireland can hold its head highest when it comes to its reaction to the slaughter of the innocents in Gaza. Our President Michael D Higgins has underscored the country’s humanitarian reputation across the globe with his fearless condemnation of the Israeli onslaught and his impassioned rebuttal of the grotesquely one-sided actions and words of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. And while those of us looking on with horror at the nightly scenes on our television screens would much prefer Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to take a more robust stand against the carnage, we must – difficult as it is at this traumatic time – realise that Mr Varadkar is hobbled by the demands of realpolitik and acutely aware that overstepping the mark would damage Ireland’s influence with other Western countries. Against that background, we should acknowledge that the Taoiseach has gone further than any other EU leader in his calls for humanity to prevail in the Middle East.

Slowly but surely the kneejerk, hysterically pro-Israel pronouncements that littered the days after the October 7 Hamas atrocities are being scaled down and/or rowed back. As well as the UN’s moment of clarity on international law, governments across the West are beginning to realise the extent of the barbarity that their words have enabled. That rethink is coming horribly late for too many.