Insecurities make even nations desperate. Insecure and desperate, Israel is growing more restive after convoys of global aid began to enter Gaza from Egypt. Unable to restrain itself, Israel may sprint into Gaza with fury to avenge Hamas’s October 7th attack. As Israel vows to wipe Hamas off the face of the earth, it seems to overlook the dangerous possibility that any ground invasion of Gaza is sure to suck in the United States, Russia and China.
Consumed by Rage and Revenge
Such a scary possibility has the potential to ignite a global conflagration. President Joe Biden has assured Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, that the United States is standing firmly with Israel in its war against Hamas. Despite imploring Israel to go slow on its planned Gaza invasion and trying to interact with middling Palestinians, Mr Biden will not be able to stop such a conflagration from spreading.
The consequences of a hurried invasion are weighing on Mr Biden’s mind. He has not forgotten the calamitous consequences and stormy events of America’s military adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, his words of restraint may not deter Israel from invading Gaza. Israel seems unconcerned about what its invasion could do to global peace as it continues to be consumed by fierce flames of rage and revenge. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/us/politics/trump- forever-war.html
Video Courtesy: ABC News (Australia)
An End to Treaties and Accords
Israel seems prepared for a destructive war as it is in a hurry to find a lasting solution to the Hamas menace. In its desperation, Israel may wage a war even without committing firmly for a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority. Israel may not even assure the Authority an end to Jewish settlements that have penetrated the West Bank. Invading Gaza without these basic gestures will be a Himalayan blunder.
It will be such a blunder that it will be absolutely inimical, not only to American and Israeli interests, to the larger cause of global peace as well. This is a possible scenario. As Israel’s invasion can suck in major powers and flare up into a global firestorm, it would destroy all American alliances in the Middle East, painstakingly built since the early 1970s. All those historical treaties and accords would then go straight out of the window. https://theconversation.com/israel-hamas-war-history-shows- the-dangers-of-a-creeping-occupation-215748
Not a Solution to the Issue
To be sure, the world has an emotional attachment with the Camp David treaty, the Oslo accords and the Abraham accords. When these accords die away, risks rise exponentially for stability in Middle East and global peace. Inevitably, any hope of normalization of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia would wither away to the peril of global harmony. Forget about signing another accord, no reckless invasion now at least. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/abraham-accords/article- 759997
The argument is not for denying Israel its right to hit back Hamas for its inhuman October 7th attack. Israel has the right to retaliate. However, an invasion that has the potential to transform into a global conflagration is not how Israel should go about it. Opening the doors to incorrigible global disruptors and destabilisers like China, Iran and Russia is not a solution to the long-festering Palestinian issue.
Take the Entire World Down
An Israeli invasion of Gaza now will make the two-state solution a pipe dream. Worse, it will encourage Israel to spread its Jewish settlements, far and wide in the West Bank. In such an eventuality, no power in the world will be able to broker peace with Israel and liberate Gaza from Israel’s stranglehold. The likelihood of Israeli invasion of Gaza is rising with the global aid for Gazans flowing in.
If the Israeli invasion happens, who will pay for feeding, clothing, sheltering and medically caring the Gazans? Israel will not, much against humanitarian tenets. Worse, right-wing Israeli politicians, egged on by Jewish supremacists, will not let the war-hit, either in Gaza or the West Bank, survive to tell their horror story to the world. In the tempest of such an inhuman policy, Israel would take the entire world down with it. https://www.politico.eu/article/the-longer-israel-thinks-the- more-time-washington-has-to-calm-its-wrath/
Quite Like Pakistan’s Officers
This is the curse of the divisive Netanyahu. As Bibi is desperate to cling on to his chair, he will not do anything that would earn him the displeasure of the extreme forces in Israeli politics. Bibi needs them and cannot do without them. As the cases of corruption against him get too hot, he will not take any political risk. He is sure to listen to the extremists and even launch his ill-conceived invasion in Gaza.
Quite like in Pakistan, where a war with India over the Kashmir issue is a necessity for its military officers for survival, Israeli officers too are thirsting for more drastic military actions in Gaza. Any such premature invasive action is sure to hurt, not only Israel and Palestine, but the United States, global peace and stability as a whole. Such an armed invasion would not even let Gaza gain access to good governance of a proper authority. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/12/what-will-israel- do-with-all-its-mobilised-soldiers
Rehearsal for World War III
Mr Biden seems to veer around this logic. The Israel-Hamas conflict is already a horrible display of hostilities on multiple fronts. With the West Bank on boil, with the Iran-backed Hizbullah diving in to drag Lebanon into a war, even Syria may aim for a role in the conflict. The way the Hamas-Israel war is progressing, it has all the attributes of a rehearsal for World War III. Yet, Israel is in no mood to tone down its brutality in Gaza. https://poliphoon.com/another-storm-on-a-new-front/
The Poliphoon’s Last Word
While Mr Biden is okay with the exterminate-Hamas motive of Israel, he would rather prefer a lasting solution to the issue, the two-state option included. In a candid moment, he agreed that an Israeli invasion of Gaza now would be a terrible mistake the Jewish nation could commit. Hope the United States has lasting belief in these words. Wish Israel’s politicians and their global backers understand what Mr Biden is saying.
