One does not need to be exceptionally intelligent to realize that events will reach their current state on the eve of the assassination of the Palestinian leader and head of the Palestinian resistance, Ismail Haniyeh, in the Iranian capital, Tehran, while he was participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president, and that we will be within a stone’s throw of an all-out war.
This is primarily due to the fragility witnessed in the US political system and the incompetence of President Joe Biden and his team, without absolving the US administration that is stacked with a team of ardent Zionists who want to impose this criminal, racist entity and make it dominate the region under the pretext of “peace”. The definition of this has become apparent in US and Israeli rhetoric, based on genocide and killing and accepting no less than the complete surrender as is required of Hamas today in the Gaza Strip.
This American fragility, for which Biden is mainly responsible, as he is unable to exercise any role in managing his country, let alone the management of international affairs, has resulted in the Zionist lobby’s domination of the American decision. This has pushed towards an all-out war, even if that will lead to a third world war, in which Biden will not hesitate to engage.
In a previous article, I mentioned that Benjamin Netanyahu is backed by a powerful lobby in the US, especially in decision-making circles such as Congress. With a relatively inactive president like Biden, Netanyahu may escalate aggression against countries like Lebanon, Iran and Yemen. This could draw the US into the region and entangle it in an unprecedented regional war, diverting its focus from strategic interests in the context of competition with China and others.
The recent events indicate a decline in US sovereignty and dominance both internationally and domestically. Despite America’s repeated claims about promoting peace and inclusion of new Arab countries in regional normalization efforts led by Saudi Arabia, their policy of building an Arab-Israeli alliance known as the “Arab NATO” has been denied, particularly following a confrontation with Iran in response to the targeting of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. However, this confrontation serves as evidence of the alliance’s existence. It will be a fundamental driver of the legitimacy of the Arab regimes and will be the reason for the collapse of some of them and the entry of the region into a state of lasting instability, which will be directed primarily not only against Israel but also against the US.
It is not surprising that the first victims of this adventure led by the extremist Zionist war criminal Netanyahu will be the Arab regimes, and the loser in this confrontation will be the eroding American superiority and sovereignty, day by day.
We recall that some Arabs aligned themselves with Nazi Germany in World War II, despite the Nazis’ classification of the Arabs as the lowest on the human scale, not out of love for Nazism but out of hatred for Britain and British colonialism.
It is not unlikely that Israel, which assassinated Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in sovereign capitals without being bound by any law, custom or red lines, is behind a series of criminal assassinations. The assassination of Haniyeh reopens the case of the death of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi. Some have questioned the circumstances of his death, speculating that it may have been an assassination despite the lack of clear statements on the matter.
Instead of pressuring Israel to respect the sovereignty of states and international norms, the US has struggled to support it and threaten the use of force to defend it, granting it legitimacy and justification for its violations of that sovereignty and the commission of crimes despite its awareness of the gravity of these actions at the regional and international levels and their impact on peace in the region.
Today, it seems unlikely that there will be any chance for peace, a limited ceasefire or a prisoner exchange deal in the Gaza Strip. Israel has spread false information about the events of 7 October, including claims of sexual assaults and the killing of children, which independent reports have proven untrue. Additionally, Israel has implemented the Hannibal Directive, which involves the killing of Israeli prisoners along with their Palestinian captors by the Israeli army in order to prevent their capture. This confirms that Israel is not interested in peace or calm, even on a limited scale.
During the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, Israel was responsible for massive destruction as well as the elimination of all prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza by exterminating them along with the Palestinian people. This explains the large number of prisoners killed in Israeli bombardments during the war.
The world is facing a new disaster led by Israel, the main title of which is the weakness of the US position and the fading of the European position to the point of identification with the Zionist position. We must prepare for a highly bloody and challenging phase.
-Dr Mohammad Makram Balawi is the Director General of League of Parliamentarians for alQuds (LP4Q). His article appeared in MEMO.
