'Israel Itself is a War Crime': US Fans the Flames in the Middle East as Israel Runs Rampant

Fears of a regional war in the Middle East have been growing since the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an attack on his residence in Tehran. Just hours prior, Israel also struck south Beirut and killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the assassination and have vowed retaliation.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, prior to the shipment of US military fare to Israel, and the two spoke about efforts to “deter aggression” by Iran and Hezbollah. According to a US media source, an anonymous Israeli official said on Monday that they believe Iran has decided to directly attack Israel.

On Monday, James Carey, the host of the Left is Dead podcast joined Sputnik's The Critical Hour to discuss these recent developments in the Middle East.

“Striking the capital of Beirut, which is technically a US ally, and then, just stepping away from it. [As in], 'oh, please don't respond to this'. That's an absurd request, right? And I think the Iranian response earlier this year when the drone strike was launched, basically to mildly penetrate the Iron Dome, to show that they could do it. I think, in my opinion, that Iran could penetrate the Iron Dome, if they chose to,” Carey explained.

“Israel's getting a free hand to strike, like I said, American allies like Lebanon. These are countries that are allegedly allied with the US, whether Hezbollah operates in them or not, or whether Iran is looking to strike or not. But the obvious aggression has come from Israel. So that's why I think it's very absurd to see it framed this way,” he added.

“These are obvious acts of aggression by Israel. So to ask Iran to have the measured response when Israel's clearly committing international crimes, seems very absurd to me,” he added. “It's very absurd to me for this to be framed as Israel is taking preemptive measures against Iran when, I'm sorry, the preemptive measures are done, and they did them.”

On Sunday, Hamas released a statement calling for the hostage exchange and ceasefire deal with Israel that was initially announced by US President Joe Biden in late May and backed by the UN Security Council in a resolution that passed on June 10. While Hamas had agreed to the ceasefire deal, Israel complicated negotiations by creating new demands as a way to sabotage the deal. However, talks between the two groups have been suspended since the assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran.

“It's clear that [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn't want to negotiate, and we can have Yair Lapid and the war council out here saying, ‘we're looking for some deal and we're willing to hop on Biden's deal from May’. But if Netanyahu refuses to do that, obviously it's clear where the holdup is,” Carey explained, suggesting that Hamas has already won the “PR war”.

“It's clear that Netanyahu has no plans to negotiate in good faith with Hamas as far as releasing hostages goes. And that's been apparent for months now, but now that [we're] talking about preemptive strikes against Iran for aggression done by Israel already, it's very apparent that Israel, or at least Likud led by Netanyahu, is in no position where they want to negotiate. They could negotiate, but they refuse to.”

“This is a genocide, whether it's a slow one or an active one, as it's been over the last few years, or since it's been more active since October 7th. It's obviously a genocide. And I think it's ridiculous for people, especially liberals in the US or in the West to try and pretend that Israel has this sort of liberal, or even a streak that wants to negotiate with the Palestinians, or acknowledge the Palestinians' existence.”

“It's clearly out the window at this point, and obviously this is where Israel had to go as a colonial power. There's nowhere to go. I mean, the Nakba started in 1948. That's how Israel has always been. It's where Israel always had to go to the point of an active genocide.”

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At Least 100 Killed, Dozens Injured in Israeli Strike on Gaza City School - Reports

10 August, 04:30 GMT

Israel was built on the displacement of Palestinians, claims a recent article published by a US-based news service. In 1948, Israelis took part in the ethnic cleansing of “some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes” in what Palestinians now refer to as their Nakba (Catastrophe). The journalist of the article, Jonathan Cook, claims that “every Israeli knows exactly what is going on in Gaza.”

“...their children-soldiers keep posting videos online showing the latest crimes they have committed, from blowing up mosques and hospitals to shooting randomly into homes,” writes Cook. “Polls show all but a small minority of Israelis approve of the savagery that has killed many tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children.”

“It's a sort of historical whitewashing,” Carey said. “Obviously, you know, Israel doesn't want to acknowledge its roles in this and then, people say, ‘oh, well, Israel didn't take part in these war crimes’. But, Israel itself - that was point number two here - Israel itself is a war crime. It's a colonial state.”

“The Nakba, again, in 1948, saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians evicted. We've seen thousands of Palestinians evicted from East Jerusalem. We've seen the settlements expand in the West Bank. We've seen Gaza be carpet-bombed from north to south, clean out. There's no passive agreement to these things anymore."

“This is a very genocidal state and it was always going to be. I think it's important to remember that this is what Israel was founded on and the Israeli project was always meant to be larger than it is now and it's going to continue expanding and they want to do that regardless of the cost.”