World Watches
the Naked Aggression of Israel
Countries across the world had condemned the Hamas
attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing innocent people and holding
civilians as hostages. They supported the subsequent Israel attack on hideouts
of Hamas in Gaza to secure the release of hostages. Since then, a year has passed, no solution
seems to be in sight. The conflict between Gaza and Israel has only escalated,
dragging the entire Middle East and the Gulf Region into the war zone, having
the potential to break into a major world war involving America and other
powers.
Initially, the impression was that the Israel Defence Forces
were bombing the Hamas hideouts in Gaza to force them to release the hostages.
However, since the start of the
Israeli invasion of Gaza, some 41,500 Palestinians in Gaza are killed, more
than half of them women and children. Israel's tightened blockade cut off basic
necessities and attacks on infrastructure have caused healthcare collapse and
an impending famine, engulfing the entire region. The Israel Forces have destroyed
and damaged more than half of Gaza's houses, a third
of its schools and universities, landmarks
and the like. And almost the entire
Palestinian population of 2.3 million in Gaza is forcibly displaced. It is
a genocide, an unpardonable crime against humanity.
According to a UNEP assessment, June 2024, the damage
caused to Gaza by Israel bombing is enormous: An
estimated 39 million tonnes of debris have been generated by the conflict – for each square metre in Gaza, there is over 107
kg of debris. Debris pose risks to human health and the environment, from dust
and contamination with unexploded ordnance, asbestos, industrial and medical
waste, and other hazardous substances. The water, sanitation, and hygiene systems are almost entirely defunct
in Gaza. The Gaza is a ghost city.
Israel is fighting on
multiple fronts in the Middle East – Gaza, Palestine in the West Bank, Syria,
Lebanon and Iran – feeling insecure surrounded by the hostile Arab states that support
the cause of Palestine, subscribing to the idea of “a war to end all wars”,
hoping to destroy all its enemies in the process. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes
that the war against Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis - Iran’s regional allies
that form the ‘Axis of Resistance’ against Israel for the cause of Palestine - cannot
ensure security of his country. He thinks Iran’s influence over Iraq, Yemen,
Syria and Lebanon is a threat to the Zionist state, and that Iran’s Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, now 85, is holding on to the clerical regime that
is weak. Netanyahu is not willing to accept the UN two-state Resolution that
provides a lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and buy peace
with the Arab states in the region. As C. Raja Mohan, contributing editor on
international affairs for the Indian Express, says, “Netanyahu is
offering no concession at all on Palestine. In fact, the maps that he displayed
at the United Nations don’t even show the existence of Gaza and the West Bank.”
In the past two weeks, Israel has adopted more belligerent and aggressive position against the Hezbollah. It killed Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of the Shite militant group Hezbollah in airstrike in Beirut, Southern Lebanon, and several prominent leaders and top commanders of Hezbollah, hoping to cripple the Hezbollah completely. This has outraged the Arab world, though not so much the Sunni Arab States like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Iran has vowed vengeance for the death of Hassan Nasrallah whom it described as martyr. He was a close confidant of Iran’s Supreme Leader. He helped to train Hamas fighters. Nasrallah "had long called for the liberation of Jerusalem and referred to Israel as the Zionist entity maintaining that all Jewish immigrants should return to their countries of origin and that there should be one Palestine with equality for Muslims, Jews and Christians “(TOI 29/9/24).
Lebanon has endured deadly pager attacks and attacks
on walkie-talkies, engineered by Israel. And now with these massive air-strikes
by Israel, Lebanon is devastated. It is the worst moment in its history. During
the past two weeks, Lebanon had suffered more than 1000 causalities; 6000
wounded and a million people - one-fifth of its population – fleeing their
homes to seek shelter in neighboring Syria. Reacting to the airstrikes, the US security
spokesman John Kirby said Israel’s goal of making the northern areas of Lebanon
safe from Hezbollah rocket fire and allow thousands of displaced residents to
return cannot be achieved with “an all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly not with
Iran, is not the way to do that.”
Israel was preparing ground invasion of Lebanon.
