Israel and Hezbollah launched a heavy exchange of fire against one-another on Sunday morning which threatened to trigger a broader regional war that could negatively affect cease-fire negotiations, a US news outlet reported. Both sides said they were only aiming for military targets, which resulted in the death of three people in Lebanon and an Israeli soldier.
On Monday, Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, author and analyst, joined Sputnik’s The Final Countdown. He cautioned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “cannot afford a ceasefire”, and that the conflict will escalate even further.
“Netanyahu really [...] cannot afford a ceasefire. He could do so. He would weaken his own posture," Maloof began. "It would go against the grain of his more radical ministers, [Minister of National Security Itamar] Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, who really want another Nakba or a clearing out of Palestinians altogether. First in Gaza, then West Bank, and then they're going to go up into Lebanon. This is their messianic mission.”
“And, Netanyahu has been compelled to go along with it. And, Washington has bought into it because they have not stood up to Netanyahu. The only hope at this point for the world is either a military uprising from within or a civil war to bring the Netanyahu government down,” he continued. “This is the only way it's going to stop this forward progression that we're now seeing with this effort that Netanyahu has undertaken.”
“He basically outlined his war plan when he addressed Congress recently. And the Congress applauded. So, what was the essence of that war plan? To attack Iran. That's ultimately the direction they want to go. They want to clear out the areas that they believe are their biblical rights and they are hell-bent on undertaking that task and there's no equivocation,” the analyst said.
It was first reported on Sunday that Israel had informed the US of their plans to strike Lebanon overnight. Hezbollah fired over 320 rockets and dozens of drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander who was killed in Beirut. The Israeli military said about 100 of their warplanes struck more than 1,000 Hezbollah projectiles aimed at northern and central Israel.
Steve Gill, a US attorney, asked the show’s guest if Israel believes they have the Gaza Strip “under control” now that they are firing missiles into Lebanon.
“Gaza is not under control, will not be under control. That's why they're insisting on maintaining the two corridors and Hamas is objecting. Hamas has not been eliminated,” Maloof said.
“But if they want to go ahead and undertake efforts against Hezbollah, they're going to be meeting a force ten times as strong in Hezbollah because they've got more personnel, they've got more rockets, more high precision missiles,” he added. “I think that, and also if they want to deal with Iran, that's going to be yet another layer of contention. I think the fact that there has been restraint basically shown by Hezbollah and Iran is really a shrewd tactical effort on their part to, basically, bring about a death by a thousand cuts, if you will, on Israel itself as an entity.”
“...Ben-Gvir [is] now wanting to set up settlers in Gaza. The whole idea is to move Palestinians and all Arabs out of these two areas. First Gaza, then West Bank, move them into Egypt ultimately. That's the ultimate goal. And that's why Israel wants to continue maintaining control over that Philadelphi corridor,” the analyst said. “Egypt probably will acquiesce to Washington demands to do that, which once again demonstrates that Washington is somehow very much engaged and backing Netanyahu.”
Ben-Gvir reportedly said that he would build a synagogue on the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem in order to give equal rights to Jews and Muslims, according to a report on Monday. Netanyahu dismissed his minister’s comments and said that there had been “no change in the status quo on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.” The temple is the third holiest site for Muslims, and while others are allowed to visit, only Muslims are allowed to pray.
“You can kiss goodbye the whole notion that we're supporting democracy in this area because of the way the Israeli government is conducting itself and the way they're treating non-Jewish citizens and even the Palestinians, even Arab Israelis - they're second-class tertiary. Ben-Gvir wants them all gone.”
“...the ultimate goal is Iran. And this isn't just AIPAC that's pushing all this. This is also our own defense industry. Our defense lobbyists, they need war. There's this, in order to continue thriving the way that they have,” he explained. “They're hitting traditional Palestinian lands on the West Bank, which was ostensibly to be part of the two-state solution. It's disappearing. In reality, the two-state solution will not be a viable alternative. Even though the Saudis and the other Arab states are saying that that is a requirement in order to have peace with Israel.”
“As long as that government is in place, you're going to have this problem unless there can be an internal disruption that will unload Netanyahu as the leader or the country goes into a civil war,” he continued. “[A civil war] is increasingly possible because [there are] different types of reformed Jews and the more Ashkenazi types who are just hell-bent on a pure Jewish state as opposed to working with the Palestinians and even other Arabs that are in the region.”
Sputnik reported on Monday that neither Hezbollah nor Israel really wants a full-scale war as it would upend life in Israel and Tehran and stretch US resources. The US is wary of a full scale conflict because Hezbollah, unlike Hamas, is not a small-scale non-state actor but is a powerful force in terms of its ground strength as well as its air defense power, an academic told Sputnik.