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Israel Prepares to Open a Second Front in the North

by | Jun 7, 2024 | 7 comments

Mike Whitney – The Unz Review June 6, 2024

For technical, social, and morale reasons, Israel will not win another war. At every level, it has become far weaker. It can inflict frightful damage on its enemies but it cannot change the fundamental balance of all forces that leads to victory. Gabriel Kolko, 2007

Towering brushfires raged across northern Israel on Tuesday following drone and rocket attacks by Hezbollah on Israeli settlements and military bases. The fires represent the latest escalation in the ongoing cross-border war that has persisted for the last 8 months. According to the Times of Israel, roughly “60,000 residents of towns and villages along Israel’s northern border have been displaced from their homes since October due to the near-daily cross-border rocket and anti-tank missile attacks by Hezbollah…” The recent uptick in violence has prompted an angry response from Israel’s political leaders who are now threatening to invade Lebanon if the attacks don’t stop immediately. This is from an article at CNN:

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern city of Kiryat Shmona near the Lebanese border, saying that Israel is prepared for “very intense action” in the north.

“Whoever thinks that they can hurt us and that we will sit idly by is making a big mistake,” the prime minister said. “One way or another, we will restore security to the north.”

Netanyahu’s comments come after Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said the Israeli military is ready to attack targets in the north.

“We are prepared after a very good process of training – up to the level of a military exercise – to move to an attack in the north. Strong defense, readiness to attack, we are approaching a decision point,” Halevi said on Tuesday. Tensions ramp up on Israel-Lebanon border as IDF warns decision is approaching on fresh offensive, CNN

Netanyahu is feeling pressure from the far-right members of his war cabinet who want to invade Lebanon and eliminate the threat at its source. But that course of action would open a second front and likely divert resources from the operation in Gaza. It could also turn into a bloody killing fields like Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in July 2006 that backfired badly and left the IDF running for cover. Here’s a short recap of the debacle by historian Gabriel Kolko:

The 34-day war, starting July 12, Israel fought in Lebanon in 2006 was a disastrous turning point. .... The Israelis did not lose the war because of orders given or not given to various officers. It was a war of choice, and it was planned as an air war with very limited ground incursions in the expectation that Israeli casualties would be very low. …. (Chief of Staff) Halutz wanted to “shock and awe” the Hezbollah and their allies with Israeli power and establish a marker-all within a few days. It was to be a very short war based on the application of power. … Halutz wanted to make a critical point. Instead, he made the opposite and revealed Israel’s vulnerability based, in large part, on the fact the enemy was far better prepared, motivated, and equipped. It was the end of a crucial myth, the harbinger of yet more bloody but equal armed conflicts or a balance of power conducive to negotiations. Olmert and his generals very likely expected to have a great victory within five days, thereby increasing his popularity with the hawkish Jewish population that is a growing majority of the voters, to reverse his abysmally low poll ratings-he received three percent popularity in a TV poll in early March–thereby saving his political career….

There are many reasons the Israelis lost the war in Lebanon, but there is general agreement within Israel that the war ended in disaster and the deterrent value of the once unbeatable, super-armed IDF gravely diminished in the entire Arab world for the first time...

The Lebanon War is only a harbinger of Israeli defeats to come. For the first time there is a rough equivalence in military power … Technology is now moving far faster than the diplomatic and political resources or will to control its inevitable consequences-not to mention traditional strategic theories. This is true everywhere and the Middle East is no exception. Hezbollah has far better and more rockets-over 10,000 short-range rockets is one figure given–than it had a few years ago, and Israel’s military intelligence believes it has more firepower than it had last spring, before it was attacked…

In the past, wars produced victories and more territory for the Jews; now they will only produce disasters for everybody. The Lebanon War proved that…. Israel’s Last Chance, Gabriel Kolko, Counterpunch

Today’s political leaders in Israel—greatly emboldened by their perceived triumph over the civilian population of Gaza—are pushing for an invasion of Lebanon and a confrontation with their arch-enemy, Hezbollah. Most of these politicians either don’t know what transpired in 2006 or think that today’s “stronger and more capable” IDF will prevail with relative ease. They appear to discount the idea that Israel could face a humiliating defeat that would undermine their future security and deterrents. They are so convinced of their own invincibility; the prospect of defeat has never entered their minds. This is from the BBC:

On Tuesday, Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visiting firefighters in the nearby town of Kiryat Shmona, said the government’s response to Hezbollah’s rockets should be war.

