Two scholars told the Bay of Bengal Conversation 2025 in Dhaka that Western governments have lost moral credibility on human rights after Israel’s war in Gaza, arguing that the conflict has accelerated a political shift across the Global South and created new constraints on academic freedom in the United States. The conference was hosted by the Centre for Governance Studies.
Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, said Western advocacy for democracy and human rights “got exposed” after the scale of Palestinian casualties.
“They lost the credentials for democracy so I think this is in a way a good opportunity for the countries of the global south to chart a different path for themselves,” Gul said. He argued that Western governments “worked in unison” to support Israel diplomatically, even as protests spread across Europe and the United States.
Gul said the Gaza conflict “brought an end to the exceptionalism that the US and other western countries had been deploying when dealing with countries like Pakistan, like Bangladesh.” He added that “all those who have beted Israel, who supported directly or indirectly, they stand naked,” and said the reaction would have been far harsher if a Global South nation had carried out similar actions.
Carol Christine Fair, a professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, said the war has produced what she described as a major shift in American public opinion, though she does not expect US policy to follow.
“I have seen as a consequence of Israel’s genocide in Gaza enormous sea shift in American public opinion about Israel, something that I never thought was going to be possible,” Fair said. She said candidates openly critical of Israel are now finding new political space but argued that lobbying influence limits policy change.
Fair also described fear inside American classrooms, saying her views on Palestine are well known and that accusations of antisemitism can derail a career. “One of the most terrifying things in the classroom is if a student accuses me of being an anti-semite. It has had an unbearably chilling effect on the discussions that you can have, the honesty with which you can have conversations,” she said.
Both scholars said Gaza has weakened Western claims to moral authority and opened new diplomatic space for countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.