Over the past month, I’ve argued repeatedly that Israel is hurtling toward a strategic defeat.
My projection was based in part on Israel’s total abandonment of restraint in its attacks on the civilian population of Gaza.
For decades, Israel systematically violated the laws of war, but never was its contempt for those laws – and for basic principles of human decency – so extreme and transparent as it is now.
Yesterday, Israel’s primary enabler, the Biden administration, publicly warned Israel of the consequences of its depravity. The warning came from none other than U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin:
I learned a thing or two about urban warfare from my time fighting in Iraq. Like Hamas, ISIS was deeply embedded in urban areas. And the international coalition against ISIS worked hard to protect civilians and create humanitarian corridors.
The lesson is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.
On the day that Austin issued his stark warning to Israel, I spoke with U.S. documentary film-maker Regis Tremblay about the apartheid regime’s looming demise. You can watch and listen to our discussion here:
A lot depends on the overall consciousness of the Israeli public. My contacts with Israelis overseas, is that the vast majority are arrogant and racist. A small minority, what one acquaintance said to me a year ago, opposes Israeli policies, but they are 20% of the population, and they are isolated. That was July 2022. Now, without historical context, the vast majority of Israelis are screaming for blood and expulsion (I prefer that to the antiseptic ‘ethnic cleansing’ as if Palestinians are dirt to be cleansed).Will they be forced to face their century long crime against Palestinians? Have any of the Anglo countries which treated their native population with the same cruelty and contempt really repented and made amends?
Hopefully, the sane Jewish community will prevail. And if Israel does experience defeat and millions of Israelis flee for their lives, will they have the same unjustified victim mentality that is seen in the Ukrainian diaspora? Or will they wake up?
I was just thinking about this today, as I have every day since the killing of innocents started. I realized that the accountability for Israel’s murder of innocents will no doubt come once the Muslim world has had enough. My friend has a good saying for such situations; “payback is a bitch”. I am not a proponent of violence and, for the oh too silent good people in Israel, I hope I am wrong. My worry is that an insane Netanyahu has his finger on the trigger of a nuclear weapon. One has to ask oneself why this state is allowed nuclear weapons “of mass destruction”? Should they not be invaded and their leadership dealt with as in Iraq?
Your comments are right on the money (the Truth). Netanyahu is another Trump and Putin psychopath and they should all be stopped from promoting their negative policies. Wake up people of Israel and elect a leader who stands for peace and justice for the people of Palestine!!