“No peace in Lebanon while our land is being targeted,” he said (BBC)

Not surprisingly, Ben-Gvir’s support for an invasion is shared by fellow-traveler Bezalel Smotrich who offered these remarks in a speech at the Western Wall at the end of the Jerusalem Day Flag March:

“Prime Minister, give the order, go to war with Hezbollah, destroy them,” he bellowed. “Take strength from the multitudes gathered here and give the order. Go to war with Hezbollah, subdue, destroy, move the security zone from the Galilee into southern Lebanon.”

Not to be outdone by the firebrands in Netanyahu’s war-cabinet, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog delivered the following ominous statement:

I call from here to the international community and its leaders and stress — it is impossible to remain indifferent to this terrorism, from Lebanon and in general. Israel has been attacked daily, for many months, by Iranian proxies in Lebanon, in flagrant violation of all international agreements and resolutions.

The world needs to wake up and realize that Israel has no choice but to protect its citizens and you shouldn’t be surprised when it does so with greater and greater strength and resolve, and don’t come to us with complaints when the situation gets out of control,” Herzog warned. “This is not the time to stand by and let the region escalate. This evil terrorist aggression needs to be curbed and stopped,” Times of Israel

Aside from the predictable bluster of pompous politicians and their allies, there are a few notable realists who understand that the outcome of any confrontation with Hezbollah is far from certain. Check out this excerpt from an article at the Jerusalem Post by retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brik who said “that any attack by the Israeli army on Hezbollah could bring terrible destruction to all of Israel”:

I warned that due to the gloomy situation in the army, it is only a matter of time before disaster strikes. And indeed, it has, with Hamas attacking communities in the Gaza border area. Fortunately, we had a miracle this time as Hezbollah did not attack us from the North, as it would have brought a disaster far worse than the one suffered by the Gaza border communities. It is doubtful if we could have recovered from it and continued living in our beloved country.

In the past, I warned, and I continue to warn now, that the army and the military are not prepared for regional warfare. If the IDF goes to war against Hezbollah and launches a significant attack – as recommended by some, including senior officials in the North and even the defense minister, with absolute ignorance of their situation and readiness of the army and the military for regional war – this could bring disaster upon the country. It is a gamble on the continuation of our lives in the State of Israel.

I warned of this when the war broke out in the Gaza Strip and the people cheered for the army, which at the end of the day did not achieve the desired result….

Those responsible for the disgrace, disaster, and terrible shame that occurred on October 7, may lead us into the next regional war, a war that will destroy our country because in the last 20 years we have not prepared the home front and the army for that war. Today, both the political and military leadership do not lift a finger to prepare the home front and the army for the next regional war. This war is the most severe threat to the country since its establishment, the security situation continues to deteriorate every day, and no one seems to care….

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense minister Benny Gantz, and former chief of staff Aviv Kohavi are leading us nowhere! To a path with no way back. ….

They are the ones who brought upon us the most severe hell in the history of the people of Israel since the Holocaust, they are the ones who are leading our way to the next hell without strategic thinking and rationality, but mainly out of emotions and gambling with the security of the country. They continue the fighting more and more because in their opinion it works in their favor. Despite the goals they have defined, the minimization of Hamas and the release of the hostages alive, are moving further away from us every day. And we are descending further and further in the security of the country, in the economy, in society, and in international relations. Where else will we fall? God save us. IDF general: Military, political leaders are leading Israel to disaster – opinion, Retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brik, Jerusalem Post

It’s an extraordinary statement and right on the money. Israelis may feel emboldened by the devastation they have inflicted on Gaza at little cost to themselves, but Hezbollah is ‘a different kind of animal’ altogether. Any invasion of Lebanon will come at a high price in terms of destruction, casualties and overall security. Are the Israeli people really prepared to make the sacrifices a war with Hezbollah require? Are they really ready to see their sons and daughters returned home in body bags?

