Written by Kostas Raptis
Within 24 hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warned his countrymen that they must transform into a “super Sparta” and ordered the start of an all-out assault on Gaza City, home to 700.000 besieged residents. He had previously assured that “there will be no Palestinian state,” whatever that might mean for the future of the West Bank.
On the other hand, the Arab-Islamic summit in Doha resulted in strong verbal condemnation of the recent Israeli raid against Hamas operatives on Qatari soil, without, however, accompanying it with substantial practical measures.
At the same time, in Europe, the trend towards announcing the recognition of a Palestinian state was strengthened with the addition of Luxembourg, while in Spain, the Sanchez government announced the cancellation of a second arms contract with Israel, bringing its revenue losses to almost one billion euros. At the same time, a committee established by the UN Human Rights Council concluded for the first time that Israel has committed acts of "genocide".
What does the combination of all these developments mean? The talk of a “super Sparta” was not only about the warlike ethos that should govern Israeli society (with the obvious consequences for the freedoms and rule of law that until recently a significant part of it vigorously defended), but also about the isolation, diplomatic and economic, that Netanyahu explicitly expects, proposing a shift to an “economy of self-sufficiency.” This is, of course, a misleading term, to the extent that without American political, military and economic support, the Jewish state is simply not viable – with its relations with the entire environment broken.
But American support is a given – that is precisely the meaning of Rubio’s visit at such a delicate juncture. It is essentially a “green light” from Washington for both the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the planned annexation of the West Bank. In fact, to implement this option, the Trump administration appears willing to pay a high cost abroad, perhaps even at home (as is shown by the discussion among the online “people” of the American right regarding Israel, against the backdrop of the Epstein case and especially after the murder of Charlie Kirk).
Where is Israel's escalation leading?
The cost primarily concerns the regional order that the US aspired to establish in the region with the “Abraham Accords” etc., based on friendly Arab regimes. However, after one of them was targeted by Israeli aggression for the first time (with statements by Israeli officials that the blow to Qatar could be repeated and with publications reporting that similar actions on Egyptian or Turkish territory had been considered), all the states in the region received an alarm message, while American credibility sank to its nadir.
Much of Rubio's visit to Israel was, of course, dedicated to the American side taking a safe communication distance from the raid on Doha, for which it is difficult to conclude whether it was approved in advance by Washington (which constitutes a trap, not only for Hamas negotiators, but also for ally Qatar) or is simply tolerated ex post facto by a government incapable of putting the brakes on Netanyahu.
In any case, the ambition to establish a new regional architecture is giving way to a policy of chaos, which only holds humiliation and destabilization in store for the states of the region, other than Israel, even those that until recently constituted pillars of the American-centric order of things.
However, their military weakness (excluding Turkey), the fear of the Israeli nuclear arsenal and, above all, the multiple dependencies of their leaders on the West (and Israel) make it extremely doubtful that these states will demonstrate any substantial resistance, as the Doha summit showed.
So all that remains is for Israel to take revenge on Iran for the “Twelve Day War.” The indications that something like this may not be long in coming should not be underestimated.
Source: capital
photo by hosnysalah, https://pixabay.com
