Israelis Invade Syria: Who Will Stop Israel?

Israel plans to grow settlements successful the occupied Golan Heights. (Photo: photos8.com, via Wikimedia Commons)

By Nicolas J. S. Davies

It is besides up to the United Nations and different governments astir the satellite to intervene, and to clasp Israel and the United States accountable for their actions.

The United States, Turkiye and Israel each responded to the autumn of the Assad authorities successful Damascus by launching bombing campaigns connected Syria. Israel besides attacked and destroyed most of the Syrian Navy successful larboard astatine Latakia, and invaded Syria from the long-occupied Golan Heights, advancing to wrong 16 miles of the capital, Damascus.

The United States said that its bombing run targeted remnants of Islamic State successful the eastbound of the country, hitting 75 targets with 140 bombs and missiles, according to Air Force Times.

A long-standing unit of 900 US troops illegally occupy that portion of Syria, partially to divert Syria’s meager lipid revenues to the U.S.’s Kurdish allies and forestall the Syrian authorities from regaining that root of revenue. US bombing severely damaged Syria’s lipid infrastructure during the warfare with the Islamic State, but Russia has been acceptable to assistance Syria reconstruct afloat output whenever it recovers power of that area. U.S. forces successful Syria person been under attack by assorted Syrian militia forces, not conscionable the Islamic State, with astatine slightest 127 attacks since October 2023.

Meanwhile, Turkiye is conducting airstrikes, drone strikes and artillery occurrence arsenic portion of a caller offensive by a militia it formed successful 2017 nether the Orwellian guise of the “Syrian National Army” to invade and inhabit parts of Rojava, the autonomous Kurdish enclave successful northeast Syria.

Israel, however, launched a much broader bombing run than Turkiye oregon the US, with astir 600 airstrikes connected post-Assad Syria successful the archetypal 8 days of its existence. Without waiting to spot what signifier of authorities the governmental modulation successful Syria leads to, Israel acceptable astir methodically destroying its full subject infrastructure, to guarantee that immoderate authorities comes to powerfulness volition beryllium arsenic defenseless arsenic possible.

Israel claims its caller concern of Syrian territory is simply a impermanent determination to guarantee its ain security. But portion Israel bombed Syria 220 times implicit the past year, sidesplitting astir 300 people, Syria showed restraint and did not retaliate for those attacks.

The signifier of Israeli past has been that onshore grabs similar this usually crook into long-term illegal Israeli annexations, arsenic successful the Golan Heights and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. That volition surely beryllium the lawsuit with Israel’s caller strategical basal connected apical of Mount Hermon, overlooking Damascus and the surrounding area, unless a caller Syrian authorities oregon planetary diplomacy tin unit Israel to withdraw.

Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Russia and the UN person each joined the global condemnation of the caller Israeli battle connected Syria. Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy to Syria, called Israel’s subject actions “highly irresponsible,” and UN peacekeepers person removed Israeli flags from newly-occupied Syrian territory.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry called Israel’s actions “a unsafe improvement and a blatant onslaught connected Syria’s sovereignty and unity arsenic good arsenic a flagrant usurpation of planetary law… that volition pb the portion to further unit and tension.”

The Saudi Foreign Ministry reiterated that the Golan Heights is an occupied Arab territory, and said that Israel’s actions confirmed “Israel’s continued usurpation of the rules of planetary instrumentality and its determination to sabotage Syria’s chances of restoring its security, stableness and territorial integrity.”

The lone state successful the satellite that has ever recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights is the United States, nether the archetypal Trump administration, and it is portion of Biden’s disastrous bequest successful the Middle East that that helium failed to basal up for planetary instrumentality and reverse Trump’s designation of that illegal Israeli annexation.

As radical each implicit the satellite ticker Israel disregard the rules of planetary instrumentality that each state successful the satellite is committed to unrecorded by, we are confronted by the age-old question of however to respond to a state that systematically ignores and violates these rules. The foundation of the UN Charter is the statement by each countries to settee their differences diplomatically and peacefully, alternatively of by the menace oregon usage of subject force.

As Americans, we should commencement by admitting that our ain state has led the mode down this way of warfare and militarism, perpetuating the scourge of warfare that the UN Charter was intended to supply a peaceful alternate to.

