Israel is participating at the Olympics in Paris while Russia is banned, despite killing at least 80% fewer civilians in Ukraine than Israel has killed in Gaza. Even the United States has prosecuted its own for war crimes. Impunity for Israel. Enforcement of international law for everyone else.
No more explicit was this hypocrisy demonstrated than on Wednesday, July 24, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a man with a pending ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity, addressed Congress in order to shore up support for his political survival and request more weapons for his “war” against Hamas.
The main thrust of his speech was thematically organized by the supposed war between civilization (the West) and barbarism (Iran), mobilizing imperialistic language that would have made even Winston Churchill proud. During his 60-minute speech, he received 58 standing ovations from Congress in a bi-partisan spectacle of unquestioning adamantine support for Israel and its congressionally anointed king.
American Politicians: We must ban TikTok and Russia better not interfere in our elections!
Those same politicians 58 times: pic.twitter.com/dhExISwUTe
— Greg J Stoker (@gregjstoker) July 25, 2024
Nothing new was said here: atrocity propaganda, the weaponization of the holocaust, feigned concern for the hostages, the vague refrain that Israel is somehow America’s greatest ally, and a mortifying pink-washing comparison between “Gays for Gaza” to “Chickens for KFC.”
This was simply state-sponsored propaganda, but Netanyahu’s true intentions bled through the usual talking points in subtext: an eventual war between the United States and Iran. He has undoubtedly elaborated in private on his strategy for a wider war in the Middle East, and his plans–perhaps more accurately, his lifelong political fever dream–should be taken seriously by every American citizen.
The war in Gaza has already destroyed or disrupted millions of lives around the globe, and there are many policymakers in Washington contemplating war with Iran. What we are seeing here is an escalation of a narrative push to manufacture the required bi-partisan consent for another interventionist war in the Middle East.
For decades, the United States has hopped from unnecessary localized conflict to localized conflict – Afghanistan, Iraq, Syrian, Libya, Somalia, Ukraine – but a confrontation with Iran would erupt across the region, potentially the globe, in a way that the U.S. military, economy, and citizenry is not equipped or prepared to deal with.
Who will pay the price? Hundreds of thousands of innocents across the sea and tens of thousands of American service members, not the policy makers or the defense contractors that profit from these wars. When Veterans for Peace, a global organization of anti-war Military Veterans, says our government is run by “mad men arsonists who set fires around the globe, fires that enrich their corporate masters,” this is what they mean.
There is no reason to believe that Iran has greater territorial aspirations or designs on United States sovereignty, half a world away. A war could not be won, and it would be disastrous for America in myriad ways. There is an entire political bloc in Washington who, knowing this, would plunge headlong into war anyway.
Join us tonight on State of Play on Mint Press News to dissect the true intentions behind Netayahu’s speech and the protests against it.
Greg Stoker is a former US Army Ranger with a human intelligence collection and analysis background. After serving four combat deployments in Afghanistan, he studied anthropology and International Relations at Columbia University. He is currently a military and geopolitical analyst and a social media “influencer,” though he hates the term.
MintPress News is a fiercely independent media company. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.
Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.
Also, be sure to check out rapper Lowkey’s video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.
The post War Drums in Washington: Netanyahu’s True Ambitions Laid Bare appeared first on MintPress News.