Israel will have to drop its demand that Hamas be destroyed because it is an “unachievable goal” to destroy something that is “essentially an ideology,” the host of The Left is Dead podcast, James Carey asserted on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Tuesday.
“As far as Hamas goes, we know they immediately flood back into areas that Israel leaves and they immediately start running the government, as they are wont to do, and as they were elected to do,” Carey observed. “[Hamas] may not be winning, but they aren’t losing, they’re still there. It’s going to be impossible to kill what is essentially an ideology in the first place. Because even if there’s not a Hamas, there’s Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and there are other, smaller militias around that can soak up people who may not necessarily be 100% in Hamas.”
A ceasefire will not be seriously negotiated until the Israeli demand that Hamas be destroyed is removed, Carey said, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dedicated the war to that goal. “I think we’ve seen that even at the sacrifice of hostages over the last seven months,” Carey claimed.
“I think the thing is, these are unachievable goals,” Carey added, referring to both Israel’s goals in Gaza and the goals of the US in Ukraine. “Clearly Hamas has done well enough that they’ve survived to this point.”
“These are open proxies, and the US is funneling arms and money to them because they see no other way,” Carey explained, referring to Ukraine and Israel. “I don’t think the US is competent enough to get involved [directly]. Much less, I don’t think the IDF [Israeli Defense Force] is actually that competent after years of resting on their laurels. I think that you’re seeing the failure of US policy. The US empire has no real projection of force because there’s no willingness for it at home.”
Asked about the ongoing protests in Israel against Netanyahu, Carey noted that they are significant but cautioned against hoping for new leadership to end its bombardment of Gaza as a result.
“I think it’s incredibly important that Netanyahu has really tied himself to the success of this war, and I don’t think it’s a war that has a real success,” Carey began. “I don’t think [Israelis] thought Gaza would last seven months,” he added.
“We know a sort of left-wing liberal coalition can’t hold together” in Israel, Carey elaborated. “Especially because it has to include [both] Palestinians and opposition to Netanyahu from the center-left.” Most of the governmental opposition to Netanyahu comes from the right, described by co-host Wilmer Leon as “more horrific than Netanyahu,” referring specifically to the leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a description Carey agreed with.
“It’s clearly both why Netanyahu is stuck in this war and why I think he’ll be gone after the war because that is who the opposition is. That is who the strongest group of voters are in the Israeli Knesset. I think we’re going to see a more of a right-wing turn as people get more angry about these things,” Carey warned.