Israel’s war against Hamas is a non-win situation. One would think that Israel learned her lesson after the disastrous 2006 Lebanon war, but now Israel is committed to defeating, yea, annihilating Hamas. As John J. Mearsheimer has written: ” Israel’ s strategic goal is the creation of a ‘Greater Israel.'” Ultimately, Israel wants control over Palestine like bees control their bee hives. The Palestinians would have limited autonomy with little room to move.
Unfortunately, those who expected a more decent foreign policy from Obama will be shocked at how identical his policies are to Bush. Obama’s own spokesman Robert Gibbs affirmed that, as under Bush, “all options remain on the table” with regard to Iran. In one sense, Obama’s foreign policy might even go a step further than Bush’s. Jeremy Sapienza writes: “And depending on whom you ask, Obama might want to ramp up military activity in Afghanistan — one area where Bush’s policy wasn’t quite forceful enough for the new president.”
According to Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader: ” …there is no difference between Barack Obama and George W. Bush when it comes to Israel, and that the new U.S. administration has so far shown full support for the Jewish state — Hezbollah’s archenemy.” As long as there is ample support from American leaders for the Israeli’s unjust wars, there will be what Chalmers Johnson has called, Blowback. Mearsheimer concludes:
The bottom line is that no matter what happens on the battlefield, Israel cannot win it swar on gaza. I nfact, it is pursuing a strategy–with lots of help from its so-called friends in the Diaspora–that is palcing its long-term future at risk.
Our support for Israel at all costs, without counting the consequences, may be Israel’ s self-destruction.
