Global reaction to the war

The October 7 Hamas attack drew widespread condemnation from around the world and was denounced for its terrorism against civilians by many, including the governments of many Western countries as well as India, Japan, and South Korea. Some foreign ministries, especially those of several Arab countries as well as Turkey, Russia, and China, refrained from condemning Hamas specifically and instead urged restraint. In the war’s initial stages, U.S. Pres. Joe Biden pledged unequivocal support for Israel, and on October 18 he became the first U.S. president to visit Israel while it was at war.

Concerns were also raised over the potential of the war taking on a global consequence, particularly as attacks by Houthi fighters on ships passing through the Red Sea disrupted global shipping and U.S. troops in the region faced attacks that, at times, proved deadly.

But as the war led to a deepening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Israel faced significant international pressure to allow limited aid into the territory. Pressure for a ceasefire also intensified as the war dragged on. Some opponents of the war lodged accusations of genocide against Israel as the war moved to the southern half of the Gaza Strip, and in December 2023 South Africa sought an injunction from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prevent violations of international genocide conventions. The following month the court ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide, including enabling humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip. In May 2024 South Africa filed an urgent request to the ICJ over the Israeli offensive in Rafah; two weeks later, the court ordered that Israel “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah.

The intense emotions surrounding the war led to a wave of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism. In the first several weeks of the conflict, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 312 antisemitic incidents in the United States, up from 64 incidents reported in the same period in 2022. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) recorded 774 complaints of Islamophobia in the United States during a similar period, up from 63 total reported incidents in August.

The atmosphere at American universities during the war was under particular scrutiny as protests prompted concerns about students’ safety and freedom of speech. In April 2024, as Columbia University’s president testified before the U.S. Congress about the university’s handling of antisemitism, pro-Palestinian activists at the university erected an encampment on campus calling for the university to divest from Israel (see Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions [BDS]). Students at dozens of other universities followed suit in the weeks ahead, causing significant disruption as graduation season approached, and tensions continued in the following school year and into 2025. Incidents of antisemitism at some of the encampments and confrontations with counterprotesters amplified concerns over safety and security, leading to the dismantlement of many of the encampments and disciplinary measures, including arrest and suspension, for some of the protesting students. Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students and faculty across American campuses also reported being targeted for harassment and subjected to discrimination and censorship. Harvard University, the only major university to conduct parallel investigations on both antisemitism and anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias, found in twin task force reports released in April 2025 that 26 percent of Jewish student respondents and 56 percent of Muslim student respondents felt physically unsafe at the university; 61 percent of Jewish students and faculty and 92 percent of Muslim students and faculty feared repercussions for voicing their opinions.