A year ago, Israel was sitting in the catbird seat. Today, it stares into the face of its demise.
Arrival ceremony, Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, July 13, 2022, for U.S. President Joe Biden. (White House/Adam Schultz)
By Scott Ritter
Special to Consortium News
I have previously written about Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, calling it “the most successful military raid of this century.”
I have described the Hamas action as a military operation, while Israel and its allies have called it a terrorist action on the scale of what transpired against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
“The difference between the two terms,” I noted,
“is night and day — by labeling the events of October 7 as acts of terrorism, Israel transfers blame for the huge losses away from its military, security, and intelligence services, and onto Hamas. If Israel were, however, to acknowledge that what Hamas did was in fact a raid — a military operation — then the competency of the Israeli military, security, and intelligence services would be called into question, as would the political leadership responsible for overseeing and directing their operations.”
Terrorism employs strategies that seek victory through attrition and intimidation — to wear an enemy down and create a sense of helplessness on the part of the enemy. Terrorists by nature avoid decisive existential conflict, but rather pursue asymmetrical battle which pits their strengths against the weaknesses of their enemies.
The war that has gripped the Levant since Oct. 7, 2023, is not your traditional anti-terrorism operation. The Hamas-Israeli conflict has morphed into a conflict between Israel and the so-called axis of resistance involving Hamas, Hezbollah, Ansarullah (the Houthi of Yemen), the Popular Mobilization Forces, i.e. militias of Iraq, Syria and Iran. It is a regional war in every way, shape, or form that must be assessed as such.
The Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz noted in his classic work, On War, that “war is not merely a political act but a real political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse, a carrying out of the same by other means.”
From a purely military perspective, the Hamas raid on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was a relatively minor engagement, involving a few thousand combatants from each side.
As a global geopolitical event, however, it has no contemporary counterpart.
The Hamas raid triggered a number of varied responses, some of which were by design, such as luring the Israeli Defense Forces into Gaza, where they would become trapped in a forever war they could not win, triggering the dual Israeli doctrines governing military response to hostage taking of the “Hannibal Doctrine” and the Israeli practice of collective punishment, the “Dahiya Doctrine.”
“Bring Them Home” — a giant lights sign by artist Nadav Barnea at Charles Bronfman Auditorium, Heichal Hatarbut, Tel Aviv, Jan. 3, 2024. (Yossipik, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Both of these doctrines put the IDF on display to the world as the antithesis of the “world’s most moral military” by exposing the murderous intent ingrained into the DNA of the IDF, a propensity for violence against innocents which defines the Israeli way of war and, by extension, the Israeli nation.
Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, Israel was able to disguise its true character to the outside world, convincing all but a handful of activists that its actions in targeting “terrorists” were proportional and humane.
Today the world knows Israel as the genocidal apartheid state it really is.
The consequences of this new global enlightenment are manifest.
Changing the ‘Face of the Middle East’
President Joe Biden greets India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sept. 9, 2023, at the G20 summit in New Delhi. (White House/Adam Schultz)
President Joe Biden, on Sept. 9, 2023, during the G20 summit in India, announced a major policy initiative, the India-Middle East-European Economic Corridor, or IMEC, a proposed rail, ship, pipeline and digital cable corridor connecting Europe, the Middle East and India.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, commenting on Biden’s announcement, called the IMEC “a cooperation project that is the greatest in our history” that “takes us to a new era of regional and global integration and cooperation, unprecedented and unique in its scope” adding that it “will bring to fruition a years-long vision that will change the face of the Middle East and of Israel.”
India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor Founder States And Location Map. (Bourenane Chahine, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)
But because the world now sees Israel as a criminal enterprise, the IMEC looks for all intents and purposes to be no more — the greatest cooperation project in Israeli history that would have changed the Middle East likely will never reach fruition.
For one thing, Saudi Arabia, a key player in the scheme, having invested $20 billion in it, says it will not normalize relations with Israel, necessary for the project, until the wars end and a Palestinian state is recognized by Israel, something the Knesset voted earlier this year would never happen.
The demise of the IMEC is just part of the $67 billion economic hit Israel has taken since the Gaza conflict began.
Tourism is down 80 percent. The southern port of Eilat no longer functions because of the anti-shipping campaign run by the Houthi in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Workforce stability has been disrupted by the displacement of tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes because of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks as well as the mobilization of more than 300,000 reservists. All this combine to create a perfect storm of economy-killing issues, which will plague Israel so long as the current conflict continues.
