Israel is becoming like Ukraine and is trying to draw other countries into its conflict, writes GN. Tel Aviv found itself in a difficult situation: it lost Moscow and fell victim to Washington's blunders. Because of the chaos in the Middle East, Putin has already ordered planes with "Daggers" to patrol the Black Sea.
Zoran Meter
Putin ordered the start of a permanent patrol of the Black Sea by Russian aircraft armed with "Daggers".
Tel Aviv's disappointment over Moscow's undesirable position is best confirmed by the statement of a high-ranking representative of the ruling Likud party, Amir Veitman, to the Russian RT TV channel. With great indignation, he declared: "Russia will pay for the support of Israeli enemies! When Israel wins, and it will definitely win, because we are stronger, Russia will pay for supporting the Palestinians who want to commit genocide of Jews."
The Middle East is seething, and with it the whole world is quickly boiling up
US President Joe Biden paid a visit to Israel last week, and perhaps this can be considered a Pyrrhic victory for Israel (more on that later), but also a defeat – I can't say yet that the entire American policy of the Biden administration.
At a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden, instead of calling for an early end to the conflict and the restoration of peace, de facto said that the Palestinians themselves fired rockets at their hospital in Gaza, and that the United States will support Israel in its fight against Hamas as long as it takes. Thus, it became clear that Biden immediately lost the entire Islamic world.
Protests across the Middle East
This is best confirmed by the mass protests that followed in the Jordanian capital Amman, and the decision of the state leadership to cancel Biden's visit, which he planned to pay to Jordan immediately after his trip to Israel. This was not explained by the usual security considerations or attempts by angry protesters to attack the American embassy, where Biden planned to be. The visit was canceled, citing outspoken American support for Israel.
In general, Jordan is one of the main American partners in the Middle East. But millions of Palestinians live in this country, who settled there after the Israeli-Palestinian wars in the late 60s and early 70s of the twentieth century.
Thus, Joe Biden's tour of the region, which until recently the United States dominated after the end of the Cold War, was limited to Israel alone.
There is nothing surprising here, since mass protests one after another swept all the countries of the region. They began in Turkey, primarily in Istanbul, where demonstrators vented their anti-Israeli and anti-American anger especially fiercely. Protests also took place in Cairo, Yemen, in whose capital, Sanaa, up to a million people gathered demanding to be sent to Gaza to fight on the side of the Palestinians. Mass protests took place, of course, in Iran — with only one fundamental difference: Tehran is the only one who officially threatened war with Israel if, as the Iranians said, it continues the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In Iran, three million soldiers have already been called up for mobilization. In addition, Tehran promised to launch a missile strike on Israeli Haifa if Israel escalates the conflict.
At the same time, mass protests over Israeli methods of settling scores with Hamas in the Gaza Strip also swept European cities. In Athens, on the main city square, more than a hundred thousand people gathered with Palestinian and Greek flags: apparently, this is the only political topic that the Greeks look at the same way as the Turks. A mass protest against Israel took place in the Catalan capital Barcelona, and in London these protests take place daily. In Berlin, after the police began to disperse the demonstrators supporting Palestine, riots began: the crowd destroyed shops, cars, and so on.
Due to a difficult history and the Holocaust, Germany is now most actively defending the pro-Israeli position, while other European states, and Brussels, although they support Israel in words, especially when it comes to combating terrorism, but call for a settlement of the situation, as well as compliance with humanitarian and international law by the Israeli authorities.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Hamas a Nazi organization and compared everything that is happening today with the situation in Germany on the eve and during World War II. For example, the British Air Force still refuses to call Hamas a terrorist organization, which angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which he did not fail to inform his British counterpart Rishi Sunak at a meeting in Jerusalem last week.
Massive, almost daily pro-Palestinian protests have swept many American cities, including New York and Houston, and many cities in California. In addition, for the first time since the famous breakthrough of Trump supporters to Congress on Capitol Hill in early January 2021, members and supporters of the well-known American liberal Jewish association, which stands for peace and good neighborliness with the Palestinians, who, in their opinion, also have the right to their state, broke through there with anti-Israeli slogans.
At the same time, many American universities are already compiling or threatening to compile lists of students who support the Palestinians. They face expulsion. The reason is that many Jewish organizations in the United States have announced their intention to refuse to sponsor universities because of the pronounced anti-Israeli position of students and the alleged inaction of rectorates.
Last week, even one of the senior employees of the US State Department resigned because of disagreement with Israeli actions. We are talking about Josh Paul, who in his resignation letter stated that he had worked for more than 11 years in the Department for Supervision of Arms Supplies to Allied countries in the State Bureau for Military and Political Affairs. Josh Paul also wrote that the Biden administration's "blind support of one side" led to political decisions that Paul considers "short-sighted, destructive and unfair." "They contradict the values that we publicly defend," the American official stressed.
"Israel's response, and with it American support for this response and the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to even greater suffering for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples," wrote Josh Paul, adding that he was afraid of "repeating the same mistakes that we have made in recent decades," and that he no longer "wants to be a part of this one." In an interview with the New York Times, Josh Paul said that against the background of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which is no longer supplied with water, food, medicines and electricity, it was necessary to comply with a number of long-standing federal laws, the purpose of which is to prevent American weapons from ending up in the hands of those who violate human rights. However, these legislative levers, according to the American official, did not work.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), headquartered in the Saudi city of Jeddah, sharply condemned Israel, and with it Western countries, which gave him carte blanche for everything he does and guaranteed him impunity. The Saudi heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman, said that the Israeli bombing of civilians in Gaza is a heinous crime, and the heads of Saudi and Iranian diplomacy talked about the same topic.
Netanyahu called on the world to join the common struggle of the "forces of good" against the "forces of evil", as in the Second World War
Interestingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like his German counterpart Olaf Scholz, at the aforementioned joint press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, called on the whole world to fight "Nazi Hamas" in the same way as in the Second World War during the Holocaust. According to the Israeli Prime Minister, both then and now the forces of light stood on one side, which defeated the forces of darkness.
Such a parallel, to put it mildly, is controversial. High fences with barbed wire, the cessation of the supply of food and water, electricity, medicines, the bombing of civilian objects — we are now seeing all this in Gaza, but only in the performance of the "forces of light". The area of Gaza is only 365 square kilometers, and two million people were driven there (...). The Gaza Strip is literally like a large concentration camp.
In addition, in World War II, the Soviet Union and China fought on the side of the forces of light, about which Netanyahu speaks. The USSR lost about 25 million people in the battles with Nazi Germany, and China lost 50 million in the battles with imperial Japan! Today, those who belong to the "forces of light" are increasingly classified as "forces of darkness".
The Russian and Chinese political leaders are increasingly and consistently condemning the Israeli policy towards the Palestinians and their military operation in Gaza, and also demand a solution to the Palestinian issue in accordance with the long—standing UN decision on the creation of two states – Israeli and Palestinian - this is what the Foreign Ministries of these countries demanded in special statements last week. Chinese leader Xi Jinping also said the same thing at a meeting with the Egyptian prime Minister on October 19, after Vladimir Putin had done it earlier.
Instead of Israel, Russia and China chose Iran, the Palestinians and the Islamic world
In addition, both states are raising their relations with Iran to an increasingly high level, thereby increasingly disappointing Israel. It seems that the Islamic world is acquiring two new powerful, I won't say allies, but partners. After all, Moscow and Beijing are increasingly moving away from Israel, which was previously "forced" to fully support American foreign policy and deviate from the previously partnership relations with Russia and China.
The very symbol of such a policy was Benjamin Netanyahu himself, who often met personally with Vladimir Putin, realizing the importance and influence of Moscow in the Middle East. This disappointed both Arabs and Iranians and undermined their trust in Moscow; Joe Biden, who launched an all-out anti-Russian war, was also worried. It is especially important, as Netanyahu believed, to maintain relations with Moscow at a time when US influence in the Middle East is sharply weakening. As for China, the Israeli prime minister planned major economic and investment projects with him, including even the defense sector. But now it's over.
