I’ve resisted writing about the outbreak of war in Israel. Several times today I thought about it and decided with all the moving parts (which I’ll get to later) and the problem with getting decent amounts of verifiable information on the numbers of dead, injured and kidnapped, not to mention the outright lies being spread by opportunists (including so many Republicans in our own country) there’s too much to unpack. Also, if you are worried about how wide this will spread I firmly believe you are justified in being very worried. Again, I’ll tackle that a bit later but first let’s take a look at what I believe are the two individuals who lit the fuses on this powder keg. Netanyahu and Trump are two toxic peas in a turd pod. Both, as the title states are Megalomaniacs. While Bibi is the main source of where we are this weekend Trump proved to be his biggest enabler. With that as a preamble let’s dive in.
Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes. Psychologically it manifests as Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Grandiose Delusions.
As I’ve said two world leaders who are prime examples are Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and Donald Trump. I could write an entire series of articles about the former, but if you’ve followed matters in Israel and the middle east in the past couple of decades he looms large. From where I sit he’s held a messianic vision of himself as the only person who could “save” or “preserve” Israel and whatever he might say in the way of half-assed mumblings about peace he has always striven to drive every last Palestinian out of Israel. He’s ignored all manner of agreements and ruthlessly expanded settlements in the West Bank. Grabbing even more of Jerusalem and convincing Trump (not that it was much of a task) to shift the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem certainly inflamed things even more.
What matters is that Netanyahu’s vision is that Israel be for Jewish people only. That only he has the will to make it happen and the ability to keep the country, the United States on Israel’s side and force them into publicly taking sides in negotiations. His entire career has been about making the prospect of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem impossible. He is also corrupt. Abusive of his power and has been trying to grab even more, to make himself “ruler for life” in practical terms. That he keeps getting back into power frustrates the hell out of everyone but his attempt to strip the courts of authority, to in effect stave off investigation and prosecution of himself did not go over well at all. Public (and international) outcry was immediate and widespread, and he eventually was forced to back off. But he was in no way done trying. Without attaining that particular goal and remaining PM he’s in deep legal trouble.
Sound like anyone else we know? Trump and Bibi go back to before he was President and I don’t think Trump’s “I alone can fix things” mantra came out of nowhere. I truly believe Netanyahu was his inspiration for it. Not to mention using political power to ward off investigations and if necessary criminal charges. Netanyahu’s grip on the far right Likud Party in Israel might not be as pervasive as Trump’s over the GOP but it’s in the ballpark and has been for a lot longer. I won’t go down the whole laundry list of Bibi’s actions that have quite intentionally inflamed things between Israelis and Palestinians but he, at least in my opinion has sometimes been willing to publicly relish doing so. Both to please those in Israel (which isn’t everyone, not by a long shot but enough) and to prove he can bring the U.S. to heel whenever he wants. Without the massive backing Israel has had from the U.S. it wouldn’t exist. People have argued all my life about whether our support should be as damned near unconditional as it has and I won’t get into that here. (You can say “whew!”) What matters is that as I write this we are sending a carrier group and who knows what else to help Israel in this brand new war. Make no mistake. It will be a war and as ugly a war as you can imagine and then some.
There has been a fair amount of discussion about the massive intelligence failure prior to yesterdays opening attack. Also that because of it, with most of Israel’s troops positioned over at the West Bank defenses along the Gaza strip were so thin. The point though is this was a large, well-planned (and funded) attack by Hamas and it took months to plan and get all the pieces into place. You know what was happening during that time? Netanyahu’s attempt to shut down investigation and prosecution of him by neutering his judicial system and massive, ongoing protests. Protests that while not as large continued even after he put his plans on hold.
With Israeli’s most crucial ally which happens to be us there has been considerable turmoil in our own politics. We have an ex-President who instigated an insurrection to stay in power to avoid prosecution he knew would be coming without the shield of the Presidency. His candidacy for another term has inflamed things here, and his hold on power in the GOP is such that its members will sell themselves out like street whores to do his bidding when he tells them too. Worse, threats of violence and actual violence have gone up and by a lot. The GOP, which is dependent on “Evangelical” “Christians” who would support Israel if they dusted off the building plans for the concentration camp ovens in WWII and used them to turn every Palestinian to dust would be fine and dandy aren’t just all-in on supporting Israel in this crisis. They are making up baldfaced LIES about how all this came about!
Ronna McDaniel, the in-name only head of the RNC is hardly the only one to be saying the quiet part out loud, that they can use this against President Biden (and Democrats) next year. Do you think for one second that Hamas didn’t factor this in when they were planning their attack and made the decision to initiate it? Oh, and lest we forget we spent weeks barreling towards a govt. shutdown which would have greatly complicated any U.S. assistance to Israel. Still, I’ll bet they held back in part wanting to see whether a last minute deal would get made which of course it was. Then Gaetz and his Gang of Eight went and tossed out McCarthy and until there’s a new Speaker no aid package for Israel can be passed and signed into law. Again, they and their Iranian backers had to have factored in the shiit-show the GOP put on back in January and figured if anything this would be worse.
Conditions for Hamas were perfect. Israel distracted by a Prime Minister who has had his country in an uproar trying to hold on to power so he can avoid prosecution, and its main ally (bigger than everyone else combined) distracted by one of our major Political Parties trying to help a former President get back in power so he too can avoid prosecution. Now we have a war.
My jarhead days are decades in the past but I look at the Gaza Strip, perhaps the mostly densely packed multi-million population anywhere on this earth and all those tall buildings packed together and I shudder. “MOUT” as we called it back in my day (Military Operations in Urban Terrain) is as difficult and ugly as it gets. Frankly, don’t count on any of the hostages we already think number well into the hundreds and maybe over a thousand will be rescued. At least alive. And while Israel is trying to sound “compassionate” for non-Hamas supporting Palestinians by warning them to leave while forces are moved to go into Gaza they sure as hell won’t be letting ANY of them into Israel. Egypt has closed its border with Gaza and I doubt they will allow all that many refugees to escape what’s coming.
Building after building will be turned to rubble and keep in mind what I said about how densely people, human beings are packed together in that tiny plot of land. The “Butcher’s Bill” for this war will be appalling and the lion’s share will be innocent civilians.
Again I say this was all avoidable. Netanyahu could have and should have walked away from politics long ago. But he had a vision and believe only he was capable of turning it into reality. Just like Trump. Together they have created a not at all perfect storm but huge, destructive storm and it will spread far beyond the middle east.
I’d like to note what I mentioned earlier which is my reluctance to get into this at all so early on due to all the moving parts. There’s Iran without who’s help Hamas would never have been able to pull off such a major attack. There’s Iran’s mutually supporting relationship with Russia too. Why that matters is that Russia is on its heels in Ukraine but international support has been starting to waver. In large part because REPUBLICANS in our own country (especially in the House but some in the Senate too) have for a while now publicly advocated cutting back or even cutting off support for Ukraine. And who is telling them to so do? Putin’s Puppet Donald Trump! In fact, there are those in the House beyond the Gaetz-Gang who are saying their support for the next Speaker will be conditional on no more aid for Ukraine!
So while Ukraine has paid an awful price in destruction, deaths and injuries the free world has shelled out a lot to support them but cracks in the alliance began forming a while back. When they look at the United States without whom there would be no more Ukraine, at least one not under Putin’s iron-fisted control is it any wonder that a world weary of that war, and worried about the possibility of China deciding to take Taiwan by force and having to respond to THAT there’s a political version of global change, political climate so to speak now underway with Hamas attack on Israel being the tipping point? The proverbial point of no return?
Those my friends are only some of the moving parts, some of the tectonic plate sized ones. There are plenty more smaller but significant ones that can grow to become intractable ones.
We are less than 48 hours into all this. How to keep it from escalating into a non-nuclear WWIII will be the challenge of a lifetime for President Biden and other world leaders, especially with some world leaders doing all they can to spin things out of control. But this is what happens when people who should never have any power, much less great power attain it.
I have left facebook over my Israel supporting evangelical family members. I know they are praying that the end times are coming as they preach every sunday. They are hoping this will start armaggedon. They are waiting for the rapture, with trump in their hearts. So yeah that is a thing
The trigger for the Hamas attack was Netanyahu showing a map witnessed by the press of the region and it’s countries in the future and trade. The map showed a ‘greater’ Israel that had swallowed the West Bank and showed nothing left for Palestinians, which is Netanyahu’s obvious policy. Hamas knows Netanyahu. The fuse was lit. Game on!
The fact that the writer of this article didn’t even try to denounce the barbaric attack of Hamas on innocent civilians (and even foreigners, in that beach party) speaks volumes about his mindset.
There’s absolutely no justification for this unprovoked attack.
I beg to differ with your assessment. I noted at the outset that Hamas (and later noted they couldn’t have done what they did and are doing without Iran’s support) has killed and injured hundreds and taken an untold number of hostages. How you spin that into my approval of such violence which was sure to lead to a full war I don’t know. Taken in full I content my article suggests that it was poor leadership in Israel that provided Hamas to carry out their massive attack and the ensuing horrific violence of recent days which will only get worse. But the article contends it was intended to provoke a large scale war (which it has) and that Hamas, with huge assistance from Iran carried out all the violence unleashed starting this past weekend.
I have no use for any country or organization, especially and including one that purports to act on behalf of a large group of others claiming Israel has no right to exist. And worse engages in violence to make their point. I thought I was clear that Hamas having carefully and over many months planned the start of this was before initiating it was at fault. Pointing out that if not for other factors they (and Iran) wouldn’t have tried it doesn’t change that.
It’s no secret that I have in the course of my life had problems with actions Israel has taken, going all the way back to their attack on the Liberty when I was young. And, as a Marine of 1980s vintage for my active duty I’ve got a particular bone to pick with the “vaunted” IDF and I will NEVER be forgiving of their contempt for us at the airport in Beirut when we were there bailing THEM out of their own f**king mess. Israelis including some of their leaders of good will have tried to work out an acceptable solution to the problem in that country where people of different faiths have lived side by side for thousands of years. But for too long now Israel has had a leader who has made a point of trying to drive out every person of Palestinian heritage from every square foot of Israel.
The biggest tragedy of this, as is the case in all wars is that average people who just want to live their lives and take care of their families/loved ones, who don’t give two sh*ts about the political posturings of “leaders” who exploit a problem instead of trying to fix it (remember northern Ireland?) and are “somebodies” because they stand up and beat their chests. If the problem were fixed, or at least reduced to manageable size they wouldn’t be important any more so they sabotage things when they have to. Like Arafat did when he walked away at the last minute from a deal that might have led to a fairly solid peace. His is one of many graves I’d like to piss on if I win the lottery and have money to travel wherever I want.
However I again dispute your premise. Hamas initiated a war provoking attack – because it was possible due to the actions of others that don’t get called out for a long history of at best paying lip service to trying to work out the problem of a country in which a minority holds sway over the rights and well-being of the majority of the people who live there. And that the violence unleashed starting Saturday was unleashed by Hamas.
For the record, it’s my belief that were one day a legitimate peace deal be close at hand Hamas’ and it’s leader would do the same f**king thing Arafat did – blow the whole thing up. Just don’t go telling me that someone like Netanyahu wouldn’t do the same, although in his case he’s made sure we haven’t come close to anything in decades.
All of this could have and should have been avoided. My entire life there are those who have worked their hearts out trying to keep this kind of thing from happening.
Very well said Denis. And I agree with it, now if we could get our government working correctly, I would be very happy. VOTE BLUE ACROSS THE BALLOT!!!
denis, all this has done is given Bibi the excuse he may or may not have needed to carve out Gaza like a rotten gourd (which in this Jew’s opinion is exactly what hamas is).
Decades ago the Arabs who lived in Israel should have been taken in by the surrounding countries in the region. The surrounding countries in the region wanted nothing to do with their own people who they considered to be basically terrorists even back then. The borders were, and so far as I know still are, shut to Arabs living in Israel which puts us in the position we’re in now with that bloody two-state shit that doesn’t work, will not work, and we need to quit kidding ourselves it ever will.
Much as I would like to see peace in that region I am not predicting it. There are too many outside actors who profit from the turmoil this crap brings-political capital, military-industrial complex revenues, a common enemy (very applicable in the neighboring nations).
I will say this however: putting Bibi back in as PM was as big a fuck-up as the citizens could ever have committed. That election decision pretty much guaranteed, even without the outside influence, that hamas was going to be pissed, desperate, and would react violently. I blame citizen stupidity as much as if not more so than the outside influence. It isn’t as if this attack after putting that corrupt and evil pol back into office couldn’t be predicted. THAT many people predicted.
And now a “complete siege” has been declared on Gaza. Sure hope hamas is happy now their citizens are going to go without food and drinking water.
Have you ever heard of the Dunning Kruger effect? Essentially it’s someone who thinks they are very well informed or have expertise but they aren’t smart enough to recognize that they actually know less than Jack Shit. I’d bet the farm that those defining Dunning Kruger had MAGAs in mind. (It’s no coincidence that the population comprising MAGA are & have been exploited by every snake oil salesman, con man & Charlatan from Joel Osteen to Donald Trump. There’s a reason this demographic is targeted for exploitation by everyone and libs are not). Here’s a thought….Trump telling Matt Gaetz to give McCarthy the chop DAYS before Hamas’ attack leaving our Congress with no speaker and thus making it impossible for the U.S. to help Israel in combination with Tuberville making our military unprepared is so staggeringly coincidental it’s impossible to believe that it wasn’t explicitly planned in advance.
What do you think would happen if EVERYONE EVERYWHERE decided that for one day the world would protest all wars shutting down all production. Think Beatles songs. I know but a dream is a dream is a dream.