Israel has lost its soul and its reasons for these wars are not valid – nobody is trying to destroy Israel – Israel is trying to destroy all Muslims wherever they are in the Middle East – Mark
A common defence of Israel’s belligerence, both within the Palestinian territories and in the wider region, is the claim that it must act in this way because it is surrounded by countries that are trying to annihilate it. Like many of the arguments that attempt to justify Israel’s disproportionate response to 7 October, it is not only incorrect but also an inversion of reality. The events of the last few months and the assault on Lebanon over the past few days demonstrate that it is Israel which is a threat to its neighbours.
On last Monday alone, Israeli airstrikes killed 558 people in Lebanon – half the number who died in a whole month of war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. Among the dead were 50 children, as well as humanitarian workers, first aid responders and government employees. Lebanon’s prime minister, Najib Mikati, says a million people could soon be displaced. The strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday levelled six apartment blocks in Beirut. A Gaza in microcosm is quickly unfolding – thousands fleeing for safety, traumatised children, high casualties, an escalation where there is no limit on the civilian lives that can be sacrificed to achieve Israel’s goals.
Since the start of the conflict in Gaza, Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in a war of signalling military capability and resolve, exchanging missiles and strong rhetoric but never initiating open and unrestrained warfare. That changed with the pager and radio attacks, widely believed to be by Israel, followed by airstrikes that escalated last week. Israel is looking not just for a show of decisive military might and a cowing of Hezbollah, but for the military victory that still eludes it in the quagmire of Gaza. But there is a risk that Hezbollah and Iran, which have so far refrained from a clear-cut declaration of war, will be goaded into a face-saving conflict which neither they or Israel can win outright.
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