We cannot negotiate a ceasefire, much less peace, with a man who prefers to wage war.
That’s the dilemma facing many suddenly worried Western leaders, led by outgoing US President Joe Biden, who insist – at least publicly – that they are working hard to prevent another cataclysmic war. engulf the Middle East.
Let’s pretend their “concerns” are sincere. Next, these same Western leaders should finally recognize that they are, to a large extent, responsible for this pressing conundrum.
Well before October 7, 2023, Biden and company have, at every turn, enabled, armed and provided diplomatic cover for their “man” in Tel Aviv – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government.
Netanyahu returned the favor by telling the fools in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Ottawa who at every turn enabled, armed and supplied him and his fanatical coalition government, diplomatic cover for – let me say this as politely as possible. I can – go for a hike.
Consistent with his stubbornness, Netanyahu has rebuffed efforts to establish a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in favor of crafting a more lasting truce.
The strutting Netanyahu made his opposition to any negotiated settlement clear in a typical “I’m the toughest guy on the block” speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, where he warned Iran that the ” long arm of Israel” can “reach…the entire Middle East.”
The fools in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Ottawa feigned surprise and disappointment at Netanyahu’s grating intransigence. Today, belatedly, Biden and the others want to play “peacemaker” when, from the beginning, they have remained faithful to the Western doctrine that defines the Middle East: kill first, think later.
They have recently been joined in this predictable chicanery by Western news agencies who, despite their blatant historical support for the disastrous “kill first, think later” policy, would like Netanyahu to stop what he is doing with their approval. explicit and warm. .
And if he cannot be stopped, some of them want his overthrow to prevent “Lebanon from transforming into Gaza”.
It’s so funny. Netanyahu – the apparent saint turned sinner – is not going anywhere. The majority of Israelis support what their beloved Prime Minister has done and is doing in Gaza and the occupied West Bank with evangelical thirst and zeal.
If Lebanon has to be bludgeoned until it looks like Gaza and causes the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people, then so be it. The Lebanese “asked for it” and they too will taste the “wrath of Israel”.
Netanyahu is not going to “change course” because he is incapable of changing course. He knows the war is his golden ticket to remaining prime minister and, by a happy coincidence, it helps him avoid those embarrassing criminal charges.
Time can also be your ally. Netanyahu is counting on the imminent return of former US President Donald Trump to the Oval Office. If this happens, America’s empty rhetorical reservations about its genocidal destruction of Gaza and its planned invasion of Lebanon will evaporate.
Netanyahu is also reluctant to offer Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, a foreign policy “victory” on the eve of the presidential election.
Harris keeps repeating, like a metronome, that she and the president are “working around the clock” for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. It’s a ridiculous pantomime and Harris, I suppose, realizes it.
The fools in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Ottawa have embraced Netanyahu – knowing full well that their unpleasant man in Tel Aviv has always had an allergy to diplomacy.
Yet they held him tightly against their welcoming breasts. And they told him, again and again, that he could, in fact, kill as many Palestinians as he wanted, for as long as he wanted, whenever he wanted.
The fate of Lebanon was sealed at that moment. But the fools in Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Ottawa did not have the common sense or foresight to recognize what would inevitably follow.
Remember, these are supposed “statesmen” and “stateswomen” touting their phantom credentials as foreign policy “experts.” It’s so funny, part two.
But, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not convinced that Biden and his compliant accomplices are really upset by Netanyahu’s plans to kill more people in more places, since they share the same geopolitical goal of “destroy” Hezbollah. Towards this impossible end, Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, proving that the West is killed first, think about the later consequences, the combustible region strategy still reigns.
The deaths of more than 41,000 Palestinians – mostly children and women – have not prompted Biden and his friends to stop arming, defending and giving diplomatic shade to Israel at the United Nations.
Just last week, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada abstained on a UN motion – sponsored by the State of Palestine – demanding that Israel end its illegal occupation of the Strip. of Gaza and the West Bank. The United States voted against.
The resolution builds on a July ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s presence in Palestinian territory is illegal and must end.
The so-called “split” between Israel and its steadfast allies in the West is an exercise in cynical and selfish posturing. It is a mirage intended to suggest that Western capitals are worried about the fate of people about whom they have never cared so much.
The truth is that, just as Western presidents and prime ministers have been content to allow Israel to express, without restraint, its “murderous rage” and to bomb Gaza into dust and memory, they will allow Netanyahu to do the same with Lebanon, appropriately and deliberately.
Lebanese civilians are as forgettable and disposable as Palestinian civilians. Their lives, their hopes, their dreams don’t matter. All that matters is Israel’s “right to defend itself.”
So, Benjamin Netanyahu will continue to strut around while innocent Palestinians and Lebanese people continue to die.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.
