Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed on Tuesday that he wants Israel’s military to maintain an open-ended occupation of the Gaza Strip after the current war.
“Gaza must be demilitarized. And in order for Gaza to be demilitarized, there is only one force which can ensure this demilitarization – and this force is the Israel Defense Forces,” Netanyahu said. “No international force can be responsible for this.”
Netanyahu’s comments come after a report from POLITICO said the Biden administration has been drafting a plan for the Palestinian Authority, which administers some areas of the West Bank, to take over post-war Gaza. But Netanyahu has made clear he’s opposed to the idea.
According to Israel’s Kan 11 broadcaster, Netanyahu recently told members of the Knesset, “Not only will there not be a renewed Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the war, there will be no Palestinian authority in Gaza at all.” The report said that Netanyahu had expressed his view on the matter to the US.
Besides Netanyahu’s strong objection to the US plan, the PA, led by Mahmoud Abbas, also has little legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinians after decades of failing to protect them from settlers and Israeli forces in the West Bank.
Leaked documents and comments from Israeli officials have revealed that the ultimate goal of the Israeli government is to expel all of the Palestinians from Gaza, but resistance from Egypt and other Arab nations stands in the way.
A report from Israel Hayom said a plan was recently submitted to Congress that proposed conditioning US aid to Arab states on their willingness to accept Palestinian refugees.
Careful what you wish for.
Israel can’t defeat Hamas in battle, so what’s next?
After a seven-day lull in the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, the resumption of hostilities has been given another green light from Washington. Having failed to lead its Israeli allies towards military victory, the US is permitting a dangerous escalation and rejects a peaceful solution that will prevent further civilian suffering.
Just minutes after the departure of US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, from Palestine/Israel, the war in Gaza resumed, with a large aerial onslaught on Palestinian civilian infrastructure resulting in the deaths of nearly 200 civilians. The White House spokesperson John Kirby announced continued support for Israel’s “right and responsibility to go after Hamas,” but to what end is unclear. As the likes of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak admits that Hamas is far from falling apart, it begs the question: what really is the point of this war?
Following six weeks of war that resulted in likely over 20,000 Palestinian deaths, the Israeli military has failed to produce any evidence that it has made a significant dent on the military capabilities of Hamas and the other Palestinian armed groups in the besieged coastal enclave. While Israel forced its way into the major hospitals in northern Gaza, claiming that Hamas was using the sites as bases and command-and-control centers, the evidence produced by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) does not support these allegations. The US government backed the idea that a command node had existed at the Shifa Hospital, and when the Israeli forces entered the hospital compound they presented weapons they claimed to have found there, as well as an empty tunnel. Any such images released to the public are curated and edited by the Israeli army, but if independently verified, they could serve as evidence of militant presence – still, not proof of a control center or node. Little of note was discovered in other hospitals, and American claims of having solid intel that confirms Israeli claims is dubious, considering previous public statements such as US President Joe Biden’s words about having seen “confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children” which the White House later had to walk back.
At the start of this war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government was going to “crush Hamas,” a goal that the US government backed publicly. Yet, Hamas has managed to not only inflict the largest blow against Israel in its history, but has also defended Gaza on the ground with countless documented cases of success against Israeli forces. The whole world is now talking about the formation of a Palestinian State, an idea that had been all but abandoned in favor of unconditional normalization agreements between Arab States and Israel, prior to the war. In addition to this, one of the predictable outcomes of the Israeli war on Gaza, has been a tremendous uptick in support for Hamas throughout the occupied territories. In the Middle East and throughout the Muslim World, Hamas militants have become heroes and are widely viewed as a valiant national resistance.
The Saudi-Israeli normalization deal, which the Biden administration’s Middle East policy revolved around, is dead in the water at this time as Riyadh moves closer to Tehran. According to Israeli polling data, Benjamin Netanyahu is only trusted by 4% of Israelis, while the most trusted national figure was recorded to be Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari. Hagari, despite being trusted by Israelis, was turned into the “there is a list guy” and an online meme, after presenting a video in which he claimed a regular Arabic calendar named “terrorists”. That video, in which he referred to the list, was supposed to show evidence of Hamas keeping hostages at the Rantisi Children’s Hospital.
At least 10 countries have either withdrawn ambassadors from, or suspended ties with, Israel. All this as the largest pro-Palestinian protests to have ever taken place in the West continue to occur in capital cities like London and Washington DC. This, combined with a considerable drop in Joe Biden’s approval rating, all spell disaster for the US-supported war in Gaza.
