As in the case with the genocidal war the veteran Israeli premier launched against Palestinians in Gaza a year ago, he started the military campaign against Lebanon by setting very high goals, promising to crush Hizbullah and end its presence.

Yet this is happening less than a month after the sci-fi like pager attack, which killed and maiming thousands of Hizbullah fighters as well as innocent civilians, followed by the assassination of the group’s symbol and historic leader Hassan Nasrallah along with scores of first-tier military and political leaders. The badly hit resistance group is nonetheless still able to inflict heavy damage and shake the Israeli public’s confidence in their army and advanced air systems being able to provide safety.

The Israeli army’s attempts to advance inside Lebanese territory have so far been an obvious failure. Besides limited incursions and ill-crafted videos showing Israeli soldiers raising their flag over Lebanese properties for a few minutes before fleeing, the occupation army only managed to raid and occupy posts run by UNIFIL, the UN force deployed along the border between Lebanon and Israel. At least four UN observers were injured during these attacks, resulting in worldwide condemnation.

Instead of heeding international pressure to end his war on Lebanon, and return to the negotiating table to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas, Netanyahu arrogantly chose to ask the UN to pull out its troops from south Lebanon altogether. This happened only a few days after he declared UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata, and ordering the confiscation of the headquarters of the UNRWA agency in occupied East Jerusalem to erect an illegal settlement in its place. UNRWA is the only UN agency that provides much needed relief aid, education and health care to millions of Palestinians living under occupation.

Coupled with the escalation of attacks against Palestinians in Gaza, practically starving hundreds of thousands in the northern parts of the Strip in what amounts to an intentional war crime, and killing an average of 50 to 70 people a day in bombings targeting hospitals, schools and UN-run shelters, this reckless behaviour led to renewed calls worldwide to impose an arms embargo on Israel.

Besides France and Spain, Jordan was the latest country this week to join international calls for an arms embargo on Israel in a bid to pressure Netanyahu to end the over one-year long war in Gaza, and the ongoing military attacks against various Lebanese cities and heavily populated neighbourhoods in Beirut.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, said on the social media platform X that Israel “would not have been able to launch all these aggressions…had it not been for the impunity with which the international community continues to provide them, and the weapons that many countries are still sending them.”

He added that Israel will not stop its war crimes in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank and Lebanon unless an arms embargo is imposed, calling for the Israeli prime minister and his “radical extremist ministers” to be held accountable.

Safadi called upon the UN Security Council, where the United States has repeatedly provided cover for Israel to carry out its wars by using its veto power, to pass a resolution to ban weapons sales to Israel. He highlighted that even the attacks on the UN peacekeeping body in Southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, did not pave the way for a ban on weapons to Israel.  

In July, the UK government said it would also cut some weapons deliveries to Israel, while Germany said it had decreased its supply of arms this year. However, the two countries, as well as Israel’s main benefactor, the US, continue to arm Israel.

The administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden took matters even further. The Pentagon announced this week that it would send an advanced anti-missile system — and US troops to operate it — to Israel “to help bolster Israel’s air defences following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1”.

Publicly, US officials, whether at the White House, the Pentagon or the State Department, have all been calling upon Israel not to target civilians in Lebanon, and to bring an end to the siege of northern Gaza that has prevented humanitarian organisations from providing much needed food and other aid to starved Palestinians.

However, by continuing to provide unconditional military aid to Israel, even practically taking part in the fighting by providing US troops on the ground to operate the advanced anti-missile system, the US is ensuring that the Israeli prime minister remains secure in his knowledge that he has a free hand to carry on his policy of wreaking havoc and bloodshed all over the Middle East.

If the US president were truly serious about the desire to end the ongoing wars in the region, his first step would be to restrain Netanyahu, and prevent him from wrecking more havoc by carrying out an attack against Iran that would engender an endless cycle of violence and wars.

Yet, this hope will probably remain wishful thinking with the decision to provide Israel with the advanced anti-missile system, which practically means that the Israeli attack against Iran is imminent and preparations are underway to prevent Iranian retaliation. This is no prescription for ending the war and the suffering of innocent civilians in Palestine and Lebanon.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 17 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly