ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

The latest outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Palestine seems to be a culmination of over fifty years of conflict, and unresolved issues. Territory, religion, culture, history are all mixed up in an atmosphere of intransigence, arrogance, fear and huge economic differences: I heard a report last night on U.S. Public Television that said that average Israeli family income was US$56,000 a year, and the average Palestinian family income was US$1,000 a year. I have checked this and the actual numbers are US$1,440 for Palestinian families (2021), and US$41,050 for Israeli families. Still, a staggering statistic when the families live pretty much next to each other..

     The attack perpetrated by Hamas last Saturday was horrific,, and the response from Israel is shaping up to be worse, in terms of civilian casualties. In truth, the concentration of 2 million people in the tiny, compact, area of Gaza, makes it almost impossible to accurately target Hamas, even if the Israeli forces knew exactly where they were. They don’t, and Hamas has certainly not tried to advertise where their forces are located. It is therefore difficult not to see this whole situation as a potential bloodbath with implications far broader than just the Israeli/Palestine border.

     One report on the BBC website has caught my attention several times over the past week. It said that the Egyptian authorities/military, warned Israel at least three days before the Saturday attack, that a major offensive from Hamas was imminent. According to the report, the Israeli government and military appeared to ignore that warning. That seems incredible on face value.

     Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, is one of the top agencies of its type in the world, and has been for many, many years. Their levels of penetration, efficiency, ruthlessness and success rival, and exceed, almost any other similar agency in any other country, including the United States, Russia and China. Their reputation is formidable, to say the least. It’s therefore difficult to imagine that they failed in such a significant way right in their own backyard. Of course, it can happen, but of all entities, it seems to be stretching the bounds of credibility to believe that Mossad blew-it that badly. In addition, the Israeli army is no slouch, and the government has a history of paranoia that makes it extremely sensitive to the possibility of a pending attack at any time. There is also, of course, the reality of regular rocket attacks that have been coming out of Gaza for years.

     There is another, more recent, factor that possibly plays into this scenario, and that is the advent of the new, far-right dominated, Israeli government. Benjamin Netanyahu suddenly appears as a moderate in this new setup, a position he has rarely been accused of in the past. The policies implemented by this new government have produced the worst internal Israeli street protests the country has experienced for years. The drastic reductions in citizen rights, the curbing of the judicial system, and the increased powers of the police have all contributed to these protests. Netanyahu must be concerned and worried, not only about the threat to his position, but also about the possible reaction of the long-time supporter of Israel, the United States. The current problems in the U.S. centered around the erosion of democratic principles by the far right of the Republican Party, egged on by the deranged Donald Trump, has made the U.S. super-sensitive to the erosion of democratic principles in other countries, including Israel.

     What I am about to add here, as a possible conclusion to the factors cited above, will be controversial, to put it mildly. It will almost certainly produce a reaction that is emotional rather than rational, and where that will lead is difficult to predict. It has been interesting to note that the U.S. news media has devoted well over 50% of their total coverage this week to the “war” taking place between Israel and Hamas. The last time that happened was probably after the “911” attacks, and that was domestic. Horrific as the pictures from Israel and Gaza are, you have to wonder what is driving this level of concentrated reporting. At the risk of inviting even more criticism, there is a significant influence on Washington politics by East Coast Jewish money, and a significant influence on the media by the Jewish ownership of West Coast television.

     I am therefore submitting, as a possibility, however seemingly bizarre, that Netanyahu let the Hamas attack happen in order to re-garner the support he thought he might be losing from all sides. An incredibly audacious, repugnant and imperious action but, given his history, one not totally outside the realms of possibility.