Contributed by Jim Hayes

Israel’s game plan is to expand the conflict a regional war. Its government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu knows that it can do so with the approval and material support of the United States. The Netanyahu government knows that Washington’s satellites, which includes the Australian Labor-Coalition consensus, will follow.

Footage shows aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut

Video from the Guardian

In fact, the use of the disproportionate and unjustified violence on people of Gaza, the same allies feigned distress at the body count, and displacement of the population, and then went about effectively backing the holocaust. Now that shells and bombs are dropping on the Lebanese population the same political and material support continues.

All the talk about a peace plan amounts to nothing when the opposite is being done in practice. For instance, it is now clear that caretaker President Joe Biden had given Netanyahu the go ahead to bomb Lebanon weeks ago. Al the talk about a peace plan is deception. The Australian government and opposition follow the United States lead.

There is no way Israel can defeat Lebanon on its own. It can’t. It can’t even defeat the much smaller Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli Armed Forces are stranded in a quagmire there and face stiff resistance. Opening a bigger and even more difficult front alone makes no military sense. Hezbollah is a massive political movement, part of the Lebanese coalition government, and has a large well equipped and trained army. It defeated Israel’s invasion in 2006 and has even more capacity now.

Although an escalation might suit Washington’s geopolitical ambitions to enforce its foothold on the region, there is an aspect that key Players in Tel Aviv are more concerned with the short-term and their own fortunes, and this provides a major problem of political legitimacy for Israel’s friends in the United States and followers in other nations. This makes the matter more uncertain than it would otherwise be.

Israel has no strategy, no endgame – Damning assessment of Israeli analyst Ori Goldberg

Video from Own Jones

Israel is doing everything to provoke Iran, a big country with an even more formidable military force. Isreal’s supporters continue to press the lie that this is all about the defence of Isreal form attack from terror groups. It must be pointed out that, like it or not, Hezbollah is part of an elected government, just as Hamas was the elected government of Gaza. An attack on either of them isa an attack of one start against another state. On Israel’s side, this is an internationally illegal invasion.

International law gives both victims of invasion the right to self-defence. It does not provide this right to the invader. Israel/s backers ignore this right. Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong, and Peter Dutton join in on this. There is no show of genuine concern for the between 50,000 and 200,000 lives taken so far in Gaza, and the more than 1000 deaths in Lebanon.

There is also the domestic dimension. Critics of Israel’s actions are vilified, provoked, falsely accused of antisemitism, discriminated against, silenced, and threatened with arrest. Some have lost their jobs or been expelled from university. a big noise is now being mare about arresting the few people who carried Hezbollah flags at the last of the regular Sunday marches in support of Palestine, on the grounds that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation. There may soon be arrests.

Take away the label and this is about silencing opinion, to discredit the massive peace movement of the last year, which continues. This is another way in which Australia’s political establishment follow on the heels of Washington’s wishes, and a further element in enabling of the Israeli government and its backers, to continue the path they have chosen.

How Israel and Its allies weaponize antisemitism

Video from AJ+

Israel needs Washington and its allies to commit ground troops to have a chance of succeeding, and this is exactly what the Netanyahu government is playing for. If successful, it will risk other countries been drawn in, and the prospect of world war. Millions, if not more, will die, the global economy will collapse, and society will be in shambles.

Unfortunately, there are those who are showing they are prepared to risk this.

The rise of a global peace movement to win peace and self-determination for the Palestinian people, to stop the escalation of war, and to build a world where nations respect each other, cooperate, and do away with war as he means to resolve differences.