The real reason Israel is assassinating Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and why it won’t stop the resistance
Israel’s assassination of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders doesn’t aim to weaken the resistance. Its real motive is to restore the image of military and intelligence superiority in the eyes of the Israeli public.
Who are the Syrian Druze of Majdal Shams?
After a rocket struck a town in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, killing 12 children and youth, members of the local Druze community kicked Israeli politicians out of the funeral. To understand why, we look back at the history of this minority community and their resistance to Israeli colonialism.
Israel assassinates head of Hamas political bureau amid regional escalation
Israel assassinated Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran after a series of mounting regional tensions that included unprecedented Israeli attacks on the "Axis of Resistance," including airstrikes on Beirut and Yemen.
The difference between Biden and Harris on Israel? “Zippo, Zilch, Zero!
Netanyahu visited Washington this week to ask Congress for more U.S. weapons to “finish the job faster” in Gaza, an unimaginable task after nine months of unlimited carnage, and all eyes were on Kamala Harris. Would the newly minted Democratic presidential candidate say anything about the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians? 92,000 by the estimate of American health workers who have been in Gaza? Not to mention the destruction of 70 percent of the buildings there.
The answer was that Harris intends to have it both ways.
Harris met in the White House with Netanyahu, for 45 minutes, and did nothing to stray from the Biden line, of giving Israel more weapons.
“Zippo, Zilch, Zero!” Thomas Nides, the former ambassador to Israel, declared joyously, when asked on an Israel lobby call if there is any daylight between Harris and Biden’s support for Israel. He has had 100 phone calls with Harris and her Jewish husband Douglas Emhoff and — “Her view is the same view that I share, the president shares. We have to protect Israel at any cost. Israel is a vulnerable country, it’s a country that needs protection.”
And so when a few of the thousands of Netanyahu demonstrators in Washington burned American flags and spraypainted a statue with words, “Hamas is comin'” – Harris was quick to issue a statement calling them despicable.
I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews,” Harris said. “Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent, and we must not tolerate it in our nation.”
On the other hand, Harris is aware that the Democratic base now holds highly negative views of Israel. By 56 to 22 percent Democrats say that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. That understanding is firmer among younger, progressive Dems and people of color. And it is being channeled by the Uncommitted campaign, which says “Not Another Bomb,” and has gotten several congresspeople to agree.
There is a panic inside the Democratic leadership: Unless Harris does something to acknowledge the genocide, young Dems will stay home in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Trump will win.
So Harris has made some slight rhetorical shifts. After meeting Netanyahu, she confessed her compassion for Palestinian suffering in Gaza. “We cannot look away–“
“I also expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians… “The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety — sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time — we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”
The Washington Post headline was: “Harris created distance from Biden on Gaza by emphasizing Palestinian suffering.”
No doubt Harris is privately horrified by the genocide. She is sending signals to the left of greater empathy for Palestinians. Many in Washington are horrified. You just can’t come out and say it. That’s impolite.
Everything Harris did say was quickly repackaged by the Israel lobby as perfectly ok. “We should not look away. We should work to relieve the suffering, but we should remember that the responsibility for the tragedies in Gaza lie squarely with Hamas,” said Democratic Majority for Israel.
“Her views on Israel are exactly, 100 percent the same as mine… and yes we’ve got to have a ceasefire,” Tom Nides said.
Douglas Emhoff, husband of VP Kamala Harris, on a Jewish Democratic Council of America briefing, July 24, 2024. Screenshot.
Still, rhetorical shifts mean something in Washington. The vice president’s tonal shift is reflective of the large number of Dems who boycotted the Netanyahu speech. As Michael Arria reports:
In 2015, around 50 Democrats didn’t show for Netanyahu’s speech. This time it was about 136. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) held up a sign while Bibi spoke that said, “War Criminal.” The other side said, “Guilty of Genocide.”
That’s significant. Rep. Jerry Nadler refused to condemn Tlaib on MSNBC, and Nancy Pelosi wasn’t in the House for the speech — Pelosi who five years ago said that the Capitol would crumble and fall before the U.S. walked away from its coordination with Israel.
The right-wing Israel lobby is obviously concerned about a President Harris becoming a critic of Israel. And the liberal Zionists are prepared with an answer. The Democrats will run against Netanyahu the same way they run against Trump. Netanyahu is the evil. He’s an authoritarian demagogue. He is against the two-state solution. Netanyahu has prosecuted the bloody campaign in Gaza.
This is a delusion. If Netanyahu is so awful, why are Democratic leaders meeting with him? Because they need him. And anyway, all of Israel’s leadership is against a Palestinian state. All of the leadership is behind the Gaza slaughter. Yes, some of them want to go slower on the ethnic cleansing. Some of them oppose the annexation of the West Bank. But there is no real opposition to the security needs of the “Jewish state.”
As Nides says, Israel is beset by enemies– Hezbollah, Ansar Allah/Houthis, Hamas, Syria. Israel will always be beset by enemies. Because when you set up a state that persecutes non-Jews, and the basic laws of the state grant non-Jews no rights or derisory rights, the people who are persecuted will resist it, forever.
Even Jewish kids in America will reject an apartheid state in their name. Tom Nides has repeatedly complained about his own kids — “giving us grief about what’s happening” in Gaza. The irrepressible financier/lobbyist declares that Kamala Harris can win over his children and “reposition Israel for the next 20 years” so that we can all rally around it again.
You can’t repackage a toxic product as a healthful one. And the fact that our top leaders welcome Netanyahu in the midst of a genocide is sickening.
Which brings us back to that graffiti. Hamas Is Comin is a warning to Americans of the consequences of supporting apartheid and supplying weapons to a genocide. It is a reckless policy. We are courting violence.
“More Americans are on track to die because of poor policy,” Harrison Mann, a former Defense intelligence officer, said this week, on a panel of nine Biden administration staff who have openly quit over the genocide.
Mann warned of the consequences of the destruction of the American image.
We’ve turned both global and, especially, regional opinion against the United States in a way that we haven’t seen, maybe, since the invasion of Iraq. That is breeding hatred that is undoubtedly going to cause terror in the future. I think it’s only a matter of time until we reap what we sow there.
Harris can condemn Hamas all she wants. But she is embracing a policy of more and more violence against Palestinians that elevates Hamas. Only a political solution will end resistance.
Jenin resistance defiant as Israeli army kills 12 Palestinians in raid
The Israeli army withdrew from Jenin refugee camp after a three-day incursion that left 12 Palestinians dead. But the armed resistance in the camp remains defiant, vowing to repel all invaders.
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‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 192: European countries urge Israel not to respond to Iran attack; Israeli army targets Gazans returning north
Germany, France and the UK called upon Israel “not to escalate” after Iran’s strike on Saturday. Israel killed 43 Palestinians attempting to return home to north Gaza as Hamas presents a new counter-proposal for a ceasefire.
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‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 102: Israel pulls thousands of forces from Gaza as Hamas announces death of two captives
Iran bombed a spy center for the Mossad in Iraq’s Erbil, Yemen attacked a U.S. ship in the Red Sea, and a Palestinian car-ramming attack took place near Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, Gaza’s Health Ministry warned hospitals are running out of crucial supplies.