The White House claims that it is putting certain restrictions on the Israeli army as it plans to invade the south of Gaza, but in the same breath offers unconditional support for Israel’s actions. At no point has the US government taken any responsibility for what has happened since October 7, there has been no apology for their lies, no change in strategy and no acknowledgement in the role that Washington has played in creating the situation on the ground in Gaza that facilitated the Hamas attack.
The real question now is: Where do we go from here? Israel aimlessly fights in Gaza and continues to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians, there is no sign of a Hamas defeat on the horizon and the humanitarian situation, which is described as “the worst ever” by UN Relief Chief Martin Griffiths, is further deteriorating. While these elements are all to be taken seriously, there is also the specter of a regional war erupting in the event that the Israeli attack escalates against Gaza. Lebanese Hezbollah is currently engaged in frequent battles along the Lebanese border and has been expanding the scope of its attacks on Israeli military targets.
The Gaza truce is a sign that Hamas can’t be defeated
The prisoner exchanges which took place between Israel and Hamas proved that the Palestinian group was capable of being engaged diplomatically. The exchange also worked to expose to the world that Israel was also holding women and children captive without any charges. Israeli civilian captives who were released, the majority of whom were filmed smiling, shaking the hands of and thanking Hamas fighters upon their releases, have been blocked from speaking to the media about their experiences directly. On the other hand, Palestinian women and children recounted abuse, torture and humiliation that they had suffered at the hands of their Israeli jailers. This represented another public-relations debacle for the Israeli government, who came off looking more guilty than Hamas.
The US government is in the driver’s seat of the war. It has the power to end the conflict at any time but continues to prolong this disaster. During the seven-day pause in hostilities, nothing shifted in Israel’s favor to make its victory possible. There can be no military solution to the war in Gaza, the US must recognise that this conflict will never end until the Palestinian people are granted justice and freedom. For 75 years the governments of the collective West have ignored the suffering of the Palestinian people, they have never been objective peace-brokers. Violence begets violence and hate begets hate, it is not possible to simply murder the Palestinians into submission. Even if Hamas were to be defeated, there will be more groups that emerge to take revenge for their fallen and fight for statehood in the future. If the international community comes together, this cycle can be broken, but it is going to take courage.
https://www.rt.com/news/588481-idf-israel-war-gaza/
GC,Great writing.One of the best summaries ever. Anyone with an ounce of smarts except Zionists knows the truth behind the actions of Israel and the US.
Well that is Russia view of the war.
What?
Who do think owns and controls rt.com? Hint: It is a major propaganda outlet of a certain country.
When a column by, e.g., a European writer appears in, e.g., the Los Angeles Times, do you tell people that it represents an American view? Or a Southern California view?
Inlakesh is an independent journalist/analyst who writes about West Asian issues in a variety of publications. He has strong pro-Palestinian views. I think he lives in London these days.
Russia was negative when the first reports came out that Hamas had slaughtered civilians. Things changed after it became clear that a large portion of the Israeli civilians killed were from Israeli helicopters snd tanks.
Russia has avoided civilian harm in Ukraine and appears to have changed now that it is clear Israelis slaughter innocent civilians just like Americans do.
Hezbollah has not reacted with full force. It has been estimated that they have over 100,000 rockets.
And Heabollah will not join the fight. If they have not by now, they will not. They will fire a few rockets here and there, but a full scale attack no way.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2d2d31dff5db2a1db60a0970c7859220ccd4fbfecd43e92da4c30f83da73e61e.jpg
This is not a war against Hamas. It is a war against Palestinians.
Israeli strikes are generated at a dizzying rate, many of them from a system called “Habsora” — The Gospel — which is built on artificial intelligence that selects 100 targets a day. The AI-system is described by seven current and former Israeli intelligence officials in an article by Yuval Abraham on the Israeli sites +972 Magazine and Local Call, as facilitating a “mass assassination factory.” Israel, once it locates what it assumes to be a Hamas operative from a cell phone, for example, bombs and shells a wide area around the target, killing and wounding tens, and at times hundreds of Palestinians, the article states.
Please remember to include links/citations/attribution in posts such as this one. I make this request because I have noticed that you frequently do not do so.
