Maloof on Israel and Hezbollah
Israel Seeking to Provoke Hezbollah To Wage Attack
What justification is there for destroying the livelihood of innocent Palestinians by burning their olive trees or tearing down homes they’ve lived in for generations? The reason is, because they can do it as long as there is no armed resistance to it. And now they know they can get away with it judging from the mute response of the international community. Yet, the “Israelis” thrive off of paranoia. They need a near constant crisis to continue getting the billions of dollars every year from the United States and therefore need to create an enemy to justify that paranoia. While Hezbollah and Hamas refuse to recognize “Israel” as a country or a Jewish state, the “Israelis” equate that lack of recognition with these groups wanting to destroy “Israel.”
For that reason, the “Israelis” for more than a year have mounted a major provocation campaign to get either Hizballah or Hamas to attack them as a justification for launching attacks against them and seeking their destruction. Hezbollah has made it clear that it won’t attack Israel unless Lebanon is attacked. In an effort to force Hizballah’s hand, the “Israelis” set up Hizballah for the trumped up charge of being involved in the assassination of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and then manipulating evidence to make it appear that members of Hizballah committed the act. And the United States and the other western governments went along with it. Even “Israeli” President Shimon Peres has tried to provoke action against Hizballah by claiming that it was smuggling Scud ballistic missiles from Syria into Lebanon, which wasn’t true. To further any provocation, the “Israelis” will continue to drill in waters in the eastern Mediterranean which clearly belong to Lebanon, further settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, bomb the Gaza Strip when it wants against virtually defenseless people or warn of continued terrorist attacks to be used as a basis to reoccupy the Sinai Peninsula where there are considerable oil and natural gas reserves that could make “Israel” energy independent indefinitely.
The territorial, economic and commercial motives are there, but the “Israelis” will drape themselves in the cloak of righteousness of always portraying themselves as the victim. It is tedious at best but dangerous at worst because the “Israelis’ are on a hair trigger to launch an attack. And the Western powers let them continue getting away with it. Perhaps for a change international sanctions need to be imposed on “Israel” until they halt these impediments to peace.
Maloof on whether US will attack Syria
I don’t see the United States engaging in an overt military campaign against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. There are a number of geopolitical reasons for not doing that but there also is the question of having the resources to do so. In the West, there also is a serious question of what governance and stability the Syrian opposition could bring. In Afghanistan and Iraq, we have seen a succession of political and economic turmoil that followed U.S. action at these locations, and to what end? There also is another consideration: Russia now maintains major bases at the port cities of Tartous and Latakiyah which also can act as a deterrent against any overt attack against Syria.
With Vladimir Putin becoming president of Russia next year, the United States and indeed “Israel” will be reluctant to mount a military attack on Syria. At the same time, even Iran and the Russians are calling on al-Assad to launch reforms to stave off further internal turmoil in the country. While I don’t see an overt military effort for regime change in Syria, I think there will be covert undertakings by the West to support groups that will attempt to bring continued instability to Syria from constant demonstrations. This will then help generate an international outcry for action. It will be a western-orchestrated initiative, principally at the hands of the United States and Saudi Arabia, to oust al-Assad without any consideration of what would be put in its place.
Concern remains, for example, that the Saudis are instigating the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood to incite demonstrations and create turmoil leading to al-Assad’s ouster. As part of the covert campaign to undermine the Syrian regime internally, there will be efforts to target such people as scientists or even leaders, much the same way we’ve seen covert intelligence strikes by “Israel” and the United States against nuclear scientists in Iran. I believe it will be important for the countries of the region to outwardly reject western “help” and determine their own destiny. I believe that Turkey and Iran have seen the direction of where events in the Middle East are heading and want to undertake a constructive effort to reshape the future of the region. This will mean all countries involved will need to undertake the reforms that people so desperately need on the one hand while doing it with a minimum of Western interference. The West can help but not continue to control events for its own selfish purposes as it has been doing for generations in the region.
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 | - Michael Maloof is a former US Senate and Pentagon official. He worked as correspondent between 1974 till 1982 for The Detroit News, U.S. News & World Report and The Union Leader (NH) respectively.
- Maloof was awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award, December 1993, and the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, August 1985.
- He received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and minor in International Affairs, George Washington University, and the Associate of Arts Degree in International Affairs, Prince George's Community College. |
