No matter how bad the attack on Palestine gets, Israel seems to find a way to make it worse.
With a series of high-profile assassinations that threaten to spark a regional war, Israel has raised the stakes once again. On July 30, it targeted Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut. One day later, it killed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' lead ceasefire negotiator, while he was in Tehran.
The killings sent shockwaves throughout the world, and both Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to respond, the former declaring that the war had entered a "new phase." Could we be hurtling towards a wider, regional conflict?
To discuss this, MintCast host Mnar Adley is joined by Sharmine Narwani. Narwani is a Beirut-based journalist and political commentator. She is a columnist at The Cradle, a publication covering West Asia that seeks to represent millions of voices not heard in corporate Western media. Before joining The Cradle, she was a senior associate at St. Anthony's College, Oxford.
Quoting Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, Narwani told Adley today that "Israel is crossing all kinds of red lines now," and is acting in an increasingly "unhinged" manner, actions which fundamentally come from weakness and vulnerability. "Israel very clearly cannot fight its wars by itself. Facing just one adversary on one front, Israel required the active assistance of three Western nuclear powers and one regional Arab state (Jordan), to thwart the [recent] Iranian attack," she said.
If Israel is indeed reliant on foreign powers, then that raises the worrying question of increased Western involvement in the region and the war. Already, NATO nations launched Operation Prosperity Guardian - an attempt to secure Red Sea shipping lines from Ansar Allah attacks.
This has largely failed, as Ansar Allah has held firm and managed to overcome incredible odds. "Yemen is the surprise of the Resistance Axis, and their unity of fronts," Narwani said, adding:
Who would have thought that war-torn Yemen, severely depleted, with shortages of food, energy, medicines and basic supplies, without access to their ports...that they would rise up and become the star of the Axis, by just having the absolute nerve to hit the Americans, the British, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Israelis."
Narwani said that they have managed to do this because Yemenis do not read Western media, and have therefore not been tamed into displaying "good behavior" towards the United States. Instead, they display an entirely different attitude.
The war has not panned out in the way Israel had hoped, and its economy and society have been exposed as being not as robust as once thought. "Israel has never been so isolated, in the sense that even its Western allies have quietly stopped weapons flows to it," Narwani said. Economically, too, the country is floundering. The shekel is losing its value quickly, and the stock market has plummeted. It is also facing a domestic crisis as it attempts to force ultra-orthodox Jews into military service. Thus, she argued, "From inside and outside, Israel's situation looks very ugly for the state. This is why it is resorting to assassinations."
Join us today for a deep and informative discussion that will be heard nowhere in corporate media.
Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at email protected or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh.
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