In killing Nasrallah, Israel chose to open the gates of hell. We'll all pay the price
The West, via Israel, is fomenting for Hezbollah and the Shia resistance their own ISIS moment. Moderates are once again losing the argument – because we lost it for them
Hezbollah has confirmed that its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was among the hundreds of Lebanese killed in Israel’s massive bombardment of a suburb of Beirut last night.
Israel’s decision to assassinate Nasrallah, using some of the enormous bunker-busting bombs the United States has been arming it with, is beyond foolhardy. It is outright deranged. Israel has removed – and knows it has removed – a moderating influence on Hezbollah.
Israel’s action will achieve nothing apart from teaching his successor, and leaders of other groups and countries labelled as terrorist by western governments, several lessons:
* That Israel, and the West standing squarely behind it, do not play by any known rules of engagement, and that their opponents must do likewise. The current restraint from Hezbollah that has been so baffling western pundits will become a thing of the past.
* That Israel is not interested in compromise, only escalation, and that this is a fight to death – not just against Israel but against the West that sponsors Israel.
* That Israel's ideological extremism – its Jewish supremacism, and its endless craving for Lebensraum – must be met with even greater Shia-inspired extremism.
Decades of western terrorism in the Middle East unleashed a Sunni nihilism embodied first in al-Qaeda and then in ISIS.
Now, the West, via Israel, is fomenting for the Shia resistance its own ISIS moment. The moderates in what the West dubs “terrorist organisations” have once again lost the argument. Why? Because the US imperial project known as “the West” has once again demonstrated it will not compromise. It demands full-spectrum, global dominance – nothing less.
Israel may make very short tactical gains in killing Nasrallah. But we will all soon feel the whirlwind.
When that whirlwind comes, the job of our politicians and media will be to ensure we make no connection between this moment of savagery and insanity from us and the blowback.
The role of western establishments will be to cry victim, to insist “They hate us for our freedoms”, for our civilisational superiority, because “they” are simply barbarians.
But what comes next, as with what came before, will be entirely predictable. Violence doesn't beget calm, it begets more violence. Israel knows that. Our leaders know that. But they opened the gates of hell anyway.
(Disclaimer: Nothing in this post, in line with Section 12 of the UK Terrorism Act, in any way indicates, or should be seen to be encouraging, support for any group designated as a terrorist organisation by the British government.)
[Many thanks to Matthew Alford for the audio reading of this article.]
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The fact that a journalist needs to put that disclaimer at the end disgusts me. Hezbollah’s attacks on Israeli military are described as “terrorism”, yet Israels indiscriminate pager bombing is described as “audacious”. That fact alone invalidates “terrorism” as a category. Murder is murder, but “terrorism” is now nothing but rhetorical bullshit.
His daughter Zahra and possibly other family members were likely also killed along with hundreds of others when multiple bunker buster bombs literally evaporated an entire neighborhood. Courtesy of American intelligence, American radar planes likely guiding Israeli warplanes, and American bombs. Full on joint operation (despite denials) almost guaranteed to have been green lighted by Biden and Harris who’re also sending another several billion or so to Netanyahu.
They’re trying to create an existential situation for Hezbollah and Lebanon to force a reaction. The long standing desire for war with Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran is afoot. It means new territory carved from portions of Lebanon and Syria for Israel and all out attempts to degrade Iran if not all out air war on them for regime change.
America will probably reactivate ISIS and other jihadi groups to create mischief again. These bunker busters and other massive ordinances will be used throughout the area regardless of civilian casualties. Not a pretty time ahead unless saner heads prevail. But unlikely since America and Israel are in full lockstep cooperation on their destructive objectives.