{"id":234882,"date":"2021-05-25T06:57:23","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T06:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=234882"},"modified":"2021-05-26T08:13:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T08:13:49","slug":"understanding-israels-latest-attack-on-gaza-and-who-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=234882","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Israel\u2019s Latest Attack on Gaza \u2013 and Who Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phyllis Bennis \u2013 Anti-War.com May 22, 2021<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u201cBoth sides need to de-escalate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one benefits from this. \u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll hear a lot of statements like that from pundits, elected officials, government spokespeople, and mainstream media anytime there\u2019s violence in Israel-Palestine.<\/p>\n

In the last few days, Israeli war planes, armed drones, and artillery mounted on tanks have killed more than 119 Palestinians in the besieged and blockaded Gaza Strip. Thirty-one of them were children. Rocket fire from Gaza left eight Israelis, including one child dead.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to say no one benefits. But it\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s prime minister, has a whole lot to gain from this assault \u2013 among other things, it may keep him out of jail. More broadly, Israel\u2019s strategic military planners have been waiting for another attack on Gaza. And for Israel\u2019s arms manufacturers, assaulting Gaza is what the leading Israeli daily newspaper Ha\u2019aretz<\/em> has called \u201ca cash cow<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Series of Provocations<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s important to understand the specific factors that led to the current escalation in Israel\u2019s horrific air war against Gaza.<\/p>\n

The Hamas rocket fire that began on May 10 did not come out of nowhere. It was a response to Israeli police and settler attacks against Palestinians in Jerusalem, indeed across much of the West Bank as well.<\/p>\n

Those attacks included demolitions to force Palestinians out of their homes and the continuing threat of eviction for families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood<\/a> of occupied East Jerusalem. They included police denying Palestinians access<\/a> to the steps of the Damascus Gate of the Old City, their traditional gathering place to share iftar (sunset) meals during the fasting month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n

And they included the deliberate provocation \u2013 not only to Palestinians but to Muslims everywhere \u2013 of Israeli police raiding the al-Aqsa Mosque<\/a>, the third holiest site in all of Islam, shooting stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets at worshipers at morning prayer in and around the mosque.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, given the experience of Gaza\u2019s 2 million people \u2013 half of whom are children<\/a> and around three-quarters of whom are refugees<\/a>, who have lived through 14 years of a crippling Israeli blockade of the overcrowded, impoverished strip \u2013 it was hardly a surprise that such provocative actions would lead to a military response from Hamas.<\/p>\n

But these actions don\u2019t explain Israel\u2019s choice \u2013 and it was certainly a choice \u2013 to immediately escalate its military assault to the level of full-scale war. So what does explain it?<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s Troubles<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For starters, politics.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Netanyahu is on trial and facing years in jail for a wide range of corruption charges. As long as he remains prime minister, he can\u2019t be jailed \u2013 but if he loses his ruling coalition, as he was on the verge of doing just before this crisis, he could go to prison.<\/p>\n

So for Netayanhu, maintaining public support is not just a political goal but an urgent personal necessity. The mobilization of troops and the sight of Israel\u2019s military in action allows him to reprise his longstanding role as the ultimate \u201cprotector\u201d of Israel against its \u201cenemy\u201d \u2013 whoever the chosen enemy du jour might be.<\/p>\n

