The Palestine “Tet Offensive” – 3 – As Washington and Tel Aviv Suffer from “Wounded Beast Syndrome” the War Widens

250 people, mostly Jews under the age of 40, gathered in protest at U.S. Congresswoman Diana DeGette’s office calling on her to sign on to a congressional resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Palestine

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Keep in mind that, as Aaron Mate noted, “Every Israeli atrocity is a joint Israeli-US atrocity

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The 1968 Vietnamese Tet Offensive which ripped the mask off of the illusion, the lie, that the United States was winning the war in Vietnam. It resulted in then President Johnson – unable to convince allies that the U.S. should nuke Vietnam – stepping down, not running for another term. Likewise the current Palestinian military offensive into S. Israel has shown that far from being defeated, that from somewhere – but where? – the resilience of the Palestinian people in their struggle to preserve their culture and restore their national rights also has no bounds. The shock waves from this offensive are changing the balance of power throughout the Middle East. The geo-political chemistry of the region has been irreversibly shaken.

In order to turn back the clock to the good old days when U.S. and Israeli diktat dominated, there are growing indications that, rather than Israel’s increasingly genocidal war against Palestine cooling down, it is heating up, expanding by the day to become regional if not global in dimension. The human suffering that the continued war will wreak not only on the Palestinians but on the whole region as well, including on Israel, will be too painful to imagine, making the recent Israeli bombing of Al Ahli Hospital simply the opening act for more egregious events to come. Keep in mind that, as Aaron Mate noted, “every Israeli atrocity is a joint Israeli-US atrocity.” The ensuing war is like to include American casualties – military or otherwise – as well. All this – or much of it – could be avoided if the United States and its allies changed course, got over their frenzied response to being punched in the nose by Hamas, and worked for a ceasefire.

The Netanyahu government, embarrassed and shocked by the Palestinian military offensive from Gaza into Southern Lebanon, the “breakout” from the open air concentration camp that is Gaza, is responding like the wounded beast that it is. While the pretext for Israel’s military offensive is to neutralize or in their own words “destroy Hamas” it is obvious that the main target of the Israeli bombing campaign is Gaza’s civilian population and that the goal is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians of as much of Gaza as possible and the incorporation of the would-be conquered zones into “Greater Israel.”

But no.

The Biden Administration’s veto of a Russian proposal at the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire was nothing short of a green light for Israel to continue its murderous offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza. Not only has the Biden Administration, the Israeli government and the European Union rejected a ceasefire, they are encouraging Israel to step up its military offensive. The (obvious) Israeli bombing of Al Ahli Hospital where more than 500 Palestinian civilians met horrible deaths has not dampened Israel’s military campaign. To the contrary. Nor have the pathetic attempts to blame the bombing – a war crime – on an Islamic Jihad missile gone astray – convinced anyone outside of the influence of the U.S. mainstream media, that Israel was not responsible.

The visits of U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and President Biden himself to Israel have left little doubt that any suggestion that the United States can initiate fair and neutral peace negotiations are dead in the water. It has, even more than in the past, thrown all its weight for defending Israel and left its historic Arab allies swinging by their tootsies in the wind. The US has deployed two carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean. Their goal is not so much to help Israel with its war against Gaza Palestinians but to take advantage of the current expanding crisis to fulfill other unachieved goals: to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon, achieve its long held goal of overthrowing the Assad government in Syria, weaken Iran’s growing influence and prestige and most important of all – undermine the growing Russian and Chinese influence in the region. In other words, the Biden Administration’s goal is to turn back the historical clock, to restore the balance of power in the region (and beyond) that existed in the past when Washington diktat determined most everything in the region.

None of this Biden Administration wet dream will come to pass by the way.

U.S. influence in the Middle East has been diminishing rapidly over the past decade as evidenced by its defeat at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, its failure despite herculean efforts to overthrow the governments of Iran and Syria (and Venezuela in Latin America). Its general reputation in the region has gone to hell as evidenced by the recent  Jordanian cancelling of a meeting  with Biden in Amman, Saudi Arabia’s shift to make peace with Iran and coordinate with it on the current crisis, the deep fissures within Israeli society itself between its more religious and secular constituencies. Blinken and Biden’s Middle East trips, together, were both big failures and Egypt is angry with both the U.S. and Israel for trying to dump Gaza civilians on the Sinai with no possibility of returning to Gaza. In this war, there is no way to hide, soft pedal the horrors that Israel is inflicting on the Palestinian people of Gaza even with an obedient mainstream media here in the USA and Western Europe. The carefully contrived illusion of Israel as “the Middle East’s only democratic state” loses its potency –  in fact it’s collapsing along with its hold over people – with every missile Israel drops on a Gaza school, mosque and church and with every rant of the likes of Alan “Peace Through Strength” Dershowitz.

It is a common “error” – of major proportions for the United States and Israel to underestimate adversaries. The litany of opponents Washington has underestimated is truly prodigious: to name a few – The Vietnamese, the Venezuelan Madero government, Cuba, the Taliban, the Assad government in Syria, the Iranian government. All are vilified by both the governments and mainstream media of both countries.  Once Russia invaded Ukraine in its special military operation the Biden Administration and the mainstream media expected Russia to collapse in response to sanctions, you know the “Russia is little more than a gas station with nuclear weapons” stuff.

There are consequences for underestimating one’s opponents.

Israel for its part has a long history of racist contempt for the Palestinians in particular, the Arabs and Muslims more generally and no government has underestimated the Palestinians more than the current Netanyahu government. This is mentioned because any idea that Israel’s offensive into Gaza proper or U.S. support for that to target Hezbollah, Syria or Iran – that these will be “cake walks” are going to be rudely surprised. The balance of power in the Middle East – as in the rest of the world – has shifted. No U.S. condoned Israeli war on Gaza will change that. Whether Americans or Israelis know or care, there is what is called “the Axis of Resistance” in the Middle East and whatever blows Washington and its proxies in Tel Aviv and the E.U through at it will be returned in kind.

Should they extend the war, Biden, Netanyahu, those dimwits in NATO and the EU are in for a rude awakening. If you think I will be “dancing in the streets” – you’re mistaken. Already I mourn the dead, most of which will be civilians. None of this bloodshed, the horrors of war had to happen. The age of military solutions to global political problems is long past, in the Middle East and beyond. Time for a ceasefire, for negotiations for peace. That we are a long way from this I know. How many tens, hundreds of thousands of dead will follow before a modicum of common sense, common humanity take hold. As a Tunisian Jewish friend told me a decade ago concerning another Middle East crisis – first it’s gonna get worse, and then it’s gonna get better. But until then … hold on to your seatbelts and  your hope for humanity. 

Palestinian Tet – 1– Washington’s Response

Palestinian Tet – 2 – The Hezbollah Factor