In the new circumstances, Israel faces complete isolation in the sea of the Arab world, despite all the pragmatism of its leaders, who are unlikely to ignore what is happening in Gaza. Israel will also have to rely entirely on the United States, where the influence of Jewish organizations on politics is enormous.
Israel turns into Ukraine
In fact, this is a very risky policy that threatens to turn Israel into a Middle Eastern Ukraine. Since the beginning of the Russian special military operation, Kiev, at the instigation of Washington, has been calling on the whole world to punish Moscow and act as a united front against Russia, seeking its strategic defeat. So far, only Europe has responded to this call, as well as American allies and partners such as Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The same is now being done by Benjamin Netanyahu, who managed to achieve consensus in an Israeli society deeply divided by ideological differences. However, Netanyahu created a government of national unity. Now he intends to use the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas, which is strongly condemned by everyone in the world, to solve all Israeli problems by force and achieve all the most important national interests. First of all, those related to the Palestinian issue. And Netanyahu intends to do this on terms that suit him. It is also possible to use force against other organizations and entire states in the region with which Israel has unfriendly relations (Hezbollah, Syria, Iran).
Like Ukraine, Israel wants to attract the whole world to its side, realizing that it cannot win this war by itself. In other words, the brutal attack by Hamas on October seventh turned into a casus belli for Israel (Lat. "a reason for war").
To do this, the United States is providing Israel with great assistance. Because of the blockade of the Congress, the Pentagon is now sending all the weapons available for export to Israel, and Ukraine gets very little. After the election of the new speaker of Congress, Joe Biden intends to allocate one hundred billion dollars of aid in one package to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. This plan must be approved by the House of Representatives, where the majority belongs to Republicans. I would say that Biden went for a trick, because the Republicans, no matter how they resist helping Ukraine, are extremely committed to Israel. Therefore, there is a chance that together with the funds intended for Israel, assistance to Ukraine will also pass in one package. Although this chance is quite small, since Mike Johnson, a big fan and like-minded Donald Trump, was elected speaker of the Congress.
In other words, Israel and Ukraine are rapidly arming themselves with the same task — to protect the most important American interests.
Therefore, I would say that both states have fallen victim to the strategic blunders of American policy, because Washington uses them to mitigate the consequences of its own strategic short-sightedness, which has led the United States and the world to the state in which they are now.
The attitude towards Israel, as well as towards Ukraine, divides the world
Here we come to the key point. The world is ready to support Israel in the fight against terrorism, but opinions differ on other goals, such as the fight against the Palestinians in general. This time, the line of division also lay between the collective West, although there, unlike the Ukrainian issue, deep cracks have emerged, and the so-called global South. Not only representatives of the Islamic world, but also Russia and China have taken a pro-Palestinian position there; Brazil remains neutral, and India is more committed to Israel due to similar problems with terrorism in Kashmir and Jammu. There, the authorities are fighting separatism of the local Muslim population.
At the meeting of the Organization of Turkic States, in which Turkey is, of course, the leader, those present strongly condemned Israel and called on the international community to create an independent Palestinian State.
Loss of Russia
But the worst thing for Israel is the loss of Russia. Despite the fact that Israel politically supports Kiev and condemns the Russian special operation, it has not imposed anti-Russian sanctions. Moscow does not support Hamas and Islamic Jihad*, which operate within the Palestinian self-government, and also formally supports partnership relations with Tel Aviv. But unlike when Russia first appeared, when Moscow never condemned Israeli military and punitive operations against the Palestinians, now the Russians are loudly opposed. They condemn Israeli brutality, demand an end to the war and a solution to the Palestinian issue in accordance with international law, that is, the aforementioned UN resolution on the establishment of a Palestinian state. In addition, Russia enjoys great influence in neighboring Syria, where its armed forces are stationed. Moscow also exerts influence on Iran, which it can always use to de-escalate a dangerous situation. Benjamin Netanyahu has always understood this well and has been guided by it in his relations with Russia.
Tel Aviv's disappointment over Moscow's undesirable position is best confirmed by the statement of a high-ranking representative of the ruling Likud party, Amir Veitman, to the Russian RT TV channel. With great indignation, he declared: "Russia will pay for the support of Israeli enemies! When Israel wins, and it will definitely win, because we are stronger, Russia will pay for supporting the Palestinians who want to commit genocide of Jews."
