Will the War in Gaza Ignite the Middle East?..Israel and Iran On a Collision Course

Most governments in the Muslim world would prefer that the Palestinians would just go away.

 

Your country foments violence and humanitarian crises, including this conflict. Your country supports Hamas, including with weapons. It is absurd for you to sit there and imagine it doing anything to help Gaza. You would need to have a democratic system of government for there to be any hope of your country doing the right thing.

 

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231021-iran-sends-60-tons-of-humanitarian-aid-for-gaza
Iran sends 60 tons of humanitarian aid for Gaza

p.s.
The countries I mentioned, including mine, should do what I outlined. Iran in particular bears a heavy burden because it has encouraged resistance to Israel. I should mention that a few years ago, under the Trump admininstration, the US had used threats of sanctions and such to impose a blockade of sorts against Venezuela, Iran send fuel supplies, repaired and started up refineries in that country, opened supermarkets and supplied food items, and changed things around for Venezuela compared to what they were facing at the time. The first fuel convoys Iran sent drew a lot of attention as there was speculation the US might take action to stop them. Iran did pretty much the same for Lebanon as well.

 

It's arming insurgents in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. It's sending drones to Russia that are used to attack civilians and critical infrastructure in Ukraine. It engages in disinformation efforts to radicalize people and foment violence.

If your regime is supplying humanitarian aid, it is only to help with its influencing operations in the region. It helps create the violence in the first place, then provides humanitarian aid to victims of the violence it is creating.

 

Please. You can't be that indoctrinated!

Iran established a foothold in Lebanon only after the Israeli invasion in 1982. That was when Hezbollah was formed, as a consequence of Israel's invasion. Iran then helped Hezbollah kick out the Israelis from Lebanon, freeing that country from Israeli occupation. That was in the early 1990s. Iran then helped Hezbollah fight off the Israelis in the 2006 war. Since 2006, compared to what Lebanon had been facing previously, the country has enjoyed relative peace and security. In fact, the problems it has faced, have been because of US/western policies to undermine Hezbollah, create divisions in that country, using sanctions and such tools to deter institutions in that country that have links or interactions with Hezbollah while using Saudi money to fill the coffers of those who have tried to undermine Hezbollah. Even with all that, Hezbollah was still the most popular political party in Lebanon and only recently, after decades of efforts to undermine its popularity by bringing economic misery to Lebanon, that its popularity has dwindled slightly. Hezbollah, while no longer as popular, has more popularity than anyone else in that country with a pularity of votes in Lebanon's parliament. After the 2006 war, incidentally, Iran provided massive assistance to help rebuild Lebanon quickly after the destruction caused by Israel's bombing campaign in that war.

Iran has no real involvement with the Houthis in Yemen and it was the Saudi intervention and war against them that allowed Iran to gain some influence with the Houthis overtime. Iran has provided a lot of humanitarian assistance to Yemen, despite all the obstacles it faces, without which the current miserbale conditions that have been created for the Houthis by the Saudis and the other (until recently) 14 members of their coalition (including US, UK etc) waging war on the Houthis would have resulted in even greater mass suffering.

Syria was thrown into civil war by a coaltion of forces who were putting pressure on it to sever its relations with Iran. Iran helped not only the Syrian regime avoid seeing the country fall into the hands of ISIS, AQ and company, but has provided as much $70 billion dollars to help Syria economically and otherwise over the years. For a country like Iran under severe sanctions, with its oil exports virtually cut off until recently, that is a massive sum.

I can discuss Iraq but you should know what happened there and which country invaded it ... But at the end of the day, while Iran has its own faults and warts, the problems in the region have all arisen as a result of policies pursued by an avarice bunch who have been trying to establish US/Israeli hegemony over the region. Iran has been responding because it is the "big enchillada" in these plans to neutralize the region and bring it under the thumb of those who once called their plans a Project for a New American Century...

 

I'm not the one who is indoctrinated here, bud. Your take on these matters seems terribly naïve and biased.

 

Whatever and however you like to characterize my views, lets focus on what is going on right now.

Based on my reading of the tea leaves, the odds of what I had termed as a "massive" land invasion of Gaza has dropped to under 50%. Israel is now saying things that suggest it will be focusing on continuing its seige of Gaza to force capitulation through bombing and killing of civilians (blaming Hamas for it), while sending raiding parties from time to time to test the ground. But Israel, whether it admits it or not, is heeding the warnings it has received about a massive ground invasion.

 

I think you are actually asserting a morality, given that you've given short shrift to a fairly heinous terrorist attack and moved right to asserting victimhood to residents in Gaza. As I said in my last post, the terror attack against civilians to kick off this war is, in the West, pretty clearly seen as evil. Also as I said in my last post, I do understand that for non Westerners it's more muddled. And your post seemed to confirm that.

I'm not interested in any sort of morality contest, or trying to determine which side is most "evil," I actually want to know what people in the region think, and you've been a fairly good window into that, but I've not intended to attack you in any way for that. I'm curious as to what you think, and I'm responding with how I think. Hopefully that can be taken as a discussion, and not an argument.

 

I don't really agree with your characterization of my position, but don't want to drag the issue either. I repped your post because of what you say at the end, which is fine and fits my views of what people should be looking for in these discussions.

 

Iran's position on continuation of the mass killing of civilians in Gaza:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveb...dy-to-play-role-in-gaza-hostage-release-deal/

 

I heard a great point the other day, and I wish I remember who said it. But he lived through the Irish/Catholic war, and acknowledged that innocents on both sides were killed in bombings. But he said no one, on either side, would have ever even thought of cheering or jeering at their funerals the next week. Not sure how true it is, but he sounded legit.

 

Yeah, there was no outrage from the world over Assad's bombing, over the years, of Palestinians in his war. How many Palestinians in Syria and Lebanon have been killed by an Assad or a Russian bomb? I'd bet it's in the thousands. Where is the outrage?

 

You see, when Muslims kill fellow Muslims its ok.

 

Hmmm, this narrative sounds familiar...

 

I was being facetious.

 

I was thinking what 3 letter organization also has this mindset toward "their" people, and sided with Hamas immediately?

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...ked-groups-attacked-troops/story?id=104396399
US strikes back at Iranian-backed groups that attacked troops in Iraq and Syria: Pentagon
The airstrikes follow more than a dozen attacks on bases in the Middle East.

 

The Tragedy of Arab Antisemitism
Lee Habeeb, Newsweek

Read More

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/us-iran-airstrikes.html
U.S. Airstrikes Contain Twin Messages to Iran, American Officials Say

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/world/middleeast/grand-central-protest-nyc-israel-hamas-gaza.html

Hundreds of NY Jews arrested while calling for Gaza cease-fire.

 

Stupid people, did they ever stop to ask if Hamas wants a ceasefire? It would be like calling for a ceasefire from Russia, if Ukraine had no intention of ceasing fire...

 

Hamas of course wants a cease-fire cuz they are getting annihilated.

 

I don't think so. Third parties are calling for it. Israel should say that we are willing to give terms, if Hamas is willing to sit down directly.

 

Hamas would have to:

-commit to no more violent attacks

-commit to working with israel on security matters.

-release all hostages

Thats the only way Israel would ever agree to a cease-fire.