Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a tummy ache.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s so bad, his doctor ordered three days of bed rest.\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019d have a tummy ache too: the Prime Minister is supposed to appear at his own corruption trial.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike the United States President, the Prime Minister of Israel can be\u00a0\u00a0criminally tried while in office.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, much like the current US President, Netanyahu used the \u201cimmediacy\u201d of his office to stave off the trial for years.\u00a0\u00a0Certainly the ongoing \u201coperations\u201d in Gaza against Hamas were a solid excuse.\u00a0\u00a0As a war leader, the normalcy of \u201croutine criminal prosecution\u201d was upended. And the Israeli government was deep in crisis management mode after the Hama\u2019s terrorist assaults of October 7th<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But, it\u2019s been an ongoing question both in Israel and the United States:\u00a0\u00a0is a ceasefire in Gaza based on some mutually agreed set of concessions, or are there no concessions worth the risk of Netanyahu\u2019s conviction and imprisonment for corruption?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not all about the trial.\u00a0\u00a0Netanyahu is also held hostage by his own coalition of far-right factions, interested in clearing all Palestinian lands for Israeli settlement.\u00a0\u00a0If the coalition falls apart, then, Netanyahu would face general election.\u00a0\u00a0Should he lose and fall out of power, then the corruption trial would accelerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even as the reality of Hama\u2019s demise in Gaza became clear, Israeli operations in the region continued.\u00a0\u00a0The cold, hard fact was that the goal became kill every member of Hamas, even if the rest of the Palestinians in the region had to go too.\u00a0\u00a0Thousands of regular Palestinians have been killed for the \u201ccrime\u201d of waiting in a food line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, as things wound down in Gaza, Israel launched their attack on another terrorist group, this time in Lebanon and Syria.\u00a0\u00a0The unique tactic of exploding pagers decimated Hezbollah membership, and preceded a full-on military assault.\u00a0\u00a0And when that proved to be a resounding success, Israel moved onto to bombing Iran.\u00a0Even the United States joined in, taking advantage of Israeli decimation of Iranian air defenses to drop the \u201cbunker busting\u201d bombs from B-2 Bombers on Iranian nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It looked like a political \u201ctrifecta\u201d for Netanyahu:\u00a0\u00a0defeat of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.\u00a0\u00a0But the trial loomed over him, a Judaic Justice, Sword of Damocles.\u00a0\u00a0So now Israel is attacking the new Syrian regime, bombing Damascus ostensibly to defend the Druse Syrian minority from persecution.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the Trump White House was shocked by that attack, as well as the bombing of a Roman Catholic Church in Gaza.\u00a0\u00a0It took the current Administration almost six months to realize that Russia\u2019s President Putin was \u201cplaying them\u201d for time with Ukrainian ceasefire talks.\u00a0\u00a0Now they are recognizing the Netanyahu has his own private agenda as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some Israelis are taking advantage of the situation:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cstriking while the iron is hot\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And the other major \u201cplayers\u201d in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt; have their own agendas that align with Israel\u2019s attacks on Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.\u00a0\u00a0They\u2019ve stepped aside from those confrontations, giving Israel full clearance.\u00a0\u00a0And while Israel is already on a war footing, why not take care of \u201call\u201d the problems?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel is also busy clearing more Palestinians out of the West Bank, violating existing agreements by building more settlements.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201ctwo-state\u201d solution, the US backed plan for ultimate Middle East peace that dominated discussion\u00a0\u00a0for almost fifty years, is now as good as gone.\u00a0\u00a0Israelis are creating a single state, Israel, and an occupied territory, the West Bank and Gaza, that will remain under Israeli control.\u00a0\u00a0The US President even wants some \u201cbeachfront\u201d in Gaza for a personal luxury hotel.\u00a0\u00a0This \u201csingle-state\u201d makes Israel an occupying nation in perpetuity, with all of the negative cultural impacts of subjugating another people.\u00a0\u00a0Israel is becoming a democracy for some, and a military dictatorship for many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there is still one essential truth.\u00a0\u00a0Netanyahu faces trial.\u00a0\u00a0Attacks on Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and now Syria only delayed the inevitable.\u00a0\u00a0I guess when you can\u2019t bomb something, it\u2019s time for a \u201ctummy ache\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Find Another War<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Shock in the White House<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Single State Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n