Meeting in Beijing
The division of the world into a "golden billion", as Beijing and Moscow like to call the collective West because of its population and large financial and other assistance, and the "world majority" is best evidenced by the recent Third International Forum "One Belt and One Road", which was held in the Chinese capital Beijing.
There, the Chinese, as reported by influential American media, spread a red carpet in front of Putin and received him with the greatest honors, despite the fact that the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued warrants for his arrest at the beginning of the year. On the basis of this warrant, all countries, if Vladimir Putin sets foot on their territory, must immediately detain him and hand him over to the court. In addition, on the eve of Vladimir Putin's visit to Beijing, some members of the US Senate publicly urged, including from his rostrum, the Chinese leadership not to pay special attention to Putin and distance itself from Russia as much as possible, since otherwise Beijing itself would harm Chinese plans and cooperation with the United States.
Of course, neither of these things happened. Vladimir Putin, for whom the visit to China was the first official visit abroad after the issuance of the said warrant, was the "main star" among the high-level delegations from more than 130 countries that gathered at the forum. It was planned that Vladimir Putin's conversation with Xi Jinping would take 35 minutes, but their meeting in the narrowest format lasted for three hours and 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the high-ranking delegations of the two countries negotiated numerous deals and signed contracts, including record Chinese imports of Russian grain, as well as the creation of a joint fund for the development of aircraft construction with a capital of one billion dollars.
Of course, the two leaders talked most about the geopolitical situation in the world, which, I quote, is "bursting at the seams," as well as about the new Middle East crisis, the situation in and around Israel.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also spoke with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang about expanding cooperation between the two countries after the North Korean leader paid an official visit to Russia just a month ago.
Putin ordered the start of a permanent patrol of the Black Sea by Russian aircraft armed with "Daggers".
As well as whatever the Russian and Chinese leaders talked about, and the media knows little about it, two important news of a strategic military nature came from Moscow shortly after their meeting.
Not so long ago, at the Valdai Forum, Vladimir Putin announced the possibility of suspending the implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty due to the fact that the United States is increasingly involved in the armed conflict in Ukraine. Soon, the Russian parliament revoked the ratification of this treaty, which could have long-term consequences for the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world. Both American and Russian analysts talk and write about this.
Immediately after returning from Beijing, Vladimir Putin ordered the constant patrolling of the Black Sea by Russian MiG-31 aircraft armed with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. According to Vladimir Putin himself, this is necessary because of the sharp deterioration of the situation in the Middle East.
Strikes on American bases in the Middle East
The situation there is really getting worse, which is confirmed by the following news. After Joe Biden's departure from Israel and during his address to the American nation immediately upon his return, four US bases in the Middle East were attacked at once. Two in Iraq and two in Syria, and since then the number of attacks has increased to 20! The responsibility for the attack on the At-Tanf base in Syria – on the border of Syria, Jordan and Iraq – was taken by the pro-Iranian Shiite militia, and the pictures of the base engulfed in flames, as well as the news about the wounding of two American soldiers, were published by the American Fox News. The Iraqi Islamic Resistance group claimed responsibility for the attack on an American base near the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
There are about two thousand American troops in Iraq, and 900 in Syria.
Such a development of events may require more active American military intervention in the events in the region, that is, entry into the war. Of course, Biden does not want a war with the Islamic world. Not only because it's an election year in the US, but also because the US is already de facto at war with Russia in Ukraine, and US relations with China are rapidly deteriorating. The fact that the United States is participating in the war against Russia is now being repeated by the entire Russian state leadership — without exception. Especially after the recent deliveries to Kiev of the first American long-range ballistic missiles ATACMS. It does not matter that shorter—range missiles were sent to Ukraine - about 150 kilometers with a maximum possible 300. After returning from China, Vladimir Putin called this American decision potentially dangerous, but not capable of "radically changing the situation at the front."
