Apr.03

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Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Israel's Position Weakens

Yesterday, we had an item on the situation in Israel, which included a letter from reader J.K. in Short Hills, NJ, that was sharply critical of Hamas and the Palestinians. We got many responses sharply critical of Israel, in response; here's one from reader S.A.K. in Karnataka, India:

1. A two-state solution will make Benjamin Netanyahu an utter irrelevance. He will try with all his might to stop that from happening. You know, when you come to think of it, that would be the case for most politicians in Israel.
   
   
2. Netanyahu's days as PM are numbered, one way or the other. He is trying to use this war as a tool to hold onto power. Quelle surprise! The kind of political machinations seen in Israel mean we could still see him tossed out of office in the middle of all this.
   
   
3. For better or worse, Hamas is not going away from Gaza anytime soon. People who assume they will be gone are either naive or don't really know how things work in that part of the world.
   
   
4. I know Americans tend to hang onto every word their presidents say, especially after they have left office. That doesn't change the fact that a sleazebag like Bill Clinton can be trusted with almost nothing. Camp David was way more complicated than that one condescending statement from a liar.
   
   
5. Finally, even though the claims about Palestinian statehood being more of a possibility when parts of it were controlled by Jordan and Egypt might be true, what changed with Israeli occupation was the dehumanization and utterly cruel attitude towards Palestinians. Reaching levels of tyranny at times. That certainly plays a large part in increased calls for statehood.

Thanks for your comments, S.A.K.

We are in no position to evaluate the claims made by J.K. or by S.A.K.; it's just not our bailiwick. Our admittedly not-so-profound conclusion is that Israeli partisans are seeing things through Israel-colored glasses, while Palestinian partisans are seeing things through Palestine-colored glasses, both within Israel and without. This is entirely understandable, and it's also why a resolution is likely to come from external forces that are not as partisan.

That said, the posture of those external forces can and will be affected by events, as they unfold. And there have been two things this week that most certainly weakened the Israeli position, particularly vis-à-vis the United States.

The first of those things was Israel's bombing of an Iranian consulate in Syria, which resulted in the death of a high-ranking Iranian general. Obviously, Israel felt the attack was justified, particularly since they believe the dead general, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was working with Hezbollah and other militant anti-Israeli groups.

Still, under normal circumstances, Israel would have run their plans by the U.S. government. And, assuming the green light was given, the U.S. would have publicly supported the Israeli attack. After all, the last time a high-ranking Iranian general was killed like this, it was the U.S. that did it. However, the U.S. was not warned about the attack until it was underway, and has not expressed support for what the Israelis did. In fact, the Biden administration—which is very unhappy, fearing this will cause the violence to escalate and spread—took the very uncommon step of contacting the Iranian government and disclaiming any responsibility. This is pretty stark evidence of a fraying relationship between the Israeli and U.S. governments.

The second thing that is not going to help the Israelis is a story that most readers have undoubtedly heard about by now. José Andrés is well known as a Michelin-starred celebrity chef, but he might be even more well known for his charitable work around the world through World Central Kitchen (WCK), which is focused on feeding people in times of crisis (usually natural disasters, but sometimes wars and other catastrophes). WCK sent a delegation to Gaza, carefully coordinating their plans with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Unfortunately, that precaution was not enough, and the WCK's convoy was hit by Israeli missiles, killing seven WCK staffers.

Please be clear that we are making no judgments as to how things SHOULD work, we are only talking here about how they DO work. And the fact is that those seven dead people give a face to what is going on in Palestine, very much to the detriment of the Israeli government. They clearly were not combatants, they clearly were not being used as human shields for missile batteries or tanks, they were just there to help. And, as noted, they specifically cleared their movements with the IDF. If you wanted compelling evidence for the claim that the IDF is firing missiles indiscriminately, without regard for their targets, you couldn't come up with something much more compelling than this. Whether the claim is actually true, the WCK tragedy makes it LOOK like it's true. And in times of war, people tend to believe their own eyes above all else.

In any event, Israel has been absolutely excoriated for the attack, by Andrés, by Joe Biden, by House Democrats, by UK PM Rishi Sunak, and by many others. Netanyahu knows he has a PR disaster on his hands, and has acknowledged the "unfortunate" incident, while semi-apologizing and stating "we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again." That is not Netanyahu's usual MO, so it says something that he's gone into damage-control mode.

We don't have the faintest idea what the military situation is, but it's clear that the war of public opinion is slipping away from the current leadership of Israel. And given the importance of outsiders in that region and in this conflict, that is a real problem for Netanyahu. (Z)