The U.S. must make clear that “military assistance to Israel will be leveraged to secure an end to the conflict,” said the president of the National Iranian American Council.
U.S. President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. (White House/Adam Schultz)
A U.S.-based organization that represents Iranian Americans was among those urging the Biden administration to end its “feckless approach” toward Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip and urgently work to prevent an all-out regional war following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
The assassination, widely assumed to have been carried out by the Israeli military early Wednesday morning, “killed immediate hopes of ending this war before it spirals into a regional conflagration that pulls in the United States,” Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), said in a statement.
“Hamas has engaged in many clear and disturbing violations of international law, including in the October 7th attacks, but the assassination of one of its prominent leaders and cease-fire negotiators in Iran’s capital is a highly provocative act that tips the scales further in the direction of a bloody regional war,” Abdi continued.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh off dissonant applause in the U.S. Congress, must have felt a green light to engage in further reckless attacks to extend the war — and extend his own political career that is widely believed will end if and when the war does.”
Person in “Seal the Deal Now” yellow T-shirt not clapping during Netanyahu’s speech to U.S. Congress last week. (C-Span still)
Abdi called on the Biden administration — which has backed Israel’s war on Gaza with diplomatic support and weaponry — to finally use its leverage to force the Israeli government to accept a cease-fire deal before the volatile situation descends into a full-blown military conflict potentially involving the U.S., Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and other actors.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Abdi argued, must “make clear that a regional war is unacceptable and that military assistance to Israel will be leveraged to secure an end to the conflict.”
The suspected Israeli killing of Haniyeh came hours after Israel launched an attack on the Lebanese capital of Beirut, killing a senior Hezbollah commander and amplifying fears of a wider war.
Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, pledged “harsh punishment” for Israel in the wake of Haniyeh’s assassination, which could further inflame tensions between the U.S. and Iran, whose newly elected president was sworn in on Tuesday. It’s possible that Iran could retaliate against Israel in concert with Hezbollah and other allies in the region.
Haniyeh and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2012. (Khamenei.ir, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the Biden administration was “not aware of or involved in” Haniyeh’s assassination, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that the killing “could not have occurred without the authorization and intelligence support of the U.S.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent right to self-defense, as enshrined in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, to respond decisively and promptly,” the letter added.
Axios reported Wednesday that, internally, the Biden administration is “very concerned” that Haniyeh’s assassination “could derail negotiations over the Gaza hostage and cease-fire deal and increase the risk of a regional war” — a concern that Middle East leaders also expressed.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, May 25, 2021. (State Department, Ron Przysucha)
The Biden administration has been warned repeatedly that its continued support for Israel’s assault on Gaza has dramatically increased the likelihood of a broader regional war but has refused to cut off the flow of weapons.
In a televised address Wednesday, Netanyahu vowed to “exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front,” but did not specifically mention the assassination of Haniyeh.
Phyllis Bennis, a fellow of the U.S.-based Institute for Policy Studies, wrote in an op-ed for Common Dreams on Wednesday that “the U.S. has made clear by its actions — regardless of some politicians’ rhetorical support for ending the war—that it is not prepared to do the one thing that would result in a permanent cease-fire: stop sending Israel the weapons that enable the war in Gaza.”
“All the talk about Washington and Tel Aviv supporting a cease-fire or wanting the hostages returned means little when a top negotiator on the other side can be assassinated with impunity,” Bennis continued.
“The negotiations the Hamas leader was participating in will almost certainly be stalled, if not derailed entirely, as a result of Haniyeh’s killing. The resulting continuation of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza matches the goal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has resisted cease-fire efforts and pledged to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed.”
“The likelihood of an expanding regional war is now exponentially higher,” Bennis added, “with the danger of a much more direct conflict between Israel and Iran, and the possibility of even greater direct U.S. involvement.”
Jake Johnson is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Israel is now using all of Gaza as hostages in the upcoming conflict. End these Zionists now
“In a televised address Wednesday, Netanyahu vowed to ‘exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front,’ but did not specifically mention the assassination of Haniyeh.”
If I punch someone, and that person punches me back, can I legitimately charge that person with aggression? After first assassinating a Hezbolla commander, then following that with the assassination of Haniyeh, the lead negotiator for Hamas, to preemptively characterize retaliation as aggression takes some nerve. Chutzpah, even.
“means little when a top negotiator on the other side can be assassinated with impunity”
That should have led the article, not come at the end. Very few realize that he was the bleeding NEGOTIATOR for a ceasefire.
Couldn’t help noticing though that they didn’t kill him when he was still in Qatar.
Kind of like asking Moe not to hit Larry and Curly. You know it’s gonna happen; it’s just a matter of when.
Am I the only one who found the NAIC statement dubious? After naming unspecified “clear violations” of international law by Hamas, the call on Israel’s biggest, most loyal ally in blood (did they forget to mention that in the statement or have I missed something?) to force an implacable menacing power to accept a ceasefire, strains credulity. Netanyahu wants a wider war and right now I don’t see anything short of Israel’s utter demise stopping it.
Fire Blinken and Sullivan. Turn off the spigot President Biden! Best friends don’t allow Best friends to drive drunk on Old Testament Testosterone-Inflamed Power Hungry Angry God’s venom of vengeance to slaughter precious Palestinians all for a piece of seaside property, a promise not worth the blood to keep, nor destroy us all out of sadistic, vengeful pique because he didn’t get his way. How materialistic! Even God needs humans to educate him about mortality. And, please, tell Bibi, save the victim mentality for the wares of the Fuller Brush man. Be a man. Man-up Biden. At this point you have nothing to lose. Not unless world annihilation WWW3 style is your cup of nuclear tea. Heaven forbid.
Let’s hope our lame duck president awakens to what is happening in the Middle East before it’s too late!
Since Israel completely ignores international law and also any responsibility to relate to the people in its region, there is no way an agreement can be reached to allow Palestine to survive unless the Zionist project is brought to a end.
Never happen.
Religious fanatics in our government, the Israeli government and the mainstream media are pushing us toward a war that will only end in annihilation. Where in hell are the leaders with any common sense – or am I just using wishful thinking?