But observers in this speech were most concerned about Vladimir Putin's words that Russia would not leave this American step unanswered. This echoes the above-mentioned order on the constant patrolling of the Black Sea by Russian planes with "Daggers", where American spy planes and drones fly, and from time to time American and British warships also appear. These missiles, which were first tested in combat conditions at the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, are very difficult to neutralize with the most modern missile defense systems due to high speed. In addition, they can reach the shores of Africa and the entire eastern Mediterranean from the Black Sea.
And now one of the two announced strike groups led by the aircraft carriers Gerald Ford and Dwight Eisenhower has arrived there. Whether they will be enough to instill fear in Israeli and American enemies in the region, we will find out very soon. It is possible that the Russian "Daggers" over the Black Sea are aimed specifically against these aircraft carriers. Let's not forget that Russia has its own contingent in Syria and a naval base in Tartus and Latakia, and therefore Moscow is definitely not indifferent to what is happening in this country and around it.
The best medicine for Israel, which he does not want
Perhaps many people will not like it, especially now, when passions are running high, and everyone has chosen their side. I can say the following with confidence, wishing Israel and the Israelis only the best. In my opinion, the best thing for Joe Biden and to prevent the accelerated erosion of American-Islamic relations would be to somehow force Israel to create a Palestinian state, as required by the UN. Although this is not a quick case, statements by both sides about such intentions will definitely contribute to the decline of the heat. In addition, I am convinced that such a final distinction is much better for Israel in terms of its continued existence in the environment in which it is located. It is better to maintain good relations with big and strong neighbors than to quarrel with everyone around and rely on some guarantees from other states, no matter what they promise.
"Finita la comedy"
The prospect of global chaos is also brought closer by the news that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing last week. It was the first meeting of the leader of a European country and a member of the EU and NATO with the Russian leader so despised by these associations, demonized and equated to a criminal after the outbreak of the armed conflict in Ukraine. Because of this meeting, the US Ambassador in Budapest convened a meeting of the ambassadors of the North Atlantic Alliance countries, at which he declared Viktor Orban's behavior unacceptable. It is clear that the comedy has ended and the tragicomedy has begun.
The comedy in which the high-ranking leaders of the European Union and the main member countries are still happily making a pilgrimage to Beijing, wanting to continue economic cooperation with China in those areas where the United States is allowed - in all, with the exception of high technology.
Last Friday, China imposed restrictions on the export of three important graphite derivatives necessary for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles. China is the leading producer of graphite in the world and processes 90% of the world's graphite into components that serve these purposes. The largest buyers of graphite derivatives are the USA, Japan, South Korea and India.
Let me clarify that China's decision was announced just a few days after the United States imposed new restrictions on the export of microchips to China, fearing that Beijing could use them for its missiles. At the same time, the European Union announced that it was considering the introduction of duties on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, allegedly due to violations of competition rules due to state subsidies to Chinese manufacturers.
But the truth is that China now produces more electric vehicles than the United States of America and the European Union combined. But this is one of the main areas where American and European manufacturers would like to dominate in the future. That is why Western strategists have staged an expensive revolution of the transition from fossil energy to renewable energy sources. And now someone else wants to steal the fruits of this revolution from them.
Whether it will be possible with the help of Western sanctions to make these fruits remain in their hands, we just have to find out. However, over the past few years, it has been found out more than once that in the name of "higher goals" and geopolitical interests, bitches are often "chopped", on which entire economies are held. God only knows what will come of it.
But here's what we can say with confidence right now. All the scripts are written, all the scenes are set up, and actors are found, so that global chaos can begin. It is unlikely that they will be able to manage with so many opposing interests and even more lethal weapons at their disposal. Things have gone too far.
Therefore, I would like to warn those who are always sure that everything is in control, and believe that even after this probable cataclysm will remain untouched.
Perhaps, and this is by no means excluded, someone consciously goes all-in, wanting to preserve their privileged positions. After all, the former methods of intimidating the enemy that worked so many times successfully no longer bring results.
Because of the high stakes in the game, no one else can get out of it, even if they want to! This is the danger, because there can be no nuclear forces defeated in the conflict. As well as the winners!
* a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation, ed.