Perhaps, Netanyahu is merely bluffing when he threatens to engage Hezbollah on the battlefield. Maybe, he’s just trying to project the image of a strong wartime leader. We don’t know. But what we do know, is that if he launches a cross-border offensive into Lebanon, he’ll get more than he bargained for. And—like Sharon and Olmert before him—he’ll live to regret it.

From Twitter—

 

 

 

IDF Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, in a visit to Northern Command: ‘Hezbollah has increased its fire in recent days and we are ready to start attacking in the north. We are approaching the point of the decision.

 

Source

7 Comments

  1. Norteno on June 7, 2024 at 1:56 pm

    Haha how funny to hear these atheist heathens ask “god” to protect them and even funnier to hear them squeal about “violations “ of international law . Hypocrite vipers!

  2. Crowley on June 7, 2024 at 3:06 pm

    Oct 7 was a hoax. Hamas like Alqaeda/Isis/Hezbollah is a Jew-Israeli created fictitious ‘terror org’, similar to ‘the brotherhood’ from 1984–providing the pretext for the Commie State/Jews to advance their geo-political & demographic goals.

  3. Yukon Jack on June 8, 2024 at 12:55 am

    I wrote this response to the same article posted on unz.com:

    https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/israel-prepares-to-open-a-second-front-in-the-north/#comment-6606593

    My original comment was not published, but I tried again this afternoon, and it passed.

    WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE NORTH OF ISRAEL RIGHT NOW IS INSANE

    The insanity in Israel started long ago. The insanity started when Eastern Europeans, believers in the Torah, moved to the middle of Arab central, and started exterminating the natives – all because they believed the myth book true, that the story in the Holy Bible (or Torah) was literal history, and that Almighty God gave some ancient Israelites some land, which only took them 3 or 4 thousands years to get back. You are to believe Almighty God, who created everything in 6 days, took thousands of years to lead the Israelis to the promised land. Yeah, that is the utter bullshit people believe.

    First of all, who was the moron who thought it was a good idea to put the Jews right in the middle of all of the Arabs? That moron was Rothschild. Billions if not trillions will be spent to prop up Israel which is destined to fail – because Jews can not get along with anyone – they are assholes and always will be assholes.

    Map of the Middle East showing Arab states vs. Rothschild Israel:
    https://cdn.britannica.com/q:60/08/89908-050-36B36DA9/Middle-East.jpg

    On the map, look which nations hate Israel? Yemen for sure. All the Saudis except for the twerp prince. Every Iranian and Syrian. Every Arab in every Arab state. Syria and Iraq both want Uncle Shmuel gone. Lebanon is constantly at war with Israhell. Unless you are a drooling moron, ZOGUSA is going to get squeezed out of the Middle East like an infected zit. No one wants us there, except greedy contractors who want our money and religious nutcase Zionists. Suffice us to say, the whole of Arab speaking states wants us out of their territory for very good reason, we are the assholes propping up shitty little Israel and making hell on earth in their back yard.

    But the big joke here, the really sad reality, is that these Eastern European Jews, are not blood related to the Israelites of the Bible. Everyone knows that, everyone who is not a f-cking retard knows that people from Europe can not be the blood descendants of Abraham and his tribe. But myth is more powerful than a person’s ability to reason, the believers believe and they are willing to kill to enforce their beliefs on their fellow man. God chose me, not you, so now I will kill you. If you resist my holy orders, you are an antisemitic terrorist says the European White Jew to the Semite Arab. Now that is laughably insane logic, so as Israel is burned to the ground, know that the insanity starts in the holy book – works it way through the immature minds of the believers, and creates hell on earth. Faith and belief is literally creating hell. Stupid people believe myth, stupid people act out the myth.

