Dylan Williams, the vice president for government affairs at the U.S.-based Center for International Policy, says “In five and a half months of war, Israel has done more damage to its global standing than the preceding five and a half decades of occupation,” referencing Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories since 1967. Much like the U.S. in the aftermath of 9/11, Israel received near-universal global sympathy and support in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and hundreds more taken hostage in Gaza. “But rather than leverage that for near-universal backing for a targeted military campaign and diplomacy with global powers and new Arab partners on their side,” Williams adds, “Israel instead chose to decimate Gaza with indiscriminate bombardment and siege.”

That loss of goodwill extends beyond Israel. Indeed, lawmakers in countries considered to be among Israel’s closest allies have expressed concerns about the impact that the war stands to have not just on Israel’s credibility, but on their own.

This includes countries such as Germany, which among Israel’s European partners has been perhaps one of the most staunch defenders of the country. That position is informed in large part by Germany’s own guilt for perpetrating genocide against European Jews during the Holcoaust, and it drives what Germany regards as its “special responsibility” to defend Israel today. “We feel because of our historical responsibility that we should not be the first to come up with public criticism of any Israeli government,” Nils Schmid, a German lawmaker and foreign affairs spokesperson for the Social Democrats, the center-left party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the country’s three-way coalition, tells TIME. But that sensitivity has given way to more vocal concerns in recent weeks, during which time Chancellor Scholz has cautioned Israel about the “terribly high costs” of Israel’s military offensive, including a high civilian death toll and the lack of sufficient humanitarian aid.

Isabel Cademartori, a German lawmaker who in January penned a letter alongside dozens of German, Canadian, and American lawmakers calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, tells TIME that a failure to condemn clear breaches of international humanitarian law—or, worse yet, being seen to actively supply and fund actions that undermine it—risks undercutting the West’s moral stance, particularly when it comes to galvanizing greater support for Ukraine beyond Europe. “I felt that we have made a lot of progress in that area, and I feel that what we’re doing now is really counteracting that,” she says, noting that Israel’s conduct in the war “is not only hurting them; it’s hurting us too.”

“It really is difficult to argue in favor of respecting international law or the rules-based order while Israel clearly is acting in violation of it,” she said.

This is particularly true amid recent events, including the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza as well as the Israeli government’s decision to seize 800 hectares (1977 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank. “I think that no democratic country at this moment can defend Israel’s military action in Gaza, the withholding of humanitarian aid and potential invasion of Rafah.” As Cademartori sees it, Israel’s allies in the U.S., Germany, and elsewhere stand to lose international credibility “if they keep defending the indefensible.”

Israel’s declining international standing is already having a tangible effect. Last month, the Canadian government announced its intention to cease all future arms shipments to Israel, citing human rights concerns. The U.K. government is facing growing pressure to follow suit amid concerns that failing to do so could constitute a violation of international law. Meanwhile, in the U.S., calls to condition military aid to Israel are growing louder—particularly following the deadly Israeli airstrike on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy that killed seven relief workers, including a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.

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The Israeli flag is raised in black color with red handprints symbolizing blood in a demonstration near the Knesset, on March 31, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel.Yahel Gazit—Middle East Images/Getty
If Israel is concerned about the implications its war in Gaza will have on its long-term standing, or that of its closest friends, it hasn’t shown it. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has repeatedly rebuffed calls for a ceasefire as well as pleas by the U.S. and others to reconsider Israel’s planned invasion of Gaza’s southernmost and densely-populated city of Rafah. Israeli officials continue to deny the existence of starvation in Gaza, which international aid groups warn is on the brink of famine.

The Israeli public “are in a bubble right now,” says Williams, but adds that the more Israeli leaders speak out about the reputational damage of the war, and the more information of what is happening in Gaza permeates Israeli society, the sooner Israelis will realize “that they’ve lost a tremendous amount of good will based on how they conducted this war.” At that point, however, it may already be too late.

Well, Israel has gained cred with me and millions of others around the globe.