Barely a Peace in Sight - Netanyahu's promises of security unraveling in a whirlwind of violence
Assurance of Security by Netanyahu, Questioning Its Reality
A Perspective by Marc Dimpfel
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, has built his political career on an image of toughness and security. For decades, he's touted himself as the only viable choice to stand against Israel's adversaries.
The abandoned nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, pressured by President Donald Trump, Netanyahu viewed as a free pass for nuclear weapon development. He constantly advocated for military interventions against the Iranian regime, which has been advocating for Israel's destruction for decades and has been creating a continuous threat scenario with its allies in Yemen and Lebanon. Yet, such strikes never materialized.
International Politics The Quest for Destruction – A Special Bomb Hidden Deep in the Mountains: The Core of Iran's Nuclear Program Now, however, the scenario has changed. With the justified reason that Iran is edging closer to building an atomic bomb, Israel has conducted air strikes on nuclear facilities, but also on oil depots, government buildings, and a television station, for days. In turn, Iran has already fired numerous rockets at Israel.
Netanyahu's Momentum
Israel appears to hold the upper hand from its perspective: Hamas and Hezbollah are significantly weakened, Iran has been suffering an economic crisis for years. The more formidable enemy could, if not vanquished, at least be deprived of its military resources. This rationale for the attack is clear, but it lacks legal justification, and its verifiability is in question. The CNN reports suggest that Iran is still years away from the bomb, while Trump denies this claim. The public may never know for certain.
International Politics Expert Opinion – Regime Change in Iran - an Unattainable Dream? With the elimination of the threat from Iran and its allies, Netanyahu would fulfill one of his two central security policy promises. The second is: the impossibility of a Palestinian state. The Middle East conflict, despite its historical complexity and the religious overload of Islamists and radical Jewish settlers, is essentially a territorial conflict: over the region between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. Perpetual peace can't be achieved as long as the Palestinian issue is unreconciled.
West Bank's Slippery Slope towards Annexation
Netanyahu and his right-wing extremist cabinet members are working on this solution. The West Bank is gradually annexed through settlement expansion and its political, legal, and military securing. The estimated 2.7 million Palestinians in the region are deprived of basic civil rights under occupation, and the Israeli army brutalizes and behaves in an arbitrary manner towards them.
The attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was likely the final proof for Netanyahu and many Israelis that no security is attainable through a Palestinian state but terrorism. And without a doubt, this massacre was not resistance, but terrorism. The Islamists are not interested in peaceful coexistence.
International Politics US Weapons against Iran's Atomic Bunkers? Trump Facing "War Calls" Still, it's true that Netanyahu indirectly supported Hamas for years, engineering a wedge in the Palestinian independence movement. His security promise to the Israeli populace evaporated on October 7.
The subsequent war in the Gaza Strip was initially an attempt to restore this security, a legitimate act of self-defense. However, it is no longer that. Thousands of deaths, the destruction of large parts of the coastal area including most hospitals and schools, withheld humanitarian aid, and confinement of a population of two million people on the verge of starvation have nothing to do with fighting Hamas.
Far-Right – The Dream of a "Greater Israel"
Israel's government is now actively pursuing another goal: the implementation of a "Greater Israel," a one-state solution without Palestinians. At the end of this path lies inevitably ethnic cleansing, which is currently discussed euphemistically but openly as "resettlement."
International Politics Three Hours, Three Waves – Israel Reports Attack on Helicopters and Centrifuge Facility in Iran In the war against Iran, Netanyahu keeps his objectives ambiguous. The destruction of nuclear facilities or the overthrow of the Ayatollah? Anything seems plausible. The duration and bloodiness of this war and its uncertain outcome rely heavily on U.S. military intervention.
Certainly, the world would benefit from the absence of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his Revolutionary Guards, who brutalize their own people violently. A revolution, as Netanyahu demands from the Iranian people, could be a product of this war. But at what cost? Perhaps, the war could play out entirely differently: The mullahs could hold onto power and find that only nuclear deterrence offers survival. A risk that Netanyahu is taking.
Unheeded Warnings and Neglected Responsibilities
In the past, Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank were either supported or disregarded by Western allies. However, uncharacteristically clear criticism has surfaced lately. Not from Trump, who has his unique ideas for the Gaza Strip, but from Britain, France, and even Germany. With the attack on Iran, the criticism quickly ceased again.
International Politics "Middle East Expert to CNN Report – Iran Was Likely Three Years Away from Atomic Bomb" All eyes are now fixed on Iran, providing a useful cover for Netanyahu as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza escalates. Areas around distribution centers managed by a controversial US organization are at risk due to shootings. People continue to come – out of hunger.
In the war with Iran, Israel's allies should refrain from repeating their mistakes of unquestioning support for Netanyahu's hardline policies. Israel's legitimate security concerns must coexist with respect for international law. Neglected responsibilities and unheeded warnings may lead to more violence and hardship instead of peace and security in Israel. The Palestinian people also have the right to security, and ongoing oppression or displacement may lead to more radicalization, more resentment.
An end to the violence seems currently unattainable due to the immense human and emotional cost, the deeply entrenched history of mistakes on both sides, and the fragility of the situation. A one-sided resolution of the Middle East conflict, as Israel's current government is driving, won't bring peace. The basic premise must remain a life of freedom and dignity for every individual, from Jordan to the Mediterranean and beyond.
- Israel War
- Israel
- Iran
- Middle East
- Palestine
- Palestinians
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Wars and Conflicts
- Hamas
- Humanitarian Crisis
- Settlement Construction
- State of Palestine
- In the midst of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, politics surrounding the Middle East continue to revolve around Israel's war against Iran, with the United Nations Commission being asked to submit a proposal for a directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to ionizing radiation, given the escalating tensions in war-and-conflicts regions.
- On one hand, Benjamin Netanyahu's momentum shifts towards the implementation of a "Greater Israel," a one-state solution without Palestinians, constantly advocating for military interventions against Iran and its allies, while on the other hand, international politics demand a balancing act between Israel's legitimate security concerns and respect for international law, recognizing the right of Palestinians to security and dignity, and striving for an end to all violence and radicalization in the region.