The image is by Mr. Fish and was published with a column by Chris Hedges in Scheerpost:
Israel Reopens the Gaza Slaughterhouse
The +972 story is here:
A mass assassination factory
i choose not to ‘many’ times since it is my choice to do so or not…
OK. Just so you know that you are choosing to undermine your credibility with readers who care about such things. You also “choose” not to follow standard practices of capitalization and punctuation, which suggests you don’t much care about making your writing readily readable and understandable. Why do you bother to write and post?
That would be a big mistake by Israel. Get the hostages back, leave Gaza, seal the border between Israel and Gaza and lift the sea blockade. . Make it clear to Gaza, that Israel will flatten all of Gaza by air if they ever attack Israel again. If you do this, the future of Gaza is end their hands.
Being an unapologetic fan of genocide is a really ugly look.
Can you explain what in the comment is genocide? This is a plan for Gaza to become a post war region free to do what they want. With the exception of course of attacking Israel. In this plan Gaza can trade and get aid via Egypt and the Sea. They could even apply to become a nation with the UN.
You clearly approve of a threat to “flatten all of Gaza,” just as you approve of the flattening of Gaza that has actually happened already and continues today. In the context of the intent expressed by Israeli officials, that flattening is unquestionably part of a campaign of genocide. And you approve.
If you give Gaza their freedom like I proposed and they choose to start another war with Israel, then yes I am OK with flattening Gaza. As for the current campaign by Israel their response to Oct 7 attack is correct. Hamas put the forts under the ground of very populated area. They choose the battlefield, not Israel. So all the death and destruction is on Hamas. Hamas can end the destruction by surrendering.
Hamas plan for this war was to get as many civilians killed as possible and than claim Israel is committing genocide. They wanted the international “PR” points. Every time someone calls Israel campaign genocide, they are feeding into this plan. Thus prolonging the war and deaths that come with it. So you are part the problem not part of solution.
You confirm what I wrote: You are an unapologetic fan of genocide.
You are enjoying the Anti-Israel press the comes with collateral damage inherited in urban war. You don’t care how many innocent Palestinians die in the cross fire as long someone blames Israel and ignores the crimes of Hamas who started this war. That makes you part of the problem not part of solution.
“Collateral damage.” Have you no shame?
Israeli apartheid and totalitarian austerity colonialism started this war. Hamas acted to derail a cozy relationship between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Tim:
You are being a tad overly simplistic about the entire situation… We are talking about EVERYONES RIGHT TO SURVIVE.
Are YOU antiwar?Pro PEACE or a genocidal maniac?!
This is your first post stepping in the right direction, Timothy ! A two-state solution – doing now what Israel should have done at any point in the past 30 years.
Let trade & foreign investment bring the prosperity to Palestinians that generations of Israeli imprisonment never afforded them.
That said (by us both) the Apartheid State of Israel LLC does not want a peaceful Palestinian Gaza. It wants a “racially pure” province added on to the ASI, for True Israelis alone.
Who will “flatten” Israel when they crank up the raids, settler killings of Palestinians, burning of Palestinians crops, and others.
What Israel has been doing to Gaza for decades has been an occupation.
They control it, but at arms length by reaching out and killing with snipers and tanks and bombers, and controlling all access and rationing food and fuel and even medicine.
Putting men on the ground might be less deadly. It would not be any more an occupation. It would just deny Israel the lie that Gaza is independent of their control.
And, with raids. Constant raids, with abduction of young Palestinians.
OCCUPATION=WAR CRIMES.
WTF! Israel has occupied Gaza and the West Bank for 75 years, blockaded the areas for 16 years! “Open ended” means the ability to conduct raids, shoot Palestinians, etc, etc, etc.
We will demilitarise by militarising !
Genius. What a clown.
Not much difference between the PA controlling Gaza and the IOF as the Zionists gov’t controls the PA and Abbas. Neither should control Gaza. The Occupied Territories need to become independent of the Zionists which means new elections and for the Zionists to live with the results. Also there needs to be a UN military force (military members not from the US and its poodles) not sympathetic to the Zionists protecting the independent Palestinians territories from the Zionists.
I would literally soil my trousers if some right-thinking nation visited some of that democracy on Israel’s Zionists they seem to want to impose on the Palestinians. A couple of Russian TU-95’s that just happen to flatten half of Tel Aviv would be a good start. Of course, like the USS Liberty, it would be a case of mistaken identity- the pilots thought they were attacking Ukrainian targets. There’s so much US made equipment in both Israeli and Ukrainian forces it’s hard to tell them apart sometimes. Dang, that sucks.
And I want open-ended war crimes trials for the Bibi-Joey twins.