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The bottom line is that, left unchecked, Israel is looking at economic collapse. Investments are down, the economy is shrinking, and confidence in an economic future has evaporated. In short, Israel is no longer an ideal place to retire, raise a family, work…or live. The biblical “land flowing with milk and honey,” if it ever existed, is no more.
This is an existential problem for Israel.
For there to be a viable “Jewish homeland,” demographics dictate there must be a discernable Jewish majority in Israel. There are just short of 10 million people living in Israel. About 7.3 million are Jews; another 2.1 million are Arabs (Druze and other non-Arab minorities comprise the reminder.)
There are some 5.1 million Palestinians under occupation, leaving a roughly 50-50 split when looking at the combined totals between Arab and Jew. An estimated 350,000 Israelis hold dual citizenship with an EU country, while more than 200,000 hold dual citizenship with the United States.
Likewise, many Israelis of European descent can easily apply for a passport simply by showing that either they, their parents, or even their grandparents resided in a European country. Another 1.5 million Israelis are of Russian descent, with many of those holding valid Russian passports.
While the main reasons for maintaining this dual-citizen status are convenience and economic, many view the second passport as “an insurance policy” — a place to run to if life in Israel becomes untenable.
Life in Israel is about to become untenable.
Escape From Israel
Departures area of Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel, 2014. (Adam Fagen, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Israel had already suffered from a growing emigration problem derived from dissatisfaction with the policies of the Netanyahu government — some 34,000 Israelis permanently left Israel between July and October 2023, primarily in protest over the judicial reforms being enacted by Netanyahu.
While there was a spike in emigration immediately after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks (some 12,300 Israelis permanently emigrated in the month following the Hamas attack), the number of permanent emigrants in 2024 was around 30,000, a drop from the previous year.
But now Israel is being bombarded on a near-daily basis by long-range drones, rockets, and missiles fired from Hezbollah, militias in Iraq, and the Houthi in Yemen. The Iranian ballistic missile attack of Oct. 1 vividly demonstrated to all Israelis the reality that there is no viable defense against these attacks.
Moreover, if the Israel-Iran conflict continues to escalate (and Israel has promised a retaliation of immense proportions), Iran has indicated it will destroy Israel’s critical infrastructure — power plants, water desalinization plants, energy production and distribution centers — in short, Israel will cease being able to function as a modern nation state.
At that point, insurance policies will be cashed in as hundreds of thousands of Israelis holding dual passports vote with their feet. Russia has already told its citizens to leave. And if millions of other Israelis who qualify for European passports opt to exercise that option, Israel will face its ultimate nightmare — a precipitous drop in the Jewish population that skews the demographic balance decisively toward non-Jews, making moot the notion of an exclusive homeland for the Jews.
Israel is rapidly becoming unsustainable, both as a concept (the world is rapidly tiring of the genocidal reality of Zionism) and in practice (i.e., economic and demographic collapse.)
The Changing View From the US
Demonstration outside the The Watergate Hotel in Washington when Netanyahu was staying there on July 22, 2024. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
This is the current reality of Israel — in one year’s time, it went from “changing the face of the Middle East” to being an unsustainable pariah whose only salvation is the fact that it has the continued support of the United States to prop it up militarily, economically, and diplomatically.
And herein lies the rub.
That which made Israel attractive to the United States — the strategic advantage of a pro-American Jewish enclave in a sea of Arab uncertainty — no longer holds as firmly as it previously did. The Cold War is long gone, and the geopolitical benefits accrued in the U.S.-Israeli relationship are no longer evident.
The era of American unilateralism is fading, rapidly being replaced by a multi-polarity with a center of gravity in Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi. As the United States adapts to this new reality, it finds itself engaged in a struggle for the hearts and minds of the “global south” — the rest of the world outside the EU, NATO, and a handful of pro-Western Pacific nations.
The moral clarity that American leadership seeks to bring to the global stage is significantly clouded over by its ongoing unquestioned support for Israel.
Israel has, in its post-Oct. 7, 2023, actions, self-identified as a genocidal state totally incompatible with any notion of international law or the basic precepts of humanity.
Even some Holocaust survivors recognize that modern-day Israel has become the living manifestation of the very evil that served as the justification for its creation — the brutally racist ideology of Nazi Germany.
Israel is anathema for everything modern civilization stands for.
The world is gradually awakening to this reality.
So, to, is the United States.
For the moment the pro-Israeli lobby is mounting a rear-guard action, throwing its weight behind political candidates in a desperate attempt to buy the continued support of their American benefactors.
But geopolitical reality dictates that the United States, in the end, will not commit suicide on behalf of an Israeli state that has lost all moral legitimacy in the eyes of most of the world.
There are economic consequences attached to American support for Israel, especially in the increased gravitational pull of the BRICS forum, whose growing list of members and those who are seeking membership reads as a who’s who of nations fundamentally opposed to the Israeli state.
The deepening social and economic crisis in America today will create a new political reality where American leaders will be compelled by electoral realities to address problems which manifest on American soil.
The day when Congress can allocate billions of dollars without question to oversees wars, including those involving Israel, is coming to an end.
Political operative James Carville’s famous adage, “It’s the economy, stupid” resonates as strongly today as it did when he penned it back in 1992. To survive economically, America will have to adjust its domestic and international priorities, requiring conformity not only with the will of the American people, but a new, law-based international order which largely rejects the ongoing Israeli genocide.
Apart from die-hard Zionists who will hold out in the unelected “establishment” of government civil service, academia, and mass media, Americans will gravitate toward a new policy reality where unquestioned support for Israel is no longer accepted.
This will be the final straw for Israel.
The perfect storm of global rejection of genocide, sustained resistance on the part of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance,” economic collapse and realignment of American priorities will result in the nullification of Israel as a viable political entity. The timeline for this nullification is dictated by the pace of collapse of Israeli society — it could happen in a year, or it could unfold over the course of the next decade.
But it will happen.
The end of Israel.
And it all began on Oct. 7, 2023 — the day that changed the world.
Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. His most recent book is Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika, published by Clarity Press.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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What an amazing article, i read every word of it, well put, well written and well informed!
Is it more than a coincidence that the psychopaths leading Israel today have decided to “finish the job” 100 years after they assassinated a former Zionist turned anti-Zionist. What was true then is true now.
hxxps://www.academia.edu/43194874/From_Zionist_to_Anti_Zionist_The_Tragic_Fate_of_Jacob_Israel_de_Haan_in_Palestine_Reconsidered
Where was the invincible “IRON DOME” on October 7th ? Someone must have disabled it.
Hint : His initials are B.N.
The only thing that keeps zionism in place and in power is the global central bank counterfeiting scheme headed up by the so-called Federal Reserve, BOE and others, which gives the zionists unlimited funding. And with that unlimited counterfeit funding, zionists have bought up nearly all of America. If that vast counterfeiting scheme were subject to actual law enforcement, then the zionists would be left with absolutely no power. Everything they have has been gained through counterfeiting, and it should all be clawed back, all the way to its origin in 1913 via asset forfeiture.
What a brilliant article. I see some comments that Scott is too optimistic, however I really like the way he ties all these events together. We need to see the world as a set of related events, and this is something mainstream media purposely does not do, they want to muddy the waters and keep people confused…… well maybe they’re confused too.
Thanks so much Scott, we need people like you to shed light and clarity on what is so often so hard to understand.
But the US weaponizing of Afghanistan and the subsequent NATO operation plus the US and coerced allies invading Iraq have ruined the western stance of rules based international law and left it shredding as the antecedent of today’s travesty as well.
The western world order of permanent wars and nation demotions for rebuild profiteering for 21st century vision is also threatening world civilization with non-interoperability regardless of military interoperability of addiction to fiascoes!
I fail to see how Israel was ‘sitting in the catbird seat’ on 10/6 of last year. If anything, it seems to me they had deluded themselves into believing they were untouchable, and Hamas cured them of that delusion on 10/7 and Hezbollah further drove the point home on 10/8. They sowed the wind, and now Gazans are reaping the whirlwind.
IMO, 10/7 was a huge miscalculation on the part of Hamas. They thought they were going to zip in, grab some hostages, then zip out and everything would remain business as usual, with Israel exchanging political prisoners for hostages and everything would reset back to normal. But it didn’t work out like that. Israel put an end to the status quo and declared all-out war on Hamas. Now the people of Gaza are paying for that miscalculation with their lives.
