A man with an Israeli flag was arrested for his own safety at a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney. “He was arrested to prevent a breach of the peace for his safety, he was removed and released,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke said. He added that the man “was able to collect his flag from Sydney City Command.”
Israel has declared war for the first time in 50 years. At least 260 bodies were recovered from a music festival, just one of the places attacked by Hamas near the Gaza strip. Given Israel has a very short mobilization endurance, they may immediately strike the enemy center of gravity which, for both the proxy forces Hamas and Hezbollah, is thought to be Iran. This may widen the war from COIN to regional conflict with incalculable results. Reports that Tehran was deeply involved in planning the attack added fuel to the speculation. Even if Iran is not involved directly but the IDF takes the hammer to Hamas, the ayatollahs will be under pressure to save their proteges.
That hammer arrived in the form of news the Israelis would besiege Gaza. No electricity, food, or fuel would be allowed into the city of two million. Not since the nine-month siege of Mosul in which ISIS was destroyed have there been urban operations of this magnitude in the world. Concern was immediate.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 9 (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday he was “deeply distressed” by an announcement that Israel will initiate a complete siege of the Gaza Strip.
It is little wonder that China, Turkey, the UN, and the left-wing ‘Squad’ in Congress are all calling for ‘restraint.’ They are afraid — with ample reason — that the s**t will hit the fan. No one can look on at war without dismay. The question is which future action minimizes total expected destruction. What does Guterres propose as the alternative to a siege? Talks? The UN has failed, which is how we got here in the first place. There must be another way! Okay, but what is it?
Joe Biden’s foreign policy team is stumped. His foreign policy plans are falling to pieces. The Wall Street Journal reports, “In the early days of the Biden administration, officials sought to stabilize tensions with Moscow” — fail — “so that the U.S. could focus on a bigger long-term challenge—the rise of China” — fail — “In the span of a week, the assault by Iran-backed militant group Hamas on Israel has complicated Washington’s efforts to broker a major pact to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia” — fail again. How unlucky can a guy get?
At least guidance was forthcoming from Barack Obama, who broke his silence after two days. “We grieve for those who died, pray for the safe return of those who’ve been held hostage, and stand squarely alongside our ally, Israel, as it dismantles Hamas,” he said. Obama was deliberately making two points: 1) Israel can strike back but 2) at Hamas. Iran is not mentioned. The signal from inside the establishment is apparently to keep it local. Besiege Gaza if you like but don’t involve the ayatollahs.
However, this means that even after Gaza is reduced to pulviscular ruin, all Netanyahu would have bought for all that death and destruction is a short reprieve until the next round begins, at a time of Tehran’s choosing. For any sort of lasting solution, Washington must offer Israel more: a real solution to Iran’s hostility. Alas, all that is in Washington’s cupboard is the stale Iran deal, which is about as appetizing as a dead rat in sunshine. We are left with Obama’s advice: take two aspirins and hope you feel better in the morning.
Meanwhile the hostages are slated to be executed on TV.
Tellingly, crowds are lining up all over the world on opposite sides: Gaza Under Attack!! under one banner, Save Israel! under the other. The war in Israel is globally resonant because it is bigger than a local ethnic brawl in one little corner of the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s universal. It’s a battle of archetypes: about who we are as a species, the right to survive, the power to endure, the capacity to forgive, the determination never to forget. It’s about right and wrong. Israel has the tragic ability to distill those issues and bring them to a head.
Related: Hamas Calls on UN for Help Stopping ‘Israeli Aggression’
Despite years of Wokery, we see to our dismay that it still lives and it is our fate to deal with it again. All those politically correct thought inoculations have gained us nothing. Though we have scrupulously canceled the outward signs and worn the mandatory mask, somehow it survives untouched: the hunger for power, the ability to shape-shift, and the instinct for suppression undiminished.
The scene of broken, desecrated victims being paraded through the streets that could have sprung from any page of history conveys in that sameness that what faces us has many aliases, but only one name. We strain our ears, yet the appellation is never spoken. Totalitarianism has no hidden life, no inner speech, no private sense of self-worth apart from its desire to rise in other people’s esteem. It is all marching and braying, a wall of sound emitted by a collective, but for all the apparent fury it utters nothing intelligible.
Will the aspirin work against that, Mr. Obama? In truth, the conflict will never be over, however many ceasefires we arrange, however much ransom we pay, however often we kick the can down the road. The plague never dies. Yet equally life never fails. And in that standoff there is hope: we may not win but still be able to survive, at least until next time. Until next time.
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