    ————–
    quoting

    The Abraham Myth by Peter J. Leithart

    The biblical writers deployed the full arsenal of ancient literary conventions, and their texts are full of sly authorial signals that they are not supposed to be taken literally. We can summarize briefly:

    The story of Abraham’s exodus (Gen. 12:10–20) is obviously modeled on Israel’s Egyptian sojourn and exodus (which most likely never happened either). By shaping this narrative to mimic later myths, the author indicates that the episode is not to be taken seriously as history. Genesis 12, like the exodus narrative, teaches that God delivers. It does not matter whether or not God has ever actually delivered anyone. The moral stands: God is our deliverer.

    ————–

    What do archeologists think? The Early History of the Israelite People, there is literally NO archeological evidence for the stories in the Bible:

    —————

    quoting UK Telegraph

    ABRAHAM, Jacob, Moses, King David, and King Solomon in all his splendour, never existed, a 15-year study of archaeological evidence has concluded.

    The study – by Professor Thomas Thompson, one of the world’s foremost authorities on biblical archaeology – says that the first 10 books of the Old Testament are almost certainly fiction, written between 500 and 1,500 years after the events they purport to describe.

    ————-

    But there is an even bigger joke than Eastern Europeans thinking they are some lost Israelite tribe, Abraham, their father, never even existed. Clearly the Hindu myth-god Brahma and his sister/wife Saraswati becomes Abraham and his sister/wife Sara. Sarah’s maidservant Hagar is the Ghaggar river in India. Abraham’s son Isaac is also another Hindu name Ishakhu meaning friend of Shiva. And what kind of god tells you to kill your eldest son as proof of loyalty? Only in myth. No god told no Abraham to do such a thing, yet that horrible story is the basis of western civilization.

    Abraham is only myth, a fictional character in a storybook, and every archeologist and mythologist knows this. But understand, the people who actually know things are not in charge of the nations, foreign policy, or the media. Real knowledge is thrown out the window for political expediency. The Christian retards of Amerika are damned determined to save Israel, because they too, being drooling morons, believe the myth book true also. Just turn on any Evangelical TV or radio broadcast and listen to how they cheer lead and defend Israel – even when Israel commits genocide. I wonder what Jesus would say about modern Christians? Oh yeah, he doesn’t exist either.

    In the modern era, for at least two hundred years, Bible nuts have digging in the desert sands desperately trying to prove their myth book true. I mean, it has to be true, right? For the last 2 millenia white people, who were converted to Roman Christ Insanity believed the myth. They believed in Jesus, Joseph, and Mary; and the twelve apostles, and the baby Jesus in the manger. Every year they built displays to the holy birth, huge cathedrals were built, billions and billions of people believed the myth literally true. Rick Steve’s travel show details how every city in Europe is built around this Bible belief. SO IT HAS TO BE TRUE, RIGHT? Nope, it’s only myth. I am happy to inform you all there is no such thing as an angry sky god out to get you, so you do not have to be saved.

    Evangelical fruitcake Billy Graham riding adonkey in Israel because he believes the myth story true -and wants to imitate Jesus, his Jewish lord and savior:
    https://i.imgur.com/cm9vhw6.jpeg

    The charismatic Billy Graham mesmerized millions of Amerikan Evangelical Christians into supporting Israel in the end times. The damage done to humanity by this one man is incalculable. The mental illness of Billy Graham’s faith was memetically transferred to millions of dupes – creating this huge religious support group in Amerika for Israel. The huge Christian Zionist support for Israel is sourced in the Evangelical movement and Scofield Bible. All hell has broken loose because of beliefs in Israel as a holy land.

    No one needs Jesus, never did, never will – because the afterlife judgment myth is only a superstition adopted from the ancient Egyptians. No one needs to be saved because the presumption to salvation is based on the Old Testament story being true – which it is certainly not. Abraham, Saul, Solomon, and King David never existed. Nor did the god of the story. You must believe the Bible version of god to believe you need to be saved. This god of wrath is what Christians are trying to escape doesn’t exist. The irony is that those who are trying to achieve eternal life are only clawing up their fellow man on earth in this life – their support for Israel is a big delusion. Belief is causing a bloody mess on earth – and I dare say no one gets saved – no one can be saved – because when you are dead you are dead. There is no evidence that any human has ever survived death.

