OP-ED: Israel is hurling towards the precipice and is determined one way or another to drag the rest of humanity with it. Israel is a lunatic state. The state is certifiably crazy.
There are two poles for the entire Israeli spectrum. One pole is the pole of “crackpot realists” who see war as the only answer to every question even as they acknowledge that war will not solve any problems. It’s their first and last reflex.
At the other end of this very narrow spectrum are those who advocate for “The Samson Option” — either pretend to be crazy to terrify your enemies and your allies, that if they don’t do Israel’s bidding, Israel will bring down the temple on everybody’s head.
And there are those who are not simply pretending to be crazy by advocating “The Samson Option,” they ARE crazy. They’re lunatics.
There is a significant portion of Israel’s political spectrum that is either pretending to be crazy or actually is crazy. It’s not even the subject matter of Monty Python. This is lunacy run amok.
If even only half of Israeli society and only half of the Israeli political elite think this, and in my opinion, it’s much more than half, the place is crazy!
There are those who are prepared in the name of their “holy cause” who think their backs are up against the wall to “bring down the whole temple” meaning “all the goyim are going to go with us.” It’s a very scary prospect now.
I don’t believe that Iran has many options. Once Israel is determined to go to war, it will keep escalating the provocations until it becomes untenable for a government to react with passivity.
If they didn’t react, we know from past experience exactly what Israel would do. It would keep escalating the provocations up to and including assassinating the Iranian head of state, formally denying it, but with a wink-wink as, “Of course, we did it.”
There is no way to stop them. Once they have resolved that a war is necessary and a war is inevitable, there is no way to stop them. That’s what the historical record shows.
You can hold back as Nasser did, as the PLO did, as Hamas did, but Israel will provoke and provoke and provoke because it’s resolved on that war.
I do not believe the option of not reacting actually exists. And that to me is a very difficult problem. We’re facing a moment where Israel wants to resolve three problems: it wants to execute its “final solution” to “the Gaza problem,” Hezbollah, and Iran.
Benjamin Netanyahu is a virtuoso about the American media. He sees an opportunity to win the trifecta: Gaza, Hezbollah, and Iran. Another opportunity like this might not come along soon. It can achieve in their minds—remember, we’re talking about certifiable lunatics—their three overarching strategic objectives in one fell swoop.
There is a huge insatiable bloodlust in Israel. There is the fear in Israel that what it calls its “deterrence capability,” meaning the Arab world’s fear of Israel, was significantly diminished after October 7th. It looks like an opportunity might be available to them.
Israel is a very tiny place. If Hezbollah launches 150,000 missiles at Israel it’s curtains for Israel. Nasrallah’s mind is not corrupted by the delusions and hallucinations of this crazy state. If Israel has resolved, as it did in 1954, 1982, and 2008, that Iran has to be neutered, no amount of restraint will stop them.
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Finkelstein is hard to listen to; whiney, drawn-out. But the points he makes are utterly accurate and people should pay attention. The world is being jeopardized by a lunatic state. Unless we step-up and put a stop to them, they will bring us all down.
