Oct 21, 2022; Tel Aviv, Israel; Benjamin Netanyahu, the ninth prime minister of Israel, speaks to USA TODAY ahead of the release of his memoir, “Bibi: My Story” in Tel Aviv, Israel. Mandatory Credit: Ariel Tagar-USA TODAY Photo: Ariel Tagar-USA TODAY via IMAGN
The Israeli government’s military defense and intelligence forces recently, seriously degraded Hezbollah forces in Lebanon by planting explosives into their pagers and walkie-talkie systems. Though casualty estimates are not conclusive, the coordinated attack killed dozens and left thousands more suffering serious injuries. Children have been listed among the casualties.
While some are congratulating Israel on its stunning and unprecedented military operations, I take a very different position, for I fear what we have witnessed over the last year will result in a much larger and even more deadly outcome.
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The right-wing Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has operated on false assumptions in its fight against Hamas over the past year. Though it’s difficult for me to be brief, I will attempt to do so by enumerating the following points:
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1. Israel must get over its pipe dream of totally decimating Hamas. It has yet to achieve its aim, which is virtually impossible since many Hamas fighters and leaders have moved abroad. By cloaking themselves with Palestinian civilians, more and more innocents will be added to the approximately 40,000+ fatalities since October 6, 2023.
2. Israel must get over its pipe dream of totally decimating Hezbollah. Hezbollah is even stronger than Hamas in terms of Iranian funding, its number of fighters, and its substantially more extensive cache of armaments.
3. If Israel had agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas previously, Hezbollah would most likely have limited or stopped its missile strikes into northern Israel and potential operations to invade Israel.
4. By opening a major front into Lebanon, Israel is risking a much wider Middle East war with increasing carnage on all sides. It might compel Iran again to enter directly and more deeply into the fray.
5. Israel is forgetting the lessons from World War II when the Nazis sealed their own downfall by opening another front of war in the East by invading the Soviet Union.
6. Israel is sealing its downfall by opening its northern front to Lebanon, siphoning its limited resources to another theater of war and virtually killing the Abraham Accords that could have brought in Arab states to negotiate an equitable peace settlement.
7. Western countries, including the U.S., must stop sending military aid to Israel, and must put more pressure on the government to negotiate in good faith. By continuing to ship armaments to Israel, these allied nations are enabling and colluding in the injury and murder of many innocent people caught up in these incessant hostilities.
In the final analysis, it seems clear that as the Israeli Defense Force is winding down its bombardments of Gaza. and since Netanyahu does not want hostilities to end, he has instigated a new front to keep the war going. The day when hostilities do come to an end, Netanyahu and his government will fall and be replaced, possibly, by a more centrist coalition.
When finally out of power, Netanyahu risks prison time on previous charges of fraud and corruption.
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