Hezbollah fighters are getting ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion.
the group’s deputy leader Naim Qassem declared: “We will face any possibility
and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance
forces are ready for a ground engagement.” Netanyahu, in a wild threat to Iran,
boasted that “there is nowhere in the Middle East we will not go to protect our
people and our country.”
Despite the worldwide anger
against Israel’s use of extreme force against Hamas and Hezbollah, Netanyahu now
lent a political objective to his costly military campaign – regime change in Iran.
He wants to overthrow the present regime in Iran. In his address to the Iranian
People, he appealed to them not to “let a small group of fanatic theocrats” to
crush them. He reminded the Iranians of their older and enduring Persian identity.
This amounts to violation of Iranian sovereignty. It is a clear provocation to
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On 1 October 2024, Iran, in retaliation, fired around 200
ballistic missiles at Israel, the worst bombardment in Israel’s history. These missiles
can reach the targets in just 12 minutes. Iran targeted three military bases of Israel,
and warned that if Israel retaliated Tehran’s response would be ‘more crushing
and ruinous’, says a statement issued by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) of Iran. Until now Iran avoided
getting involved directly in the conflict with Israel. The US comes to the
rescue of its ally Israel A statement of the White House reads: “President
Biden directed the US military to aid Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks
and shoot down missiles that are targeting Israel.” According to a report in The
Times of India 1 October, the US is sending troops to bolster security and
to defend Israel, raising the total number of troops in the region to 43,000: “The
increased presence will involve multiple fighter jets and attack aircraft
squadrons. The additional personnel include squadrons of F-15E, F-16, and F-22
fighter jets and A-10 attack aircraft.”
This is how America has been responsible for
escalating the conflict in the Middle East to subserve its own strategic and
geo-political interest, rather than using its position to find a permanent
solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Of course, Israel is defying the
international community and the UN and refusing to enter into any ceasefire
agreement. It is emboldened by the massive military aid it receives from the
US. It boasts of being a super military power, with advanced technology in
military warfare. However, the Iran
armed forces are three times that of Israel. The Lebanese are ready to resist
Israeli forces: “Not just Hezbollah, all of Lebanon will fight this time. All of Lebanon is determined to fight Israel
for the massacres it committed in Gaza and Lebanon.” This leaves the Middle East on the brink of
an all-out war.
It is high time Isael had learnt a lesson to live in
peace and harmony and co-exist with the neighboring Arab states. It might have had
glorious past hundreds of years ago, but it must accept the reality of today’s
geopolitical conditions. It can’t afford to be ambitious of expanding its
geographical area by forcefully occupying the Palestine land and the territories
of other states and then claim them to be of its own. It is like the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) notion of establishing ‘Akhand Bharat’ – a unified
Greater India - (that would include the SAARC countries, Tibet and Myanmar which
were part of India at one time or the other in her long history – be it the
ancient Ashoka Mauryan Empire or the Medieval Mughal Empire or the modern British
Empire).
There is something called morality and ethics governing
the conduct of relations among the community of nations. The military might can
never justify coveting others land. There is nothing to feel pound about
aggressive nationalism and jingo patriotism that self-destructive ambitious autocratic rulers, with a
tunnel vision, pursue,and create mass hysteria to make the people believe that they are
an exclusive superior race or community. It is a petty narrow dangerous world view. All that the militant
Islamic Hamas who rule Gaza want is a solution to the long pending
Palestine issue.
The West always applied double standards in conducting
international relations. It is a bombastic idea to talk of nuclear non-proliferation
and say that no country should become a nuclear power, while the Big Five
nuclear powers retain all the nuclear arsenal, leaving a huge void in the
global balance of power. The best way to deal with the threat of the Islamic
fundamentalists – like the ISIS – is to understand them. They think the West
imposes its way of life on non-Western countries- be it capitalist mode of
economy or western mode of governance or its value system. It is this that they
resist.
The world watches the naked aggression of Israel in
the Middle East. A tiny country should
not be allowed to hold the world to ransom. In its search for identity and
security, Israel is perpetuating insecurity and instability in the whole
region, while peace eludes it, facing existential crisis of its own making. The
people of Israel are also traumatized and not allowed in live in peace either. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemns
the “broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation”
and wants this to stop. He is now banned from entering Israel, declared a
persona non grata. Netanyahu should be tried for war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
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