Israel violated numerous international laws and norms on 1st April 5, 2024, through its multiple war crimes. It attacked Iran’s diplomatic building in Syria, targeted staff of a US NGO, the World Central Kitchen (WCK), working in Gaza, and destroyed Al-Shifa hospital, all on the same day. The Israeli Defense Forces have been incessantly committing war crimes in Gaza since the commencement of the Israel-Hamas War. The innocent civilian population has witnessed indiscriminate bombing. Several journalists and welfare workers have been killed, and numerous hospitals, churches, and mosques have been destroyed by the Zionist military. Numerous world leaders and analysts have been warning of the solemn implications of Israel’s genocidal operations in Gaza.
Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza has triggered the threat of a broader regional war. Recently, Israeli attacks on Iran’s embassy in Syria, and the World Central Kitchen’s cars have further compounded the situation in the Middle East. A huge number of people in the United States have already been protesting against Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and the Biden administration’s Israel policy. President Biden is already paying a huge price for his support of Israel in this war. The Biden administration is likely to see a spike in domestic pressure after the recent attacks on WCK. Jose Andres, the founder of the WCK, has accused Israeli forces of targeting the WCK workers intentionally by stating that his staff was systematically hit “car by car” by the Israeli forces. Although the Israeli Prime Minister has labeled this attack “unintentional”, without issuing any apology in his official statement, this incident has garnered massive backlash from around the world.
In December 2023, Israeli forces killed three Israeli hostages in its indiscriminate operations in Gaza. Such events are augmenting challenges for the Biden administration in its support for Israel. Israeli war crimes are proving detrimental to the already floundering US-led World Order. People no longer see it as an ideal system. The global south has already shifted its weight in the emerging Eastern multipolar world order, led by Russia and China. Saul J. Takahashi, a Japanese Professor and Author, in his article in Al Jazeera, has declared that Gaza will prove the graveyard of the incumbent world order led by the West. He has exposed the paradoxical nature of the West by stating that those speaking against the Israeli apartheid are declared terrorists, while those throwing Molotov cocktails at Russian troops are declared heroes by the biased Western nations.
Israel’s attack on Al-Shifa Hospital is also a sheer violation of the International Law. Furthermore, an Israeli doctor has revealed that Palestinian prisoners are treated inhumanely by the IDF. He wrote, in his letter to the Israeli Defense Minister, Health Minister, and Legal advisor of the government, that the characteristics of the facility in which the Palestinian detainees are treated do not comply with the law. He reported that the detainees were losing their limbs due to handcuffs. He also stated, in his disturbing report, “We all (including the government officials and the medical team) are complicit in breaking the law.” Israel and the United States are facing significant backlash globally due to such reports and actions.
Amidst this intensifying international pressure, Israel has made a novel and sinister move by attacking the Iranian embassy in Damascus. Israel seeks to drag Iran into this war to divert global attention from its war crimes and to regain the sympathies of the Western population. On the other hand, this attack has ensnared Iran and the United States in a tight spot. The two countries have no confrontation in the region. The United States has always been at loggerheads with Iran merely for protecting its proxy, Israel, in the Middle East. The two sides seek to refrain from a direct military confrontation against each other. However, this attack has dragged Iran into a challenging predicament. Iran is left with no other choice but to retaliate. If Iran opts to adopt a policy of strategic patience, it would impinge its national interests at domestic and global levels. Israeli forces will be encouraged to conduct more attacks on Iranian facilities and interests in the region. Moreover, its proxy groups like Hamas, Houthis, and Hezbollah will lose trust in Iran. On the domestic front, the current regime will be discredited and anti-government groups and factions can gain strength. On the other hand, if Iran decides to launch a direct attack on Israel and the United States, a broader regional war will be started. However, Iran’s current military capabilities do not allow it to go for an all-out war against Israel and the United States. Therefore, Iran authorities will retaliate only through their proxy groups in the region.
A war between Israel and Iran will also help Biden gain political leverage in the upcoming presidential elections, as it would validate his support for Israel’s war against Hamas. Biden, who has declared himself a Zionist multiple times, will use this war to gain more support for Israel’s ethnic cleansing operations in Gaza. The US authorization of 2000-pound bombs, which impact people up to 1000 feet away, also indicates a covert collaboration between Israel and the United States. However, the US has refuted the allegations of having prior knowledge of Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy. Nonetheless, this attack has further aggravated the debate in the US about its support for Israel. Many US analysts are critical of their country’s aid to Israel. They view Israel as a threat to American interests in the region, as the former is putting the latter in an abysmal condition in the region through its actions. Israel’s increasing war crimes in Gaza and its surging attacks on Iranian interests in the Middle East have put the globe in a precarious situation. Any miscalculated step by Israel and its ally, the United States, could spark a global catastrophe and could even result in an atomic war.
Abbas Hashemite – is a political observer and research analyst for regional and global geopolitical issues. He is currently working as an independent researcher and journalist, exclusively for “New Eastern Outlook”.