Israel’s sanctimonious fit would not allow it to admit ANY guilt. Once a criminal’s cover-ups get so ridiculous that even pretending to believe him is embarrassing, the value of whatever leverage he has over his accomplices begins to decline. Unless he has an “if I go down, you’re going down with me” card, he ends up alone, especially if his (now former) accomplices stay loyal to each other. That’s one way this could happen fast.
Unfortunately, the Israelis have the Samson Option.
Thank you, Scott. A piece in the NYT today carried quotes from doctors who have served in Gaza as seeing an inordinate number of kids killed by head shots and upper body shots. One or two might be accidental, but in light of Chris Hedges’ recent piece on snipers, one may only conclude that with so many children being murdered in a manner making them probable victims of sniper attacks, that such is the case. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it must be a duck. Israel has no strategic military objective beyond blood lust and revenge. Hamas unloosed the dogs of war, and Israel accommodated, followed by Hezbollah. The whole area is a powder keg with a lighted fuse as a result. God have mercy on civilian populations, because no one else does at this point.
I wish I could share Scott Ritter’s optimism.
What happened when Nazi Germany headed toward defeat? Unapologetic Nazis fled to a variety of nations around the world, where they live today.
IMO, hate-filled Israeli zionists will similarly flee — are already fleeing — to safe havens, where some of them may poison the societies or cultures where they settle.
De-nazification has been the work of generations (Azov Battalion, anyone?) and is ongoing. I think de-zionizing — if done at all — will take even longer due to strong bases of support elsewhere, including (and especially) in the US.
Challenges of de-zionizing will be massively worsened by today’s zionists intentionally conflating Judaism as a beautiful, richly nuanced religion (attacked by genuine anti-semitism) with the moral filth of zionism — a corrupt, genocidal political movement. As you know, many US states have cemented this unholy conflation into law.
What worries me is that “our” Western leaders are bought and paid for by the Israel lobby and simply won’t accept what should be inevitable, saving lives and preventing further mayhem – but it goes on, and the US and the likes of the repellent Starmer keep supporting Israel and supplying more weapons, as in Ukraine, and risking the whole damn world. They have their filthy imperatives (in the UK, while Starmer spends public money on war, the latest attack on ordinary people is wheelchairs at a NHS hospital being for hire, not free – I doubt patients were going to run away with them somehow) while we have ours – survival in reasonable comfort while not being manipulated by bad actors perhaps? I’m still not at all sure about October 7, which may be “working” as Scott has laid out but has cost and continues to cost in innumerable innocent lives. But it wasn’t an act of terrorism.
Do contemporary Israeli, ultra National Zionists today, even recall the biblically significant precepts, stipulated in the mythologies of the Jewish Day of Atonement, while at the same time, constantly citing that same millennia long biblical mythology; that the one-god monotheism they belatedly adopted, whilst living as Idol worshipers themselves, amongst all the other pagans of Canaan, granted them alone, the singular right to occupy all of the land holy to the three culturally diverse one-god montheisms of today!
And now they are, once again, in the throes of bringing down the very Temple –
life itself, on all of humanity, in the name of their self-selected one-god fits all paradigm.
The stench of the hypocrisy is now overwhelming the majority of humanity.
“A year ago, Israel thought it was sitting in the catbird’s seat.” The word ‘thought’ is important, as subsequent events have shown. Subsequent events have revealed the reality of how fragile Israel’s situation really was, and the weaknesses of its plans to have ‘normal’ relations with the Arab regimes by sweeping Palestine under the rug. If they were really sitting in a catbird’s seat, the last year would not have occurred, or at least not anything like it has.
In fact, the word ‘thought’ is very, very important, as this is a constant mistake that America makes as well as Israel. A year ago, America ‘thought’ Israel was in the catbird’s seat. America ‘thought’ it could create an Arab NATO and use it and Israel to dominate and control the area. America ‘thought’ wrong, yet again.
Netanyahu ‘thought’ he was creating a “New Middle East” when he proudly proclaimed it at the podium of the UN, with full American support as Biden followed Trump’s Deal-of-the-Century to the letter. Turns out, both thought wrong.
America does a whole lot of ‘thinking wrong’ these days. Likely a combination of not promoting for talent, and believing its own propaganda.
