The problem with killing foreign leaders...
The assassination of Yahya Sinwar won't lead to peace.
Killing Sinwar was a “good day for the world…Now’s the time to move on.” — Pres. Joe Biden
It is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power. — Presidential candidate Kamala Harris
Nomi Bar-Yaacov, a London-based tanky, called the assassination “the cherry on the icing of the cake for Israel that should be easier to reach a deal.”
Rationalizing another Israeli assassination
Analysts say Sinwar’s killing has presented Israel, which has struggled to articulate an exit strategy from Gaza, with an off-ramp to end the war.
Did you get that? Did you know until now that Israel was struggling to “articulate an exit strategy” from Gaza? What nonsense they are dumping on us.
Did you also know that if and when there’s a Palestinian state, Kamala Harris has reserved the right to tell it who should and should not be its leaders?
Biden, Harris, and many European leaders are all giddy over Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. They shouldn’t be. For one thing, political assassinations only normalize and open up the door to more assassinations.
For another, they all hope that Sinwar’s murder will lead Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and a safe return of the Israeli hostages. But it won’t.
The reasons?
Who do you negotiate a ceasefire with after you’ve murdered all the negotiators on the other side of the table?
Netanyahu has made it clear that he wants no part of any ceasefire or hostage exchange. Nor will he accept the so-called two-state solution or Palestinian self-determination. So, in his mind, what is there to negotiate about?
But this war was never mainly about Hamas or Oct. 7th. For more than 70 years it has been about annexing and whitenizing Palestine and creating an apartheid settler state in the occupied territories. More recently it’s become part of the political survival plan for Netanyahu who remains in power only through perpetual war. None of that will change with Sinwar’s killing.
Netanyahu rules with the support of two far-right parties that have threatened to topple the government if the war ends under a cease-fire deal. They repeated their opposition to a deal after Sinwar’s killing.
Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, has also seen his political fortunes rise throughout the war after they at first plummeted in response to Hamas’ attack last year. Prolonging the war allows him to enjoy boosts of support after any military successes he notches.
So the only way Israel’s current assault on Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen ends is either through a popular uprising that topples the fascist regime (not likely) or with the US and European powers ending the flow of weapons to the IDF. France, Spain, and Italy have already moved in that direction. Belgium’s development minister Caroline Gennez has also called for an EU-wide arms embargo on Israel. In the U.K. the recently-elected Labour-led government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced it had suspended 30 of 350 arms export licenses to Israel after it found a “clear risk certain military exports to Israel might be used in violations of International Humanitarian Law”.
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AP calls the assassination a “turning point in the war.”
Analysts say Sinwar’s killing has presented Israel, which has struggled to articulate an exit strategy from Gaza, with an off-ramp to end the war.
Did you get that? Did you know until now that Israel was struggling to “articulate an exit strategy” from Gaza? What nonsense they are dumping on us.
In the imperialist/colonialist lexicon, Sinwar was a “terrorist,” the “mastermind” behind the October 7th attack. They pretend that it all started on that day rather than after the Nakba in 1948. With mastermind, they present the image of an evil scientist in a laboratory or with a tiny team of barbarians attacking innocent, “civilized” settlers. In occupied Palestine and much of the Arab world, Sinwar is revered as a freedom fighter and the IDF as terrorists.
Remember, the US used the same terms to describe another anti-Apartheid fighter, Nelson Mandela. Mandela was on the US Terrorist Watch List Until 2008.
Good piece
How deep is the ocean.....we sit in our cozy seats and sigh.