Opinions #42/24

In his own way, Netanyahu has created a masterpiece. He was a prime minister on the brink, challenged on the streets for his growing authoritarian impulse, challenged by both the opposition and his own majority. That was a little over a year ago. Today, this prime minister, who seemed to be on the verge of personal defeat, is imposing his decisions on domestic adversaries, regional enemies, Western allies, and the great American defender. All of this happened following the horrific Hamas attack on October 7 last year. Netanyahu’s “masterpiece,” if we limit the origin of this to his last government, established less than two years ago, is the result of a perfect knowledge of his allies. Their Pavlovian reflex in the face of the Jewish state’s actions, their hypocrisy toward the Palestinian cause, their complicity in a vision of the Middle East that functions according to the only successful scheme during the First Cold War: direct or indirect control of the region’s oil resources and its sea routes. Within these historical interests, Netanyahu knew how to play with the willing limitations and inconsistencies of his allies, even the most critical ones. That in the face of the state reprisal against Hamas, conducted by the Israeli army without any respect for the civilian population, massacred without mercy, they have only been able to express dissent. No political solutions, such as recognizing a Palestinian state that has few associates in the European Union. No economic or even symbolic sanctions, such as exclusion from the international sporting or cultural context. No reduction in the supply of weapons to an already very powerful country: a giant against the Arab or Persian dwarves. The call for “Israel’s security,” persistently renewed since the first intifada, when Palestinian teenagers throwing rocks were the threat, continues to be the mantra with which Israeli governments hypnotize their allies. Before our eyes is the paradox of the further rearmament of the State of Israel, which is capable of simultaneously expanding its military range of operations to seven fronts (Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Iran). Biden, the outgoing American president who had to swallow the irrelevance of his warnings and demands to Netanyahu for moderation, faced with three rockets (sic!) that reached the heart of Israel without causing any casualties, decides to add additional military capabilities to Tel Aviv’s arsenals. He says, the old president withdrew from his campaign for re-election because of apparent psychophysical problems, he fears the conflict will spread throughout the region. But he confirms Netanyahu’s $15 billion arms financing, as Roger Cohen reported last month in the New York Times. Not only that: faced with rumors of Netanyahu’s intention to bomb Iranian nuclear power plants and oil wells, Biden decides to put out the fire with more gasoline. As Phil Stewart and Jasper Ward reported in Reuters on October 14, “the United States will send U.S. troops to Israel along with an advanced U.S. anti-missile system, in a highly unusual deployment.” Biden made the decision “to defend Israel.” Reuters notes that “U.S. military deployment to Israel is rare outside of drills, given Israel’s own military capabilities.” Adding that “the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, is a critical part of the U.S. military’s layered air defense systems and adds to Israel’s already formidable anti-missile defenses”. It’s hard not to see the incoherence. Just as it is hard not to see the contortions of European governments seeking to maintain an intransigent line in favor of Ukraine and the stammering one on the war brought by Netanyahu outside his country. The shock caused in European capitals by the Jewish state’s tanks attacking UN troops has not yet prompted serious political action. And there is doubt it will. The American election is just around the corner. Trump may be there again to support Netanyahu. And if Harris wins, no one believes she can overcome the “great cold” in relations with Israel, as Barack Obama dared to do, paying a heavy political price at home. A situation that risks escalation. The map of ongoing conflicts becomes even more troubling. Because there are far more wars going on in the world every day than are reported by the media, starting in Africa. The detailed analysis is outlined by Mario Giro, former Italian Deputy Foreign Minister, who has always been close to Andrea Riccardi in the activities of the Community of Sant’Egidio, known worldwide as “The UN of Trastevere”. The multiplicity of outbreak indicating the criticality of a historical passage without specific references. In the game of new global balances that are emerging, the role India intends to play is outstanding. Bharat, as Ambassador Daniele Mancini reminds us in his picture, will be the protagonist that the West, which considered itself its guarantor during the colonial period, will soon have to deal with. And with the West the other powers. Because the quiet power of a hungry and ambitious subcontinent has now overcome the phase of intention and has begun the phase of implementation.