The Israeli military recently announced that it executed an airstrike on Friday, in a heavily populated region of southern Beirut, leading to the death of a high-ranking Hezbollah military official. This operation was regarded as the most lethal of its kind in the Lebanese capital in several years, with sources indicating that a minimum of 14 additional casualties occurred in the attack. In the aftermath of this aggressive action, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the nation has entered a new stage of warfare, emphasizing that their efforts have only commenced and that they aim to bring about changes in the Middle East.
As usual, the United States has reiterated Israel’s entitlement to self-defense against assaults from Hezbollah during a recent United Nations Security Council meeting focused on the situation in Lebanon. In the session that took place last Friday, US Deputy Ambassador to the Security Council, Robert Wood, remarked that Hezbollah has persisted in its attacks on Israel, bolstered by support from Iran, and underscored that Israel is justified in its efforts to safeguard itself from these aggressions.
Netanyahu’s announcement is not without precedent. The initial occurrence took place when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed to change the Middle East in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. A year ago, it was evident that Netanyahu was gearing up for a substantial military operation against the Gaza Strip, with the objective of eliminating Hamas and other adversarial factions. Additionally, there were anticipations that Netanyahu aimed to convince the United States to engage in a significant conflict in the region, with the goals of overthrowing the Iranian regime and dismantling Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Despite the fact that the United States has made significant moves to withdraw from the Middle East since 2021, particularly under the Biden administration. However, Now, it appears that the administration is merely acquiescing to the directives of Netanyahu, who aims to expand Israel’s dominance in the region through aggressive means. Biden’s steadfast support for Netanyahu can be seen as a troubling form of complicity that overlooks the interests of the United States. This situation reflects a dangerous and unusual alliance between a ruthless military leader known for his violent actions and a senile Zionist figure who is easily swayed and has little to lose following his exit from the presidential race. This is the current landscape in the Middle East, where we are ensnared between Netanyahu’s reckless aggression and Biden’s complicity and senility. In essence, we find ourselves trapped between two formidable threats, akin to the mythical monsters Scylla and Charybdis.
Despite Israel’s historical full support from the United States, and the fact that all U.S. presidents have approached the Palestinian issue primarily as a refugee matter rather than recognizing it as a struggle of a people seeking to reclaim their homeland, the United States has consistently maintained the upper hand. Even today, the U.S. has the capacity to deter Netanyahu by halting military aid and political support; however, Biden refuses to take this action.
Since the onset of the conflict, the United States has provided extensive political, diplomatic, and military support to Israel, facilitating what has become one of the largest operations of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip. This operation, which commenced on October 7, 2023, has resulted in the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of Palestinians, alongside the widespread destruction of vast areas within Gaza, forcing over a million Palestinians to flee their homes.
As the Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip continued, on December 8, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the activation of Article 99 of the UN Charter, which mandates a humanitarian ceasefire in response to threats to international peace and security. However, the United States once again exercised its veto power against the resolution, resulting in the Security Council’s failure to adopt a binding decision, mirroring previous instances. Additionally, American pressure persisted to obstruct the passage of ceasefire resolutions, leading to a new Security Council resolution on December 22 that focused solely on facilitating humanitarian aid access for the residents of Gaza.
Washington characterized Israel’s war against the Gaza Strip as intrinsically linked to the strategic security of both Israel and the United States. This assertion was underscored by President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on the twelfth day following the onset of hostilities in Gaza. American media sources reported that Biden positioned himself as a guarantor of Israel’s security in its “self-defense” actions against the Palestinian group Hamas. Furthermore, these American assurances were accompanied by the deployment of the aircraft carriers USS Gerald Ford and USS Eisenhower to the region, which was interpreted as a warning to regional nations against intervening in the conflict, a scenario that could potentially escalate into a broader regional war in the Middle East.
In the meantime, the Biden administration utilized emergency powers to transfer substantial quantities of arms, munitions, equipment, and military supplies to Israel without congressional oversight, as reported by The Washington Post. This immediate transaction was valued at approximately $5.106 million, followed by additional agreements aimed at facilitating attacks on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. Over the past 75 years, the United States has provided Israel with around $158 billion in economic aid and military financing. In 2022 alone, military and economic assistance to Israel amounted to approximately $8.4 billion, and following October 7, the air bridge of American aircraft continued to supply Israel with various types of weaponry.
The unprecedented support from the Biden administration for Netanyahu’s escalation in the region has made it evident that Biden, in the twilight of his presidency, intends to empower Netanyahu in achieving Israel’s paramount national objective, as articulated in various Israeli studies. This objective is the establishment of a Greater Israel with a pure Jewish identity, positioned as a dominant regional power in the Middle East. To realize this goal in the forthcoming phase, Netanyahu is expected to pursue an escalation in the Middle East aimed at annexing as much territory as possible that Israel occupied in 1967, as well as areas seized in Lebanon in 1982. This strategy is designed to meet Israel’s geostrategic security requirements, secure additional water resources, and assert legitimacy over these lands while ensuring the removal of Arab populations to preserve the Jewish identity. The military strategy will focus on achieving these aims through significant deterrence and retaliatory measures, facilitating annexation and settlement activities, and the Judaization of the territories, while maintaining political, economic, and cultural control over the region, alongside self-reliance in military and economic matters.
In this sense, Netanyahu’s perspective on transforming the Middle East appears unambiguous, with the confrontations involving Hezbollah and Hamas functioning primarily as a justification for Israel’s territorial ambitions in the area. Although this aspiration may currently appear remote and difficult to realize, the intensifying measures taken by Israel, in conjunction with the backing and complicity of the United States, are likely to result in severe repercussions.
Dr Marwa El- Shinawy – Academic and Writer
