EDITORIAL: Now that even former CIA director Leon Panetta has labeled Israel’s “pager operation” as “terrorism”, there seems a palpable shift away from the usual “Israel is always right, always the victim” mindset that has always prevailed in western countries, particularly America.

Especially now, when exploding pagers and walkie-talkies were followed by savage aerial bombardment that has already killed close to a thousand Lebanese citizens, the whole world can very clearly see that many lines of international law that Israel has got so used to so easily crossing; because there are never any repercussions and it seems, because of America’s unflinching support (as usual), that there won’t be any this time either.

Yet now there are different currents in the Middle East, and beyond. So much of the world has been so thoroughly disgusted by Israel’s actions over the past year that even governments that usually only provided blind support have started distancing themselves from the Jewish state.

They realise – and their press is now full of it – that this war owes more to Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal desperation to stay in power, to avoid a criminal case and possible imprisonment hanging over his head, more than any sense of justice or even getting the hostages back alive.

So, what’s next? Will Israel continue to pound Lebanon just like it did Gaza with no chance of any payback with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and other US warships standing guard in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea? Heads of state gathered at the UN have made a plea for a 21-day ceasefire, though without making it clear what guns falling silent for a few days will accomplish.

But Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was more direct. He called out Israel’s actions for what they are – blatant terrorism – and defended Hamas as freedom fighters during follow-up interviews on US television. His plain narration of historical facts, that history is testament to people rising up against occupation and repression, no doubt came as a shock to his US audience, but it would also have triggered some soul searching. And as people finally begin to investigate the roots of Israel’s existence as a state, especially the superpower injustice that midwifed it, a lot of them will wake up to the fact that they’ve been brainwashed all these years.

However, regardless of what happens as far away as New York and Washington now, there’s no doubt that Netanyahu has been able to exploit the “special relationship” with Washington to prolong and expand the war. Now, there’s no doubt that Iran and its proxies are going to respond, and more bombs and rockets will be lobbed and a lot more people will die. Markets will also be rattled, so the whole world will pay with blood and uncertainty for the antics of one deranged man bent upon continuing as prime minister of Israel just to keep the spotlight away from his own criminal record.

Surely, there would be the odd voice in the American security establishment that’s started to warn Washington of the long-term costs of continuing to support Israel. Yet Netanyahu has timed his moves to perfection, taking full advantage of the lull provided by a disabled American president and an election still more than a month away.

So any check on his excesses, if and when it comes, can hardly be expected before sometime next year. With the blood of approximately 50,000 Gazan and Lebanese people already on his hands, who knows what Netanyahu will do in the time that he’s so cleverly created for himself.

The world watches but sadly, does nothing other than issuing statements and begging for ceasefires. What miscarriage of justice.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024