Pertaining to the domestic home front here in the U.S., Scott’s extremely optimistic. Not sure I share his view as I haven’t seen enough evidence that portends a sea change among American elites and their unrequited love affair with the usurping artificial state of Israel. The next five to ten years will be telling.
I agree with you Drew Hunkins. Everything OK until the clincher which emphasizes future developments
which may or may not happen.
It won’t matter what the ruling elites want. Israel’s economic collapse and the realignment of the countries surrounding it, particularly Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan, will become unstoppable. Even the support of the U.S. will collapse once it awakens to the truth that Russia and China will defend Iran.
Perhaps. But a lot has to happen in the scenario you just outlined. Worldwide Zionism has enormous power and influence in international finance.
I’d love to see someday that you’re correct. It’s conceivable.
Years ago, in the 1960s, my excellent Presbyterian Seminary faculty taught us, correctly, that Judaism is a religious faith, quite distinct and apart from the State of Israel. Just as brave Christians in Nazi Germany (too few) stood against the then Christian Nationalism of the State, just so are we faced with a similar struggle in the United States, with a culture largely unable or unwilling to make the distinction between religious faith and a state that strives to conflate national patriotism with religious faith. The drafters of the Declaration of Barman courageously stood against such corrosive human efforts to put God off the throne and a nation in God’s place. Zionism is not a religious faith, but pure, evil idolatry that mocks the very God it professes.
“Faith is the deliberate refusal to think critically and the glorification of wilful ignorance that follows.”
“Religion poisons everything” – Christopher Hichens
RIP Christopher. We need you more than ever my man!
Excellent post.
I fully agree that Russia and China will not allow the destruction of Iran. The last Iranian missile strike would not have taken place without Russia’s assistance. Putin has clearly warned that Russian hypersonic can hit US war-ships in the Mediterranean. Russia and China have went to lengths to confirm they will stand together militarily.
I did hear from a trusted source that Netanyahu tried calling Putin but was snubbed. No doubt the dark lord was seeking permission to attack Iran. Nyet.
The end of Israel as a supremacist genocidal state will ultimately come to an end. The worry is that how many millions of Palestinians and Lebanese will die or be traumatised in order to achieve this?
That is true. But the end will come nonetheless.
Cold War I may be over but Cold War II is well underway and the existence of a pro-American Jewish enclave in a sea of Arab uncertainty is still a strategic advantage.
Secondly, while the era of American unilateralism is fading, the fools in the White House and other parts of the administration have yet to realize this. So they will continue to behave as before.
Finally, when you say, “But geopolitical reality dictates that the United States, in the end, will not commit suicide on behalf of an Israeli state that has lost all moral legitimacy in the eyes of most of the world. ” I hope you are right, but looking at the current choices for our next president, I don’t share your confidence.
Well said Mr. Knight!
From Vietnam to Ukraine to Lebanon, in my lifetime there have been precious few cases of America making choices that are ‘smart’ in terms of ‘geopolitical reality’. If America made ‘smart’ choices, we’d be in a completely different place.
For just a couple of minor examples … 1) declaring an “end to history” is definitely not smart. 2) Showing the hubris to declare that “we don’t care about reality because we create reality” is also definitely not smart.
America is not smart. America does not really reward and promote smart people. America is actually heavily anti-intellectual in this era. Most smart ‘smart’ kids learn to hide the fact that they are smart, cuts down on the beatings. America does not lead the world in either education nor ‘smartness’. America is more likely to stone smart people than to chose the smartest person to be the leader.
The smartest decision America could make in almost every global conflict is …. do nothing.
At least that way, we aren’t actively screwing things up and directly killing people.
George Washington called it ‘avoiding foreign entanglements’ and he was right. To paraphrase Tim Walz, America should mind it’s own business and let faraway countries sort out their own disputes.
Sadly, our political class is addicted to ‘doing something’ even when it is the wrong thing. Just look at the all the wrong-headed public health interventions that happened during the Covid pandemic. Closing beaches, locking down outdoor facilities, cooping people up in poorly ventilated buildings, closing schools, locking down and masking the HEALTHY as well sick people, sending contagious seniors back to elder care facilities, etc. etc. etc. were all counter-productive in hindsight and many did great damage. We would have been better off if public health departments had just followed the tried-and-true pandemic responses that have worked for them for decades, rather than coming up with novel interventions that had no track record of success. But ‘doing nothing’ is not sexy and doesn’t give politicians a polling bump or give Big Pharma a profit bonanza. The same thing is true of foreign policy and the defense industry.
