This is precisely what the Israeli prime minister has been doing since he launched his genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza in retaliation for the stunning attack by Hamas on 7 October a year ago.
Even worse, Benjamin Netanyahu is currently on a mission to drive the entire Middle East into an all-out war, expanding the bloody Israeli policy of indiscriminate killing and destruction to Lebanon, and seeking every means to drag the United States into direct confrontation with Iran.
Horrific bloodshed that hasn’t been seen since World War II, with the death of over 42,000 Palestinians, the injury of more than 100,000 and the near total destruction of the Strip’s buildings and infrastructure, resulting in worldwide condemnation of Israel — now widely regarded as a pariah and a rogue state — did not deter the Israeli premier and his extremist government. Instead, Netanyahu has left no doubt that he is determined to stay the course of insanity, chasing the illusion that excessive military might, use of advanced technology, and the assassination of top resistance leaders will force Palestinians to give up their legitimate demands to end the world’s last racist occupation and fulfil their right to independence and self-determination.
This is the “insanity” to which Israel has succumbed over and over since it came into existence as a colonialist project in 1948. Zionist claims of a “right” to establish a state in Palestine only apply to those who believe in them, and will never be forced into acceptance by the Palestinians, nor the overwhelming majorities in all Arab and Muslim nations, as well as scores of fair-minded nations that recently all voted at the UN General Assembly that Israel’s occupation must end, and that Palestine should come into existence as an independent state.
Feeling squeezed by the criticism, steadily mounting both domestically and internationally, that he has failed to achieve any of the war’s declared goals since the 7 October attacks, and becoming a suspected war criminal by the International Criminal Court, Netanyahu decided to escape his failures by opening a new war front against Lebanon.
After the discovery of the bodies of six Israeli hostages in a tunnel near Rafah in southern Gaza in early September, many Israelis rightly pointed the finger at Netanyahu for intentionally sabotaging months-long efforts led by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States to reach a ceasefire agreement. Massive demonstrations were held all over Israel, and observers thought that this would pressure him to heed to the world’s demands to end the war in Gaza.
Knowing that the first anniversary of the 7 October attack was near without any “victory image” he could exploit to extend his stay in power, Netanyahu decided to escalate the confrontation against Hizbullah in Lebanon and its main backer, Iran. The opening move revived a clearly well-crafted Israeli espionage operation that has been in the works for years, detonating thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hizbullah members in mid-September.
This was followed 10 days later by the assassination of top Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who has been the group’s façade and its symbol for more than three decades. To add insult to injury, adding to a long record of humiliations to the current US administration and rejecting its demand to end the war in Gaza, Nasrallah’s assassination took place while the United States was working with France on an agreement to end Israel’s escalation against Lebanon. Instead of using his presence in New York to attend the UN General Assembly to finalise the US-French brokered deal, Netanyahu gave the order to assassinate Nasrallah at the end of his speech from the UN headquarters.
Hoping that such painful strikes would wreak havoc among Hizbullah leaders and fighters, Netanyahu took another insane step and declared that the Israeli army would invade South Lebanon to push the group’s fighters away from the Israeli border. For nearly 10 days, the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and key Lebanese cities have been subject to indiscriminate, barbaric bombing similar to what Gaza experienced the day after the 7 October attacks.
Considering the military and ideological support with which Iran has provided Hizbullah with over the decades, and the fact that Iranian officials were killed in the same operation that led to Nasrallah’s assassination on 27 September, Tehran clearly felt it was forced to retaliate. As a matter of fact, both Hizbullah and Iran have been very careful, if not determined, to avoid falling into Netanyahu’s trap and enable the confrontation between the two sides to deteriorate into an all-out war.
According to Iran’s recently elected president, Massoud Pezeshkian, Tehran and Hizbullah had both agreed to diplomatic efforts led by the United States to avoid responding militarily to the provocation of Israel’s assassination of both top Hizbullah military commander, Fuad Shukr, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh a day later in a daring operation inside Tehran in late July, after receiving pledges that this would help in reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
After Iran launched an expanded attack against Israel a week ago, using nearly 200 ballistic missiles to target Israeli air bases and the headquarters of the Mossad in Tel Aviv, the entire region is now on edge awaiting a “painful” Israeli response to Iran’s unprecedented attack. This is nothing but the prescription for a doomsday scenario for every country in the region, as well as the United States, and an expansion of the insanity we have been experiencing for a year now.
With its own interests at risk, the United States is obliged to restrain Israel and force Netanyahu to see the truth that his strategy will never achieve long-term security for the Israeli people. This aim can only be achieved by recognising the fact that the source of all violence and instability in the region is Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Without dealing with this reality, or comprehending Einstein’s definition of insanity, new forms of resistance to Israel’s occupation will continue and new groups and tactics will always emerge in Palestine and neighbouring Arab countries that cannot but express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 10 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: