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3rd Lebanese-Israeli war, Ben Gvir, Gaza, Gaza 2024, Gaza Genocide, Hamas, Israel, palestine, USA wars, Why the USA supports Israel
For the United States, as we have seen on the ground, the goal of its war on the Palestinian people, and all those who stand by them, is not to impose a new “American order,” but rather to continue the state of war, conflicts, and instability…
(This article was first published in Arabic on October 13, on the Arab48 website and on Haifa al-Hurrah)
With the genocidal war continuing for over a year, with no prospect of stopping the daily massacres committed against the people of the Gaza Strip, and with the expansion of the attack on Lebanon in unhindered brutality, it seems that these tragedies have become the “normal state” of our region. It is natural for us to be in a state of panic, and to feel helpless and paralysed, in the face of the brutality of the massacres and destruction, which are unprecedented even in the history of the conflict filled with killing and disasters over more than a hundred years.
Still, in my opinion, one of the reasons for the helplessness, paralysis and anger at ourselves is the difficulties we encounter in analysing the events, and the inability to grasp the context of the current stage of the historical confrontation, due to the abundance of painful details.
Regional and Global War
This is the first time since 1973 that the war between Israel and its Arab surroundings has included several fronts simultaneously. Over the last year, some supporters of Palestine complained that Hezbollah is “satisfied with the role of a support front” in the face of the tragedies in Gaza. Now Israel has taken the initiative to turn Lebanon into another arena for mass bloodshed and a display of its destructive capabilities. Farther, Israeli provocations against Iran accumulate, trying to drag it into deepening and expanding confrontation. On the other hand, the United States, Britain, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand have all volunteered to bomb poor Yemen, as punishment for its solidarity with the Palestinian people.
This is the longest war in the history of the conflict, since the Great Arab Revolt in Palestine, which lasted four years (1936-1939). Although the war began with the largest military blow to the Zionist state by the Palestinian resistance in the attack of October 7, 2023, Hamas has set specific tactical goals for the war, such as blocking the normalization deals that were planned at the expense of ignoring the rights of the Palestinian people, lifting the siege of the Gaza Strip, exchanging prisoners, and preserving the Islamic character of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
As for Israel, as it denies the legitimacy of the Palestinian presence on “its land,” it refuses to even define political goals for its war, and refuses to consider any vision for the day after the war. Hence, it adopted the doctrine of “military resolution” of the conflict by the erasure of any resistance, along with the human environment that supports it. It leads to genocide and the destruction of all the necessities of human life. Now it is applying the same criminal doctrine in its war on Lebanon.
The Palestinians, the Lebanese and other peoples of the region are being bombed by American fighter jets using US-made bombs. The genocide is being carried out by soldiers whose salaries are paid from the US budget, and this superpower provides them with impunity in all international forums. While the United States had presented itself, in the early stages, as a mediator seeking to stop the war, it has finally revealed its true face, and did not even bother to propose the “last chance for a ceasefire in Gaza” that it promised in the media, just as it refuses today any serious talks about a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Who determines the course of the war?
The mainstream media tend to paint a semi-caricature of the political axes that control the course of this confrontation. They talk, time and again, about American attempts to calm the situation or to conclude a ceasefire and a prisoners’ exchange deal; then we hear Ben-Gvir and Smotrich screaming and shouting and threatening to bring down the government; next, Netanyahu’s denies any promises he made previously and announces more violent steps to expand the aggression; finally, the United States provides more weapons, money, and political and military cover for any new adventure. We are required to believe that it is a strange extreme case of the popular expression that says “the tail wags the dog,” or even “the tick on the dog’s tail is what wags it,” or that Ben-Gvir is dictating his policies to poor and weak America.
We might have believed this ridiculous play if it had been about the senile true-believer Zionist Joe Biden. But let us not forget that the United States is a state of institutions. This policy is strongly and stubbornly supported by all branches of its government, its two political parties, and the overwhelming majority in the Senate and House of Representatives. It is promoted and justified by its conservative and liberal newspapers alike, and its army, its transnational corporations, and its European allies are all mobilized to implement it… Is Ben-Gvir really capable of manipulating them all? Isn’t it time to take the US seriously, and consider it capable of identifying its interests, and to judge it by its actions, not by its deceit misleading PR facade?
In all global political forums, the USA and its allies reiterate the need to preserve the “world order,” a system that denies the possibility of a safe place on earth for the Palestinian people. This system, within its most important pillars, guarantees Israel’s “strategic superiority” in the face of any possible alliance between the countries and peoples of the region, and thus the necessity of keeping the peoples of the region in a state of oppression, backwardness, and strife.
In their attempt to glorify and justify the imperialist world order, in contrast to the alternatives on offer, its supporters boast that it is a “value-based system.” The imperialist-Zionist genocidal war against the Palestinian people has exposed the true essence of these “values.” Its holy grail is the superiority of the “white race,” and the cheapness of the blood of oppressed peoples, or even a free license to kill them.
Why does the USA seek to spread wars?
After the end of the cold war, we became accustomed to looking at the USA as the sole superpower that controls the fate of humanity. However, things have evolved, and by economic criteria, China is challenging the USA, and even surpassed it in many ways. According to the latest information, China was responsible for 31.6% of the world’s industrial output, compared to 15.9% for the United States. China is the number one exporter by a large margin, which means that it produces the goods that others want to buy. China is also the leading trading partner for most countries in the world.
But even as the US productive power declines, the US maintains its military supremacy. In 2023, the US spent $916 billion on building its military, compared to $296 billion for China. The US military is still deployed around the world, a remnant of its status as the “world’s policeman.” The US (According to the IBON Foundation report) has bilateral military agreements with 179 countries, 742 military bases in 82 countries and regions, 171,736 military personnel deployed in 177 countries and regions, and 1.2 million soldiers stationed in the US itself. Although it produces few useful products, the US remains by far the world’s largest arms exporter, with more than 40% of the global lethal weapons market.
Even as China is the preferred economic partner for most countries in the world, US’s politicians and analysts boast that it is the preferred and strongest “security partner.” However, most of humanity tends to care about its vital needs, construction, development, health, and education, and do not like to spend huge sums on “security.” Except, of course, when feeling threatened and insecure.
To strengthen its position as the world’s policeman, and as the necessary and most important partner, the United States is working hard to nurture instability, sow discord, and spread wars. Thanks to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the United States has succeeded in eliminating the Europeans’ dreams of independence and making the “great” European powers subservient to it. It is also currently working hard to build a network of military alliances in East and South Asia, in preparation for a possible comprehensive war against China.
For the United States, as we have seen on the ground, the goal of its war on the Palestinian people and all those who stand by them is not to impose a new “American order,” but rather to continue the state of war, conflict, and instability, and to prove the superiority of its weapons and technologies for slaughtering and oppressing. They want to frighten their “friends” so that they will line up to seek its protection and buy its weapons. Its project is not different from the projects of other criminal gangs, except in its world-wide scope and its unlimited capabilities for killing.
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