One continues to work to enlighten American voters as to the futility of supporting the uniparty, a uniparty that represents only the rich, the corporations, the banks, the IMF, Wall Street and the arms manufacturers. In other words, the capitalist ruling classes. Third, fourth and even fifth parties must be supported by the majority of the population, i.e., the working classes. The corrupt uniparty must be broken up before it destroys not only this country, but the rest of the world.
Cold War II is looking remarkably hot for some of those involved
I think when enough Israelis flee Occupied Palestine and the Zionist state fails, then just as Auschwitz has been left as a monument to barbarity, so should Gaza be left the same. Palestinians can rebuild in other parts of their country. It should be a stark reminder of what evil people will do, and when those who destroyed the place say it should be rebuilt (to cover up their shame) the world should say no. It stays.
Right idea, wrong location.
There will be Israeli prisons and camps that can serve this purpose. Perhaps with Netanyahu’s bunker in Jerusalem also becoming a museum.
Gaza we turn into a paradise and a resort as a symbol of the other things humanity can do when it chooses to do so.
And becomes in such a state a safe homeland for Palestinians, with the admonition that they please learn and not repeat the mistakes of the last people humanity made such a deal with.
Where exactly will all these Israelis flee to?
What will happen to them if they don’t flee?
Well written Scott. Thanks for your integrity and courage.
“The perfect storm of global rejection of genocide”
If there is a “global rejection” going on, why are we not seeing countries around the globe severing ties with Israel?
“Severing” might be unwise. They will ease away. That has already started.
Bloody good point Jim. To which there is no coherent answer.
The answer is clear. The governments of those countries are at odds with their own citizens. Massive demonstrations against the genocide have been launched all over the world. Clearly, the governments are not listening.
Ehhhh … massive demonstrations don’t necessarily represent the will of the people any more than massive political rallies indicate popular support for Donald Trump. Most polling shows western populations still having majority support for Israel, though it is definitely trending downward and has in some cases flipped among younger demographics.
Great stuff Scott and the clarity you so expertly provide is very much appreciated.
An under lying message I detect, seeps through you article here. Intended or other wise.
This Hannibal Directive issue seems to very be very real and damning at this point. Israels wanton killing of it’s own speaks volumes. The loudest message being Israeli leaders are more than willing to cut the noses from the faces of their own countrymen.
Then we have this Dahiyu Doctrine revealed by Israels action by the genocide occurring in Gaza. These activities prove indisputably Israeli doctrines are worse, if it is possible, than the apartheid policies formerly applied in South Africa.
What drives leadership to behave in such a manner?
It is my opinion of the current Israeli leadership has fallen victim to a self induced psychopathic mania. A condition the leadership of the United states government has encouraged by the “hands off Israeli policy”.
A policy I directly attach to the actions of the USAEC and the Chief of CIA’s Counter Intelligence, one James Jesus Angleton. CIA has more than a few problems caused by JJA and his acolytes. Have those problems allowed the AIPAC to buy the U.S. Congress? Study the history of such activities conducted in behalf of Israel.
These practices have long caused my strong disapproval of the Israeli government and of my own government. I have to wonder if the Zionists, NEOCONs and Christian Nationalists hawks in D.C. have learned anything!
My message to our government is, “Get the AIPAC lobby out of Congress and U.S. foreign policy NOW!”
Cut your loses in Ukraine and wise up!
You cannot make this insanity up!
Thanks CN
No, “the Zionists, NEOCONS, and Christian Nationalists” haven’t learned anything. Because the tunnel vision of their belief systems excludes reality.
Same for the global econopaths and their {The Market} fetishism.
Fascism is alive and well and resides in the courtroom of judge Tim O’hare of Tarrant County Texas. The city of Fort Worth is located and home to 2.2 million.
hXXps://www.propublic.org/article/tarrant-county-juddge-tim-o’hare-far-right?htm
It’s later than many think!
I don’t know how this ‘ IMEC’ ever got off the drawing board. India is successful no doubt, but the worlds biggest manufacturer is China by far and they already have there ‘belt and road’ which also brings in other natural resources/manufacturers/buyers en route. Fine by me if the EU wanted to tie themselves into this ridiculous IMEC (to please America or Israel or both?) but it looks to me like my country, Britain, for the only time in 25 years did the right thing by avoiding this nonsense.
