Over the past few days, a new stage of the war in the Middle East has dominated the headlines. Israel launched ground incursions into Lebanon and killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. In response, Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel. This follows Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis. As we approach the grim one-year anniversary of that war, the ongoing escalation confirms an awful truth: the Middle East is a powder keg that both sides have reasons to detonate.
It’s important to establish the context around the present violence and what “both sides” means. On one side is Israel, mainly supported by the United States. On the other is a collection of generally-aligned militant groups backed by Iran. These organizations include Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the center of fighting has now shifted. Hezbollah and Hamas both share a commitment to terrorism; one of Hezbollah’s first major acts was the bombing of the U.S Embassy in Lebanon in 1983, and Hamas unleashed a string of suicide bombings in Israel in the early 2000s.
This alliance is often called the Axis of Resistance by Iran, brought together with the goal of fighting Israel. Iran’s fundamentalist vision of Islam has also often extended into advocating for the destruction of Israel, such as when current supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from the region.” In addition, both Hamas and Hezbollah were founded on the opposition of Israel, viewing its existence as a Zionist and colonialist invasion that wrongfully encroaches on holy Islamic territory. Recent events have only increased the need for the alliance to continue fighting. Hamas’ terror attack and hostage-taking of Israeli citizens last year, and Israel’s subsequent response, led Hezbollah to “launch rockets at Israel’s north. When Israel retaliated against Hezbollah, Iran was also forced to enter the fray because of their existing alliance. For Iran, no response would be to admit they are weaker.
At the same time, Israel senses an opportunity to deliver a knockout blow to Iran’s axis, even as the Israeli government becomes increasingly isolated in its vision. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country has shifted further to the right than ever before.
For example, Netanyahu has allowed the establishment of Jewish settlements in the West Bank—ostensibly Palestinian territory—to flourish, despite their illegality. The recent war in Gaza revealed Netanyahu’s aim to destroy Hamas without care for the deaths and casualties left in the Israeli army’s wake, exemplified by how more than 70,000 tons of bombs have been dropped on Gaza. In the process of shattering Hamas, Israel has shattered the territory and people of Gaza, and its rhetoric reflects a far more extreme vision for Palestine than in previous years. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said recently that “it may be just and moral” to “starve and thirst two million citizens”. Such a shocking statement underscores why the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for using “starvation as a weapon of war” in Gaza, among other serious allegations.
Now, Netanyahu sees the prospect of destroying Hezbollah as well, using the present state of mobilization to carry out a similar campaign with heavy airstrikes and troops on the ground to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Netanyahu is partly driven to shun a peaceful solution because this is the war Israel prepared for; the detonation of pagers given to Hezbollah’s members shows the amount of planning involved. In addition, Netanyahu has become deeply reliant on the war to cool domestic politics; the hardline members of his cabinet have pushed for the war to continue, and the prime minister had become deeply unpopular before the conflict for trying to diminish judicial power. An end to the war could very well drive him out of office.
The bottom line is both sides have contributed to escalation, and the conflict continues to lack a simple resolution. Hamas began the initial round with their attack on Israeli citizens, and Israel struck back with a large-scale assault that caused needless, large-scale suffering in Gaza. As the conflict threatens to expand into wider war, we must remember the volatile religious and political tensions that have fed into these events. The Middle East has been a center of religious warfare since the Crusades, and there will be no peace until one side is broken or bends in their opposed visions for Palestine and the Middle East. Until then, civilians will continue to be in danger of death and destruction. However, this does not mean there is nothing for us to do. The U.S. is at a crossroads for Israeli support, but there is one thing that should be clear: unnecessary suffering by any civilian population is unacceptable. We should uphold the rules of warfare, especially for our allies, and continue to recognize wrongdoing wherever it appears. In terms of the individual, no matter what side you consider yourself to be on, all of us should educate ourselves to better understand and learn about the unfolding crisis.
Well done. While I may not agree with all of the author’s views, this article is presented in a much more fair and balanced ways than most other DC pieces touching Israel/Zionism. I appreciate your recognition that the conflict in the Middle East is not solely Israel’s fault, that Israel alone cannot end it, and that civilian damage on all sides is a tragedy.
I hope future Daily Campus articles reach this standard.
Aside from the DC’s obsession with Israel and giving more fodder to the divest crowd, what does this piece have to do with UConn? We are all capable of reading the international news. Does this author read the media in Arabic or Hebrew or bring any other special analytic experience to his reporting? Is there nothing happening in the US right now? A catastrophic hurricane, an election with generational consequences? Are there no local or statewide elections in Connecticut? For shame.
Good point. The author conveniently missed the fact that the hezbollah leaders recently killed by Israel were responsible for the death of hundreds of Americans and as such our US government had a bounty on them. The topic is relevant for that reason among others. Israel is doing the dirty work that needs to be done. Loss of civilian lives is sad and unfortunate. That’s why UConn students should be protesting Hamas to release the hostages (including Americans) and supporting Israel- the one who is trying to get the hostages back.
Rare Tran L take