A good article by a good friend, it was written early January, now two and a half months later the horrible saga still goes on, and Mr. Biden believes ,as he declared in his recent State of the Union speech that a little temporary dock to offload maritime humanitarian aid will suffice to deter Israel from its diabolical plans to transfer the entire population of Palestine from Gaza and the West bank, including East Jerusalem, invade and take some very fertile and water rich southern Lebanon to border the Litany river and force the solution on Lebanon, the US and the world, there is no limits to fascist supremacy whether it's Israeli or Western politicians or any supposedly super power or theocracy. In the past few decades we in the US, and the West enforced a new concept, terrorists and terrorism, I just wonder who's the more deserving of this honor.
The Netanyahu government is no longer certain that the assault on Gaza is a winner no matter how many Palestinians they kill. Specifically, it is expected that Mr. Netanyahu will be a big loser when this war ends. Therefore it is in his interest and that of his extremist government coalition to prolong the war and expand it to Lebanon for a start and even draw in a war with Iran. Fifty one percent of Israelis support expanding the war to Lebanon as a safeguard against Hezballah. Although the US has been vigorously advising Netanyahu against expanding the war, Netanyahu may go ahead and attack Lebanon. What will the US do? It will be forced to come to Israel's aid. Or will it?
Until yesterday, the US had two Aircraft carrier groups in the Mediterranean. Yesterday President Biden ordered the Gerald Ford carrier group back to Virginia, leaving only the Eisenhower group. Is that a signal to Israel? And given that there is already a lot of public opinion in the US against Israel's war on Gaza, is the US president confident that engaging the US in a Middle East war will not generate upheaval at home much like the war on Vietnam did?
The official US is pledged to support Israel no matter what. But what Israel? Long supported by the people of the United States as a democratic country, the onslaught on Gaza has unmasked Israel as a blood thirsty supremacist colonial enterprise bent on wiping out the Palestinian people and taking over all of Palestine, not only Gaza but through expanding settlements in the West Bank. People, especially younger people in the USA, are waking up to what Israel really is and large numbers of Americans are no longer willing to support Israel no matter what. And they are beginning to express themselves. Any US Administration needs to be keenly aware of the changing mood at home. This, at a time when the overwhelming UN General Assembly vote of 12 December for a ceasefire in Gaza showed how isolated the US is in its "no matter what" support of Israel policy. For internal and international reasons, the Administration therefore no doubt feels compelled to question that policy. Maybe the Administration will press much harder to prevent Israel from Expanding the war.
This is a year of US Presidential elections. President Biden is not doing so well and it promises to be a very tight race. So far President Biden's support for Israel's war on Gaza has alienated Arab and Muslim voters in states that count like Michigan and Pennsylvania. That alone could lose him the race. But he could still get that vote if (a) he takes some practical action to hinder Israel's appetite for war, such as withholding some of the armaments and political support and (b) starts visible action in support of his verbal endorsement of a two state solution. Making some nice even-handed talk about Palestine and Israel will not be enough to get him the votes he needs.
A number of things are at stake: War, internal upheavals in the US, and Presidential elections. Time is of the essence. Israel is ready to strike Lebanon unless the US stops it.
H. 3Jan2024
My many thanks as always to all.
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