Netanyahu's unyielding defiance of the world

We can speculate with high confidence that Prime Minister Netanyahu's "combined plan," as his office put it, to "evacuate the civilian population" of the border city of Rafah and "topple the [Hamas] battalions" in Rafah will proceed as disastrously for civilians and as successfully for the enemy as his plan proceeded for the city he's departing.  

"Our soldiers are now in Khan Younis, Hamas’ main stronghold. They’ll soon go into Rafah, Hamas’ last bastion,” continued Netanyahu's office. Yet the Israel Defense Forces have said perhaps only 30% of Hamas' force Gaza-wide has been killed. With so few militants eliminated in particular cities, would Hamas not retain its stronghold in Khan Younis? The prime minister's assessment is both suspect and bewildering.

If, on the other hand, Hamas has indeed diminished in Khan Younis, and that accounts for moving on to Rafah, why did Netanyahu refer to Khan Younis as Hamas’ main stronghold? If the latter is true, then we're back to wondering why his soldiers are departing the city. Could it be that Hamas' very alive members simply migrated to Rafah only five miles away, assuming they have independent mobility?

And if that's true, then Bibi and the IDF are playing an endless game of whack-a-mole. But who can know? Reading and trying to decipher Netanyahu's official statements quickly become failing exercises in mysticism. One might be better off with the old standby of a dead chicken. If his military assessments are meant to add clarity to the utter incoherence that is Gaza, then it's he who's failing. Worse, the IDF takes its orders from this guy.   

Worse yet, its latest unworkable order is to evacuate civilians from Rafah, 1.4 million of them. The idea's a good one but its execution may well be doubleplusungood. Netanyahu has said an evacuation will take place — good — however he doesn't seem to know where the million+ civilians will go — bad. Neither does the United Nations know of a place to relocate. When asked where that might be, a spokesman for the secretary general said "That’s a very valid question." 

So whither the Gazans? From Netanyahu, silence and more incoherence. The only item on which he has been vocal and quite clear is that the IDF will seek to annihilate Hamas in Rafah. From this we can reasonably conclude that military action in the massively overcrowded city is uppermost, if not singular, in his mind.

In fact, why wait? Thursday, the Israeli military hit Rafah with airstrikes, still "crowded with civilians." The attack "killed and injured multiple people." This and other strikes in Rafah have killed "more than 100 people." Total Palestinian body count to date: over 27,000.

What does the Biden administration say about Netanyahu's designs on Rafah? From where it sits and with what it knows, the administration sees his designs as nothing but chaotic, impetuous mass murder. And it's saying so.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said "we have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation," so to "conduct such an operation right now, with no planning and little thought [would be] a disaster." National Security Council spokesman John Kirby added, "Given the circumstances and the conditions there that we see right now, we think a military operation at this time would be a disaster for those people." 

The president, too, is about to blow. "The conduct of the response in Gaza ... has been over the top," said Biden on Thursday. "There are a lot of innocent people who are starving. There are a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying. And it’s got to stop."

But it won't. Congress will find a way to further fatten Israel's arsenals with the weapons it's using against militants and civilians alike. Ukraine may go down in a "good war" against a homicidal tyrant because of Republicans' stupidity, but they'll come through for a tyrant in an unjust, evil war. Because their base is filled with evangelical Armageddon-loving Trump-adoring lunatics for whom Israel can do no wrong.

Netanyahu knows that, of course, thus he can give the finger to the U.S. and the world. 

Comments

[Uncle Billy]

It's been an endless game of whack-a-mole for 75 years. Why would it end now?

[Tony]

"And it's (the Biden administration) saying so"

Too late, I think. Where was Biden when Netanyahu began his genocidal campaign against the Gazan people? Either silent, or giving Netanyahu a big hug.