Recent actions by Israel have deepened global concerns about potential for a wider war in the Middle East after the Zionist State committed targeted assassinations of major leaders of the Hamas and Hezbollah resistance groups. Retaliatory rhetoric, increased fighting and a troop increase to the region by the United States already resulted in the killings of Ismael Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif of Hamas and Fuad Shakur of Hezbollah.
In an announcement more than one month after a deadly air attack on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Israel claimed that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed. The strikes on the al-Mawasi camp killed at least 90 people and wounded 300 others, according to Palestinian health officials.
The Aug. 1 announcement came a day after an apparent Israeli strike in Iran killed Hamas’ top political leader and two days after Israel assassinated a key military leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon. By presstime Hamas had not responded to Israel’s claim.
The occupier state asserts Mr. Deif was a chief architect of the Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and that ignited the Israel-Hamas war. To date, in what is genocide and war crime atrocities Israeli forces have killed over 40,000 mostly civilian Palestinians in the war.
There is no end in sight for the bloodshed. Incessant war, the assassinations, and the 10 months of bloodshed are the bitter fruits of Israel’s U.S.-backed occupation. Over several decades, a warning was voiced that usurping, forcefully removing, and illegally occupying Palestinian lands would result in bloodshed and plenty of it.
“America and England deposited their little brother, Israel, on foreign soil, Palestine, which is Arab land. They deprived the Arabs of their own land and sent them into exile,” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, quoting from the book, “Fall of America,” published in 1973 by his teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
The Minister made the remarks on Feb. 25 in an address titled: “What Does Allah The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East.”
Continuing to quote from “The Fall of America,” the Minister discussed the consequences of these actions: “This injustice against the Arabs is now costing America the power and authority that she once exercised in the [Middle] East. … She is on her way out of the Near East,” and “This means bloodshed and plenty of it,” he continued.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Farrakhan’s words and warnings are ringing true. The possibility for an expanding and widening war in the Middle East was triggered again in the wake of the targeted assassinations.
On July 30, Israel bombed the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by its admission to kill Fuad Shukur, a senior member of Hezbollah’s military council. Then hours later the region was shaken on July 31 from news of the predawn assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas’ Polit Bureau and a major Palestinian figure. Initial reports stated that Mr. Haniyeh, 62, was killed in an airstrike in Iran’s capital along with his bodyguard. Then reports surfaced that an explosive detonated by remote was allegedly planted in the guest house he resided in. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Aug. 3 the method of assassination was a “short-range projectile” fired from outside the residence. He was in the country attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel is suspected of carrying out the act that has region-wide implications, said analysts. Israel has neither acknowledged nor denied responsibility.
“If you look at the Haniyeh assassination, I think it’s significant,” said Mouin Rabbani, senior fellow at the Institute For Palestine Studies. “Not only because Israel assassinated the formal leader of Hamas … as important is that it carried out this assassination in Tehran, the Iranian capital,” he said.
“And it’s inconceivable to me that Israel did not take into account that in doing so it was making it very, very difficult for the Iranians themselves not to respond,” reasoned Mr. Rabbani.
He opines that Israel desires a direct Iranian response and further regional escalation to draw America directly into its wars, and a direct confrontation with Iran. The Islamic Republic is a mutual foe to the U.S. and Israel that both claim is the chief benefactor behind anti-Zionist resistance.
“The possible implication is an expansion of the conflict, which nobody but Israel really wants,” agreed political scientist and commentator Dr. Wilmer Leon. “For Israel to say that they’ve gone into Beirut because they’re attacking Hezbollah, well, that’s the same failed logic and lies that they’re using in Gaza,” he argued, referring to Israel’s catchphrase, “We’re not trying to kill the Palestinian people, we’re going after Hamas.”
“Well, we know that is just the excuse they’re giving to rationalize and to justify genocide,” Dr. Leon added.
The region is once again at the precipice of a multinational war say observers. As concern mounts about a possible joint retaliation against Israel to counter the assassinations, the Pentagon announced the U.S. is boosting its military presence in the region in defense of Israel.
Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary told reporters on Aug. 2 that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was directing “multiple, forthcoming force-posture moves” to bolster “protection for U.S. forces region wide … provide elevated support to the defense of Israel … ensure the United States is prepared to respond to this evolving crisis.”
In less than 12 hours attacks were initiated agaist Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran. Not mincing words, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned the Israeli regime of a “harsh response” for the assassination. He warned it is Iran’s duty to avenge the blood of the Palestinian resistance leader, reported Iran’s PressTV.ir.
“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest in our homeland and left us bereaved, but it also set the ground for a harsh punishment for itself,” he said on July 31.
The Hamas armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said the assassination “takes the battle to new dimensions and will have major repercussions on the entire region” and that Israel “made a miscalculation by expanding the circle of aggression.”
“The criminal (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, blinded by delusions of grandeur, is driving the occupation entity toward the abyss, accelerating its collapse and permanent removal from Palestinian land,” said a statement from Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
“This precious blood will not be shed in vain but will illuminate the path to liberation,” said the statement. “The enemy will pay for its aggression with its own blood in Gaza, the West Bank, and within its borders, wherever our fighters reach, by God’s will.”
Dr. Leon also reasoned that Mr. Netanyahu is politically desperate. “And you can’t trust desperate people,” he said. “Unfortunately, too many members of the United States Congress seem to be willing to do that,” he said, referring to Mr. Netanyahu’s recent address before a joint session of Congress and continued commitment for financial and military support, in the face of atrocities.
Dr. Leon said the current situation is an “incredibly horrific reality,” where the Zionist government continues to exacerbate and do everything they can to inflame the crisis and do nothing to bring a peaceful resolution. “Because Netanyahu knows once that happens, he’s done,” said Dr. Leon.
Since its inception, Israel has been a regional source of trouble, a bloodshedder, and disagreeable to live with in peace. The escalation adds to a cocktail of enmity in the region.
The Israeli military continues bombing Gaza, increasing Palestinian carnage and is carrying out air raids across southern Lebanon. In retaliation Hezbollah has launched several attacks on Israeli positions along the border, said Lebanese media.
Mr. Rabbani told The Final Call that Israel sees itself as being in constant conflict with its regional environment and must keep the environment subdued to survive.
“That means it has to cut any emerging alternative regional power that is not aligned with the United States,” he said. “It has to basically weaken it … produce regime change, or whatever,” said Mr. Rabbani. “We saw it with Egypt under (Gamal Abdel) Nasir … Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and now we’re seeing it with Iran,” he noted.
Israel also sees itself as “being encircled by the self-styled Axis of Resistance,” the coalition of states and movements opposed to Israeli and U.S. hegemony in the region. Much of Israel’s Western support comes from it functioning as a U.S. proxy in the region, explained Mr. Rabbani, which includes attacking opposers of the Western role in the Middle East.
“So, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that you will see the kinds of things that you’re seeing now,” he said.
There are divisions within U.S. policy circles among those looking at these escalations and recognizing it’s not going to end very well for the U.S. and that doesn’t serve U.S. interests. Then there are the hawkish warmongers who are celebrating Israel’s bloodthirst and welcoming that Israel is dragging America into a conflict that they’ve wanted all along.
“The problem for those who think this poses a danger to the U.S. interests is that (President Joe) Biden has rendered them absolutely powerless to do anything to call a halt to Israel,” said Mr. Rabbani. “Biden has insisted on maintaining unconditional support for Israel through thick and thin without any consequences,” he said.
Minister Farrakhan said that America is not going to stay in the Middle East, and neither will Israel remain there. Further quoting his teacher, the Minister described the growing intensity in the region.
“Elijah Muhammad continues: ‘In the Near East, there stand navies which are neither American nor British … they are there to drive America out. The skies over there are beginning to thicken with foreign planes carrying deadly weapons, guns and bombs. They will not be satisfied as long as Israel is in Palestine. The boil has come to a bursting point. We are in a troubled world,’ and ‘We are in a world that is now erupting,’” said Minister Farrakhan.
“There are navies over there now that are not American nor British.” China has warships over there now; she will be joined with others soon,” he said.
The Final Call encourages you to view and study the Minister’s 2024 Saviours’ Day message in its entirety on media.noi.org. See the back page for more information.
