Blinken seeks G7 unity on Israel-Hamas war, as cracks emerge over Gaza policy
Important moment for G7 ‘to speak with one clear voice,’ says US secretary of state; Japan’s FM ‘unequivocally condemns’ Hamas onslaught, backs US efforts to find a way forward
TOKYO, Japan (AP) — Fresh from a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday took his intense diplomatic efforts on the Israel-Hamas war to Asia with an appeal for the Group of Seven leading industrial democracies to forge consensus on how to deal with the crisis.
As he and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, Blinken said it was critically important for the group to show unity as it has over Russia’s war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing differences on Gaza from deepening.
“This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice,” Blinken told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, shortly after talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The monthlong conflict in Gaza — triggered by the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7, when 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 were taken hostage — and efforts to ease the humanitarian impacts of the fighting will be a major focus of the meeting.
Yet with the Russia-Ukraine war, fears North Korea may be readying a new nuclear test, and concerns about China’s increasing global assertiveness, it is far from the only crisis on the agenda.
In Tokyo, Blinken and foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Italy will be seeking common ground in part to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from further destabilizing already shaky security in the broader Middle East and seeking to maintain existing consensus positions on other matters.
Kamikawa said Japan “unequivocally condemns” the Hamas onslaught in Israel, supports US efforts to find a way forward and considers “solid unity between Japan and the US is especially critical at this point.”
“We appreciate the diplomatic efforts of the US in the recent situation between Israel and Palestine,” she said. “You have our utmost support.”
Those efforts include significantly expanding the amount of humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza, pushing Israel to agree to “pauses” in its military operation to allow that assistance to get in and more civilians to get out, beginning planning for a post-conflict governance and security structure in the Hamas-ruled territory and preventing the war from spreading.
Blinken described all of these as “a work in progress” and acknowledged deep divisions over the possibility of a pause. Israel remains unconvinced and Arab and Muslim nations are demanding an immediate full ceasefire, something the United States opposes. There has also been resistance to discussing Gaza’s future, with the Arab states insisting that the immediate humanitarian crisis must be addressed first.
Securing agreement from G7 members, none of which border or are directly involved in the conflict, may be a slightly less daunting challenge for Blinken.
Yet cracks have emerged over Gaza, which has inflamed international public opinion, and massive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel demonstrations have been held in G7 capitals and elsewhere.
Last month in the UN Security Council, France voted in favor of a resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza that was vetoed by the United States because it didn’t go far enough in condemning Hamas’s massacres. Britain abstained in that vote.
Several days later in the UN General Assembly, a non-binding US-Canadian resolution that would have condemned Hamas failed, while a separate resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, which made no mention of Hamas, overwhelmingly passed. The US voted against the second resolution while France voted in favor. Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan all abstained.
Since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the G7 has held together in defense of the international order that emerged from the destruction of World War II. Despite some fraying around the edges, the group has preserved a unified front in condemning and opposing Russia’s war.
The group similarly has been of one voice in demanding that North Korea halt its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, that China exercise its growing international clout responsibly, and also in calling for cooperative actions to combat pandemics, synthetic opioids, and threats from the misuse of artificial intelligence.
Blinken arrived in Tokyo from Turkey, the last stop on his four-day whirlwind through the Mideast that began with visits to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq. From Japan, he will travel to South Korea and then on to India.
