How was Iran a lifeline for Israel? By Yasin Aktay
“No sense of frustration or disappointment” — that’s how most of us felt as we observed the outcomes of Iran’s retaliation against Israel following the latter's bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, resulting in the deaths of several of its top generals. Our hope remained unbroken, serving as a stark reflection of the tragic circumstances we find ourselves in.
Despite
the unprecedented brutality exercised by Israel on the Gaza Strip for the past
seven months, which amounts to genuine genocide, the world still awaits a
sincere intervention to stop these massacres, without any force taking serious
steps in this direction.
The
tragedy lies in the fact that Israel itself shows a strong desire for an
Iranian intervention, especially through military strikes. This is because the
United States and Europe, which provide Israel with unlimited support even in
its crimes against humanity, have begun to reduce their support for Israel in
its aggression against Gaza, not because of the scale of the crimes committed,
but because of Israel’s inefficiency in executing them. From Israel’s
perspective, an Iranian attack could quickly shift the conflict from the
Hamas-Israel axis to the Iran-Israel axis, which could serve as a lifesaving
support for Israel, especially for Netanyahu.
It’s
evident that Iran’s opposition to Israel hasn’t caused any tangible harm to
Israel thus far. The balance of profit and loss in the ongoing tension between
the two countries is evident throughout their long history. From Iran’s
perspective, opposition to Israel, and even to the United States, is an
extremely effective internal factor for enhancing the legitimacy of the regime.
When the regime faces pressure from opposition, the artificially created crises
with Israel or the United States become a tool for quickly reinstating a state
of emergency.
Furthermore,
Iran’s threats to the Arab Gulf states are highly beneficial to the United
States. Although they’ve never escalated into actual conflicts, they ensure the
Gulf states’ continuous and unrestricted reliance on the United States for
defense.
About
twenty years ago, the military operations led by the United States against
Saddam Hussein—who at that time posed a real threat to Israel with his well-armed
and militarily capable acquired capabilities in his wars—resulted in handing
Iraq over to Iran on a silver platter. Of course, the narrative leading to this
outcome could be crafted in various ways if desired, but they would be
contrived and artificial narratives.
Since
October 7th, Israel has endured unprecedented defeats in its history. Its
once-legendary intelligence organization has become a mockery, and the Iron
Dome, once hailed as impenetrable, now resembles more of a sieve. Despite its
powerful army, established with support from the United States, Israel has
faced repeated defeats at the hands of the Al-Qassam Brigades.
Nevertheless,
in a bid to mask its defeats, Israel persists in testing the strength of its
weaponry through mass killings, massacres, and acts of genocide, thereby
deepening its entanglement in the quagmire of defeat.
After
a seven-year hiatus since the Arab Spring uprisings, Egyptian thinker Fahmy
Howaidy returned to writing on the Al Jazeera website, believing that he could
not remain indifferent to what was happening in Israel since October 7th. His
articles have included numerous quotes reflecting Israel’s perspective on
events since October 7th. For example:
“Israel
has been completely defeated; the war’s objectives will not be achieved, the
prisoners will not return through military action, and security remains an
elusive goal.” (Haaretz, April 13th)
“The
era of Israel’s victories has ended, and Hamas wanted to show us that there is
another Arab than the one we saw at Camp David or Oslo.” (Amnon Abramovich, a
prominent political analyst in Hebrew media, January 13th).
“Israel
has lost the war against Hamas. The only available image of victory for us is
toppling Netanyahu and holding new elections.” (Dan Halutz, former Chief of
Staff of the Israeli Army, December 2023)
“Exactly
six months have passed since the outbreak of the war, and Israel needs to
reassess its course. All the objectives presented to us show that the path to
achieving them has become distant.” (Yoav Limor, political commentator in
Yedioth Ahronoth)
“Hamas
has not only defeated Israel but has also defeated the entire West.” (Alon
Mazrahi, writer and journalist, April 5th)
“We
have no life (for Israelis) if we do not integrate into the Middle East space.
We learned from the collapse of all military, human, and technological defense
systems on October 7th, 2023, that we cannot rely solely on our strength and
capabilities. Military defense alone will not secure our lives here. If we do
not want to be a passing phase in the region like the Crusader Kingdom, we have
no choice but to find moderates among the Arabs and ally with them.” (Amnon
Levi, Yedioth Ahronoth, April 6th)
These
testimonies confirm that Israel and its Prime Minister Netanyahu are in an
enviable position, despite all the arrogance and hubris they display. Netanyahu
has failed, over seven months, to achieve any of the goals he promised in his
own adventure, one he dragged himself, the United States, and its European
allies into, putting him in a real predicament.
It
was no secret that Netanyahu was looking for a way out of Gaza after the war
turned into a real trap for him, prompting him to expand the scope of the war
in a controlled manner to create a pretext for exiting the Strip. Thus, he
launched a provocative attack on Iranian targets in Damascus before Iran
responded. The attack on Iranian targets in Damascus without cause or
justification, and the forced involvement of Iran in the game, left the latter
with no other choice. It was not possible for Iran to ignore the attack on its
facilities as if it had not happened.
But
in the end, the emerging picture depicts Israel’s return to the victim
narrative, a portrayal it had begun to lose alongside the waning support from
America and Europe, attributed to the ongoing genocide it perpetrates in Gaza.
Consequently, those nations rushed to issue statements expressing solidarity
with Israel and condemning Iran and its attack, which caused no human
casualties. Ironically, these are the same countries that refrained from
condemning Israel’s genocidal acts in the region over the past months.
One
of the most significant outcomes of this cinematic showdown between Israel and
Iran is the shift of focus away from the Gaza genocide, as if the conflict is
no longer between Gaza and Israel but between Israel and Iran. Under these
circumstances, European allies of Israel, who were hesitant to openly support
it due to its egregious crimes, began expressing their support more
unequivocally and fervently in this new conflict between Iran and Israel.
That’s
a strong and clear statement. It emphasizes the importance of keeping Gaza in
focus and the moral obligation to stand against any action that might divert
attention from the situation there.
But,
of course, we cannot allow that to happen. Every attempt to push Gaza away from
the forefront is considered assistance to Israel and a betrayal of humanity.
-----------------------
Source
in Arabic:
Comments
Post a Comment