    I have personally observed no dead man coming back to life, I never saw any man walk on water, and no dead spirit ever appeared in front of me. So sorry, I do not believe the myth tale of resurrection and afterlife. But I do understand why people believe it – they want to believe it. Who wants to die and not exist? No one. So the myth persists because humans can rationalize anything so long as it fits their needs. What Christians are doing supporting Israel is forcefully imposing their beliefs on the world through Israel. Israel is going to make all their dreams come true – they believe that supporting Israel will force Jesus to return. That is laughable, man can force god to come back.

    Bottom line? Mass religious insanity is causing mass causalities in the Middle East. There’s no god choosing anyone, giving away land, or redeeming us. The entire Bible story, from cover to cover is horrible fiction. No god gave no Abraham any land. It is myth and fiction. Thus what in the hell are these Eastern Europeans doing in Palestine? Netanyahu’s real family name is Mileikowsky, both his parents are Polish, and are of no blood relation to the Bible fiction story of the Israelites, who also never existed. What is going on in the Middle East is beyond insane, it is utter religious lunacy, madness of the mind caused by bad religious literature.

  5. Mark on June 8, 2024 at 12:46 pm

    @Crowley
    please qualify in detail, with credible refs, this assertion..
    Thanks

  6. antiJHWH on June 8, 2024 at 10:11 pm

    I hope the US criminal blacks kill all the white christian
    zionists . they are the main guilty of ZIO/US suport for
    israhell + arms deliverer against palestinians .

  7. Simon Smith on June 8, 2024 at 11:32 pm

    IMO the “Homeland for the Jews” is not the innermost reason for the excuse for Israel. It is an excuse for a land bridge in the Eurasian land mass. This is what Halford Mackinder recognised in the “Geographical Pivot of History” that formed the backdrop of WWI, Palestine becoming a British “protectorate”, WWII, and the acceleration of the Israeli colonisation project.

    http://katedrawiss.uwm.edu.pl/sites/default/files/download/202005/h._mackinder_the_geographical_pivot_of_history_1904.pdf

    While the Rothschilds are nominally Jews, they are not of the same cloth as the cannon fodder that more readily identify as Zionist Jews and are out waving their flags and believing in the “Holocaust” etc. The reason I say this is that the passionate and ignorant might kill but they lack that dark inner stillness that the Rothschild international crime syndicate do.

    9/11 and the “War On Terror” certainly employed the passionate and the ignorant, but the planning is very dark. To be able to plant explosives say and do all the other things, not least of all continual lying, is a difficult composure to expect of anyone. Did the planners leading up to all of this have nice family dinners and show kindness to their own children etc.? Did they say please and thank you in their everyday business when buying groceries, fully aware their “day job” would cause thousands and ultimately millions of deaths?

    Most of us are not dishonest in the big things and don’t cause unnecessary harm. I try to avoid killing annoying insects in my day to day. I have felt guilty when doing things that may cause harm to others, and find relief when I have desisted from actions that cause a bad feeling. I am at unease if what I say or do causes unnecessary discomfort in others. But, the 9/11 practitioners must live in a very alien universe. While I doubt the visitation of ETs, the notion that horrors of the twin towers were caused by human beings in their problem~reaction~solution calculus caused me to wonder whether “inhumanity” is a literal description of the perpetrators.

    And I think Makow’s association of masonry with Judaism is quite apposite. In the lower levels there is ritual, materialism, the apparent worship of deceitfulness, but by no means the sinister psychopathy of the Rothschilds and their coterie. And I do believe the international Jews like the upper layers of masonry regard their lower brethren as disposable idiots. Notwithstanding, the essential materialism of Judaism does seem to allow for promotion through the ranks for those who are “really good at it”.

    The materialism of ordinary Jews from my understanding of the Western Christian was always about the conversion of Jews. While not a Christian within the bounds of what most would profess Christianity to be, I sense that even these Europeans of the medieval world recognised the essential darkness of Judaism through their filters, imperfect as these were. The notion of Jews as a specific race is not only contradicted by the Ashkenazi/Sephardi split, but the idea that Judaism was something that people could be weaned off.