Israel is turning on its last important ally in an act of suicidal hubris.

Israel is sabotaging the negotiations with Iran and alienating its last important ally by refusing to halt its attacks on Lebanon and withdraw from its occupation of the south. It is determined to reignite a regional conflagration that could see Iran perpetually close the Strait of Hormuz and plunge the global economy into a global depression. And it continues its genocide in Gaza.

Israel is contaminated by racism and genocidal violence. It is blinded by a repugnant moral superiority. It is corrupted by a class of Zionist billionaires in the U.S. who use their wealth to bend foreign policy to serve Israeli interests. It is equipped with a nuclear arsenal Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to use.

It is a menace to the region. It is a menace to itself. And it is a menace to us.

…Israel’s vision of a “Greater Israel,” designed to ensure Israel’s military dominance throughout the Middle East, depends on harnessing the wealth and military power of the U.S.

Over two-thirds of the major arms and munitions Israel imports — without which it could not carry out its genocide of the Palestinians, turn southern Lebanon into a moonscape and bomb Iran, Syria and Qatar — are manufactured and provided by the U.S. And because the Israel lobby, for decades, has owned Congress, because its Zionists allies police and control the media, because it is able to siphon tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to sustain its military adventurism, Israel is blind to its own limitations. It is willing to inflict harm on its allies, including the U.S., in service to itself.

…Israelis, intoxicated by the fantasy of being the chosen people, do not have friends. They do not have allies. They have those they use and those they slaughter.

The game is up. The Israeli domination of the U.S. political system is coming to an end. Israel’s inability to read U.S. and global opinion — or its own population, where over 90 percent believe Israel lost its war against Iran — along with its stubborn belief that its old levers of power can still work, illustrate a leadership that has rendered itself deaf, dumb and blind. It can and will do a lot of damage. It can and will inflict more death and suffering. But it is cannibalizing itself.

link

Hedges refers to ‘the obtuse administration of Donald Trump’ and blames much of what is happening on Trump and his admin. He could be right. Many will agree. I see another possibility, which is Trump has given Israel what they wanted and also enough rope to hang themselves. If policy is judged by its outcome, so far Trump’s policy has allowed Israel to show ‘It is a menace to the region. It is a menace to itself. And it is a menace to us.’ I am a pragmatic conservative who understands we are living in an oligarchy and have been for at least 100 years and probably since forever. Weighing Hedges views against that, leaves me in an agnostic state, a position I am very comfortable with because almost everything, including politics, is so full of unknowns, I see no other tenable position. Hedges doesn’t know what Trump and his faction are thinking or doing and neither do I. No one knows anything for certain. And not just in this case but in virtually all cases. This is a main reason, I see zero reason to get excited or inflamed over almost anything. That said, the world is a fascinating place and I remain fully interested in all of it. ABN