Israel’s Global War of Terror escalates, bringing the world to the brink (again) of World War III
Where are the voices in positions of power in the U.S. condemning the genocide in Gaza — or even using the word “genocide?” Where are the voices criticizing Israel for the assassination of U.S. citizens in Palestine, citizens such as Shireen Abu Akleh and Ayensur Ezgi Eygi come to mind, as well as Amado Sison, the New Jersey teacher recently injured in the occupied West Bank. With each incident, the silence of the U.S. State Department has been deafening. The silence, in part, provides diplomatic cover for the actions of the Israeli military.
This doesn’t even include the killings of thousands of Gazan civilians, the vast majority of whom are children (approximately 17,000 at the time of this writing). There is no outrage on the part of the highest levels of the U.S. government. In fact, as FightBackBetter.com has indicated on multiple occasions, the RNC and the DNC revealed no change in policy toward Israel and its genocide, and the recent Presidential debate when it touched on U.S. policy toward Israel was largely a debate over which political party, Democrat or Republican, would provide more weapons and stand more steadfastly behind Israel in its genocide.
But what happened over a two day period this week in Lebanon should be a game changer. The whole world should be condemning the terrible terrorist attacks carried out throughout Lebanon, first with the exploding pagers and then the exploding walkie talkies, and lastly the solar energy generators as well. Why? The tactic, most likely employed by Israel in its “war” against Hezbollah is both a blatant violation of international law on numerous counts and threatens to bring the region into a wider war, a wider war which could become nuclear at any point, as well as introducing this “techno-terror tactic” to the rest of the world. Imagine living in Lebanon today and being afraid to use a cell phone or living anywhere in the world and worrying about what might happen to your cell phone.
Craig Mokhiber, a former UN employee and human rights official, who resigned on October 28, 2023 (4 days before he was scheduled to retire) because the UN was failing to act to stop the genocide in Gaza, appeared on “The Katie Halper Show” on September 18th to discuss these incidents. Prior to his appearance on this show, he had called the country-wide attacks illegal and immoral.
He expanded on these points during his interview.
- International humanitarian law (IHL) prohibits indiscriminate attacks against civilians.
- Booby traps, like the ones supposedly engineered for these attacks, are generally prohibited by IHL because they are generally designed to look like harmless objects, attractive to civilians, and so designed to lure innocent civilians into holding or using them.
- Hezbollah is also a political party in Lebanon, so some people injured or killed by the explosions will be civilians. Mokhiber specifically mentioned the Ambassador of Iran, one of the wounded, who is clearly a civilian. This violates the principle of distinction.
- It also violates the principles of proportionality and precaution, which require military actions to avoid and minimize harm to civilian lives. Some people were likely driving, could have been on an airplane, or were out shopping in crowded areas, making potential harm to civilian lives almost incalculable.
To date, the explosions have killed a total of at least 32 people, including a 10 year old girl and a teenager, and wounded upwards of 3000 people. It is quite likely that these numbers will rise.
The events of the past few days, then, should make the whole world stand up and take notice. They should be soundly and roundly condemned as “acts of terror.” Israel should no longer receive special treatment as perpetrators in these matters. This is likely yet another in a long line of aggressive actions by Israel, indiscriminate in its targets, flaunting and violating international law, in pursuit of its desires to appropriate and annex so much additional land for the Greater Israel Plan. Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank are all part of the Greater Israel Plan. While Israel and its allies cry anti-semitism for just about anything down to the wearing of a keffiyeh, they need to be called out on their Islamophobia and their treatment of Muslims, many of whom are also Semites. Their Islamophobia continues to carve up the world into “us” and “them” — something that was promoted by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney immediately after 9/11. Who can forget those leaders saying, “You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists.” (By the way, we just observed the 23rd anniversary of that day!)
When Donald Trump tried to enact a Muslim ban at U.S. airports, many activists rightfully protested this and the ban was lifted. But where is the Democratic Party opposition to this latest action? Is it a coincidence that Dick Cheney and his daughter, along with perhaps 200 other Republicans, just endorsed Kamala Harris? The entire Democratic Party has now morphed into a right-wing entity, standing steadfastly behind the Israeli government and its genocidal leaders, looking to gain international support for international terrorism as well.
If the genocide and this long litany of violations of international humanitarian law, including the explosions in Lebanon earlier this week, bother you, (as they should) there is one and only one choice for president in November 2024. That option would be Jill Stein and Butch Ware of the Green Party. Not only have both Dr. Stein and Dr. Ware condemned the genocide on multiple occasions, they have also called forcefully for an arms embargo, something Kamala Harris refused to do. Senator Bernie Sanders now seems to be adding that call to his statements, but he no longer holds sway within the party and may only be doing it to win over some Muslim voters to the Democratic Party ticket.
As of now, Stein/Ware are leading among Muslim voters in at least 3 swing states. Perhaps all this is designed to try to “salvage” the campaign of Kamala Harris among that demographic. But as James Baldwin has said, “I can’t believe what you say because I see what you do.”
Is Total Middle East War the Kamala Election Strategy? October Surprise?
