Netanyahu's latest scandal SHOCKS the world

Right, so peace in the Middle East just went clean out of the window in my view following Israel’s latest example of abject insanity. After having targeted an Iranian embassy in Syria resulted in a feared Iranian response, the first time Iran has directly attacked Israel, rather than via its allies in Yemen’s Houthis or Hezbollah in Lebanon, which actually was less severe than many expected. But now Israel have struck Iran again, this time directly, a guided missile straight into the residence of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in the Iranian capital of Tehran. That Israel are capable of such targeted strikes should put their decimation of Gaza in some context, but even this egregious and escalatory act is not the only one we’ve seen in recent days.
Yesterday, Israel mounted a direct strike upon the Lebanese city of Beirut, where it claims to have killed a senior Hezbollah commander as well. They are increasing their aggression against Hamas, detonating any chance of peace, same goes for Hezbollah, they’ve instigated this, and invited repercussions, which will certainly come. What is their strategy, because it’s complete madness unless someone comes to save them now and it seems obvious to me, that Netanyahu has put his entire nation at risk, for the sake of forcing the US to come to his aid. It’s just the latest escalation in Netanyahu desperately trying to keep himself in power, but frankly proves more than ever he needs removing from it.
Right, so let’s take this attack on Iranian soil first and foremost because this is as serious as it gets, Iran simply does not let things like this slide. We saw their reaction several months ago when their embassy in Damascus was hit, but now Israel has made a strike directly on Iranian soil and assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, Hamas being the elected government of Gaza, they have such a thing. Why Haniyeh though? Certainly, this isn’t the route to peace and in no small part is that due to the fact Haniyeh was widely viewed as a moderate voice within Hamas. For example, following the 2006 elections which delivered Hamas to power in Gaza – the fact no elections have been held since notwithstanding – Haniyeh sent a letter to the US President George Bush asking for him to meet and enter negotiations with his elected government where he offered a long term truce with Israel whilst accepting a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and end the international boycott, claiming if it were to continue it would lead to violence and chaos. The sort of thing you’d imagine a politician would do isn’t it? The US ignored him, so we can only wonder what difference that could have made can’t we? Here’s an excerpt from Al-Jazeera’s coverage explaining the repercussions:
‘Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the killing was “significant” for the people of Gaza because he was leading negotiations that they hoped would lead to a ceasefire.
“Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank also view Ismail Haniyeh as a moderate leader who is much more pragmatic compared to other leaders who head the military side of the movement,” Mahmoud said.
“He is very popular here. He grew up in a refugee camp. He represents the vast majority of the people who are the descendants of the refugee families who were displaced from the Palestinian territories in 1948.”
Many worry that Haniyeh’s killing could now lead to a further escalation of the conflict, he added.’
Haniyeh was the negotiator, the politician, he wasn’t the military wing, so by taking out the political head of Hamas, it leaves only the military. Any hope of sensible ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas just died with him in all probability. That is what this strike was meant to achieve, an end to negotiations, which Netanyahu has blocked and scuppered for the last certainly 7 months where negotiations have been taking place, an end to the war the last thing he wants as it risks his own position and grip on power.
Where Haniyeh was arguably the sensible, rational head in the upper echelons of the Hamas movement, his removal will likely see a lurch towards more conflict, but equally you could see repercussions from Iran too. Haniyeh was there as a guest to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, following the death of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash back in May.
As you can imagine Iran haven’t taken this well as Euronews, amongst other outlets have indicated, the word revenge prevalent across many articles today:
‘Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sworn revenge on Israel over the killing of Hamas' political chief, in a shock assassination that risks escalating the conflict.
Khamenei said Israel "prepared a harsh punishment for itself" after Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a predawn airstrike in the Iranian capital Tehran on Wednesday.
"We consider his revenge as our duty," Khamenei said in a statement on his official website, saying Haniyeh was "a dear guest in our home".
His comments came after Hamas put the blame for the attack firmly at the feet of Israel.’
So, another strike by Iran on Israel on the way? Who’d rule against it and this time with the attack happening in Iran itself, I can quite conceivably see the repercussions this time, being more severe than they were before.
All of this of course came a day after Israel struck Beirut, a city in Lebanon home to more than 2 million people.
This again, was claimed to be a precision strike to take out a Hezbollah leader, Fuad Shukr, a senior member of Hezbollah’s military council and who Israel claim was killed in their strike, but Hezbollah have reported that he is still alive. 3 civilians were killed however, along with a further 74 injuries, hardly surprising when Beirut is one of the most densely populated areas of Lebanon. This strike was allegedly in response to the rocket attack on a football match in the Druze community of Majdal Shams in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, though eyewitnesses to that event say the rocket came from an Israeli Iron Dome defence system battery, so this ‘revenge’ attack on Beirut by Israel, like most things instigated by the Israeli military or government, needs taking with a large pinch of salt.
Ultimately these further attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, even going so far as to strike major civilian areas in Lebanon and Iran and indeed just a strike on Iranian soil itself, are massive escalations at a time when most of the world wants to see peace talks succeed, but a wider war, a bigger conflict is what Netanyahu clearly wants. Israel has maintained silence over the latest strikes, but frankly nothing they say is going to make matters much worse I can’t imagine.
By escalating matters as they are, Netanyahu is desperately trying to drag the US into the frame. What has happened over night and yesterday have been deliberate acts of war, a war Israel is incapable of winning, too many enemies on too many fronts, but they figure the West will always do what is necessary to bail them out. There’s a reason people say Israel is the only nation on Earth that can get away with committing terrible atrocities against other people and other nations and yet still be able to claim they are the ones who are the victims.
They are fighting in Gaza, they are breaking international law across Palestine, their occupation of Palestine has been ruled illegal. Their occupation of the Syrian territory of the Golan Heights, has never been lawful and so now we se Israel being attacked, by Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, Iraq, via Islamic State, Iran will almost certainly respond directly again now, just how many fronts does Israel think it can fight a war on? Doesn’t seem to matter, because it really is what Netanyahu seems to want.
Frankly the US would be fools and would be knowingly breaching international law themselves if they put boots on the ground to help Israel here. Biden is probably stupid enough to do it, I couldn’t possibly bet against him doing so, nor in all likelihood whoever follows him - the US has practically legislated backing Israel come what may and turned criticism of it into a crime.
Frankly if we thought things were bad before, things are probably going to get dramatically worse and if the US does or does not get involved, there is a belief amongst some that they already are. For example the Houthis in Yemen have issued a statement in light of the strikes in Lebanon and Iran by saying:
‘Netanyahu returned from America with a green light for assassinations. America is involved in everything that is happening and must pay the price.’
Again, statements like that, also don’t help, other’s saying similar sentiments have been issued by other groups as well, Hamas and Hezbollah certainly, we’re now probably further away from peace than we ever have been, but none of this should necessarily come as a surprise because as I’ve said before, there can be no peace, whilst Netanyahu remains in power, because he simply doesn’t want it, and without any will to clamp down meaningfully on Israel, cut off its military aid completely, sanction them, full BDS, and until that happens, without meaningful inroads in that direction being taken, I fear for what we’re going to likely witness next.
Israel are completely reliant on foreign help at this point, the likes of the US stepping in in no small part, because their economy, whilst they widen their warfare, is tanking. They need saving from themselves at this point. Get the details of Israel’s financial calamity and the repercussions of that in this video recommendation here and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.