It might be Iran (which, unlike Israel<\/a>, does not have a nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons program). It might be the nonviolent BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions) campaign, which leading Israeli leaders equate with Iran as an existential threat. Or it might be Gaza \u2013 as it was in 2008-2009, 2012, and especially for the 50 days of Israeli bombardment in 2014 that left 2,202 Palestinians, including 526 children, dead<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s political capital is also bound up with his claim to be the only Israeli leader who can maintain the key levels of absolute impunity and uncritical economic and political support from the United States. Certainly the Trump years<\/a> were characterized by Washington\u2019s warmest embrace of Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing government and the most extremist pro-Israel policies to date. But so far President Biden, presumably convinced that moving to restore the Iran nuclear deal means no other pressure on Israel is possible, has recalibrated only the rhetoric.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s actual support for Israel \u2013 including $3.8 billion in military support every year<\/a> and the one-sided \u201cIsrael has the right of self-defense\u201d rhetoric that refuses to acknowledge any such right to the Palestinians \u2013 remains in place. And history shows us that direct U.S. backing \u2013 in the form of additional cash and weapons as well as effusive statements of support \u2013 rise when Israeli troops are on the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cMowing the Grass\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Beyond the political advantages, there are strategic advantages for Israel to go to war against Gaza. Despite the withdrawal of Israeli settlers and troops from inside the Gaza Strip in 2005, since 2007 Gaza has remained under an Israeli-imposed blockade and siege. It is, under international law, still occupied<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And for years, Israel\u2019s strategy towards Gaza and the Palestinians who live there has been one of absolute control. Israel controls who can enter or exit Gaza, which means control over people\u2019s lives \u2013 and deaths. In the past, Israel has determined exactly how many calories Gazans should be able to eat each day \u2013 to \u201cput them on a diet,\u201d<\/a> as Israeli military officials said in 2006.<\/p>\n

And not surprisingly, Palestinian resistance to the years of siege and occupation in Gaza has at times included military resistance.<\/p>\n

During the 2014 war, the influential Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies issued a report endorsing what had already become a standard approach for Israel toward Gaza. It was called \u201cMowing the Grass in Gaza,\u201d<\/a> and it described the lethal military assault as being \u201cin accordance with a \u2018mowing the grass\u2019 strategy. After a period of military restraint, Israel is acting to severely punish Hamas for its aggressive behavior, and degrading its military capabilities \u2013 aimed at achieving a period of quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report ignored the fact that Israel is an occupying power, that the people of Gaza are protected civilians, and that collective punishment, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the use of dramatically disproportionate levels of violence are all violations of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and more. The report\u2019s author was unequivocal that \u201ca war of attrition against Hamas is probably our fate for the long term, and we will quite frequently need to strike Gaza in order keep the enemy off balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initiating periods of intense violence in Gaza, even when the resistance was nonviolent such as the 2018 Great March of Return<\/a>, has been Israel\u2019s approach ever since.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Arms Industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Finally, these frequent attacks on Gaza have provided a critically valuable testing ground for the Israeli weapons manufacturers whose export deals \u2013 worth $7.2 billion in 2019<\/a> \u2013 represent a huge component of Israel\u2019s GDP.<\/p>\n

During the height of the 2014 assault, Ha\u2019aretz <\/em>reported<\/a> that the company\u2019s factories \u201cworked around the clock turning out munitions as the army tested their newest systems against a real enemy. Now, they are expecting their battle-tested products will win them new customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCombat is like the highest seal of approval when it comes to the international markets,\u201d explained Barbara Opall-Rome, the Israel bureau chief for Defense News told Ha\u2019aretz<\/em>. \u201cWhat has proven itself in battle is much easier to sell. Immediately after the operation, and perhaps even during, all kinds of delegations arrive here from countries that appreciate Israel\u2019s technological capabilities and are interested in testing the new products.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a business point of view,\u201d concluded the editor of Israel Defense<\/em>, \u201cthe operation was an outstanding thing for the defense industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I write this seven years later, Israel\u2019s latest air war against Gaza continues. Ground troops are massed outside the Strip, with tank-mounted artillery weapons aimed at 2 million people crammed into one of the most crowded territories on the earth. Half an hour ago a family of six was killed<\/a> in their home as tank and air strikes continue.<\/p>\n

Far beyond some claim of \u201cself-defense,\u201d are there other reasons Israel might once again be on the attack? When you look at who benefits, the answer might not be so complicated after all.<\/p>\n

Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. She\u2019s the author of Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer<\/a>. <\/em>Reprinted with permission from Foreign Policy In Focus<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netanyahu\u2019s political troubles \u2013 and an arms industry eager to battle test new wares on Gazans \u2013 may help explain the latest escalation of violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":234109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=234882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":234883,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234882\/revisions\/234883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/234109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=234882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=234882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=234882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}