Yes, as with Covid, I believe the world is gradually beginning to realize they have been “hoodwinked”. As you say, “Israel is anathema for everything modern civilization stands for. The world is gradually awakening to this reality.” I certainly hope it only takes another year for the full awakening – and not a decade.
Thank you, Scott, for your clear analysis of the situation!
The only “hoodwinking” being done about Covid is that it is over, or that it is endemic, or that it is harmless. That is a LIE. Covid is still with us, still killing people, and causing Long Covid, a debilitating disease from which I personally suffer. If you are a supporter of that LIE, I cannot agree with you.
Thank you Scott – I truly hope that the reality of what is actually happening in the Middle East, in Ukraine and here in the US will open more eyes, ears and brains. We can no longer sustain this kind of world – not that we ever could or should!
I feel sorry for all Palestinians…can’t say the same for israel. It got what it has been asking for since 76 years.
True.
History suggests that at some point in the future the USA may end up being at war with Israel.
USS Liberty, JFK, RFK, 9/11. When would enough be enough ?
Oh the ties that bind. We need to deliver ourselves from the US deep state to be able to ascertain the complicity of all crimes you mentioned, and then some, before being able to renounce war and venture cooperatively with other nations for the benefit of our common humanity. We could then hope that Israeli citizens could do the same.
Thank you, Mr. Ritter, for this thought-provoking report. Power, in the end, destroys. A new world is on the way! Birth, Death, Rebirth.
All well and good and It’s past time for “Israel” to collapse or be de-recognized as a legitimate country and disarmed. But the sad reality is, as Norman Finklestein says: Gaza is gone and Israel is succeeding in its massive ethnic cleansing campaign:
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ogygAuVOo
It ain’t over til it’s over.
The hideous reality of the ongoing collective punishment response, now being featured in Lebanon, is contrasted with Iran’s recent precise targeting of military sites, and damage there just now emerging. This was military-oriented to spare casualties, which were few.
This detail highlights the falsity and denialism of the current mainstream American political response to the brutality as “self-defense” etc. Delusory narratives wear thin. The caricature of Yahu with bloodied doll and nightmare police has become the story.
What do Genocide reparations look like for the West?
Israel for the past genocide. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka for Gaza. (As museums for current concentration camps.)
Well said, thank you. When the fascist mindset of neocons or Zionists gain control, they invariably lead a society to ruin. The US, Ukraine and Israel. There’s is truly an axis of evil. Note how they collaborate. Note the destruction that ensues. Note the outcome of loss for decent people. Each of these countries has left democracy, and even common sense, behind.
Neocons and Zionists should be run out of town, not lauded and embraced as they are by the Harris campaign. Disgusting. Israel and the US are collaborators in their mutual demise. You cannot build a lasting future on genocidal actions. And yet, this is the only path they know.
BTW, yesterday, Mercouris said that photographic evidence is now accumulating on Iran’s retaliatory missile strike on Israel and he speculates that one reason why Israel has not responded as expected with its own attack on Iran is that the Iranian strikes on Israel’s military airfields (“the ones that did no damage…”) are looking like they in fact clobbered and did real damage to Israel’s fleet of F-35 jets making their planned attack on Iran not possible for now. We shall see.
Re Harris embrace of neocons, she stated yesterday that Iran is the US’s greatest adversary … so I guess the wars against Russia and China are off for now …?
Harris is an idiot. A hollow shell filled with neocon bullshit.
These F-35I’s have never met with any enemy defense.
Bombing hospitals, refugee camps and churches with impunity.
The Israeli Air Force surely knows that the Russians have set the Iranians up with the lethal S-400 air defense missiles
And soon to get the superb Sukhoi SU-57’s with battle tested pilots
The Israeli F-35’s pilots daring to enter Iranian airspace will be on suicide missions.
Your knowledge of the history and on going
conflicts in the Middle East/ brics/Russia /Ukraine has me now addicted to the Scott Ritter podcast and many others since the start of this horrific genocide. I put you on high regards and away to avoid the legacy media biased broadcasting to get proper analysis of wats realy happening.
Thank you Scott for your thought provoking article.
Very difficult from your analysis for Israel to see its 100th birthday!
I hope it never does.