As the United States became the starring economical powerfulness successful the satellite successful the 20th century, it besides built up ascendant subject power. Despite its starring relation successful creating the United Nations and the rules of the UN Charter and the Geneva Conventions, it came to spot strict compliance with those rules arsenic an obstacle to its ain ambitions, from the UN Charter’s prohibition against the menace oregon usage of subject unit to the Geneva Conventions’ universal protections for prisoners of warfare and civilians.

In its “war connected terror,” including its wars connected Iraq and different countries, the United States flagrantly and systematically violated these bedrock foundations of satellite order. It is simply a cardinal rule of each ineligible systems that the almighty indispensable beryllium held accountable arsenic good arsenic the anemic and the vulnerable. A strategy of laws that the affluent and almighty tin disregard cannot assertion to beryllium cosmopolitan oregon just, and is improbable to basal the trial of time.

Today, our strategy of planetary instrumentality faces precisely this problem. The US presumption that its overwhelming subject powerfulness permits it to interruption planetary instrumentality with impunity has led different countries, particularly US allies but besides Russia, to use the aforesaid opportunistic standards to their ain behavior.

In 2010, an Amnesty International report connected European countries that hosted CIA “black site” torture chambers called connected US allies successful Europe not to articulation the United States arsenic different “accountability-free zone” for warfare crimes. But present the satellite is confronting a U.S. state that has not conscionable embraced but doubled down on, the U.S. presumption that ascendant subject powerfulness tin trump the regularisation of law.

The Israeli authorities refuses to comply with planetary ineligible prohibitions against deliberately killing women and children, by subject unit and by deprivation; seizing overseas territory; and bombing different countries. Shielded from planetary accountability down the US Security Council veto, Israel thumbs its chemoreceptor astatine the world’s impotence to enforce planetary law, assured that cipher volition halt it from utilizing its deadly and destructive warfare instrumentality wherever and nevertheless it pleases.

So the world’s nonaccomplishment to clasp the United States accountable for its warfare crimes has led Israel to judge that it excessively tin flight accountability, and US complicity successful Israeli warfare crimes, particularly the genocide successful Gaza, has inevitably reinforced that belief.

US work for Israel’s lawlessness is compounded by the struggle of involvement successful its dual relation arsenic some Israel’s subject superpower state and weapons supplier and the expected mediator of the lopsided “peace process” betwixt Israel and Palestine, whose inherent flaws led to Hamas’s predetermination triumph successful 2006 and present to the existent crisis.

Instead of recognizing its ain struggle of involvement and deferring to involution by the UN oregon different neutral parties, the US has jealously guarded its monopoly arsenic the sole mediator betwixt Israel and Palestine, utilizing this presumption to assistance Israel full state of enactment to perpetrate systematic warfare crimes. If this situation is ever to end, the satellite cannot let the US to proceed successful this role.

While the United States bears a large woody of work for this crisis, US officials stay successful corporate denial implicit the transgression quality of Israel’s actions and their instrumental relation successful Israel’s crimes. The systemic corruption of U.S. authorities severely limits the power of the bulk of Americans who enactment a ceasefire successful Gaza, arsenic pro-Israel lobbying groups bargain the unconditional enactment of American politicians and onslaught the fewer who basal up to them.

Despite America’s undemocratic governmental system, its radical person a work to extremity US complicity successful genocide, which is arguably the worst transgression successful the world, and radical are uncovering ways to bring unit to carnivore connected the US government:

Members of CODEPINK, Jewish Voice For Peace and Palestinian-, Arab-American and different activistic groups are successful Congressional offices and hearings every day; constituents in California are suing 2 members of Congress for backing genocide; students are calling connected their universities to divest from Israel and US arms makers; activists and national members are identifying and picketing companies and blocking ports to halt weapons shipments to Israel; journalists are rebelling against censorship; US officials are resigning; radical are on hunger strike; others person committed suicide.

It is besides up to the UN and different governments astir the satellite to intervene, and to clasp Israel and the United States accountable for their actions. A increasing planetary question for an extremity to the genocide and decades of amerciable concern is making progress. But it is excruciatingly dilatory fixed the appalling quality outgo and the millions of Palestinian lives astatine stake.

Israel’s planetary propaganda run to equate disapproval of its warfare crimes with antisemitism poisons governmental treatment of Israeli warfare crimes successful the United States and immoderate different countries.

But galore countries are making important changes successful their relations with Israel, and are progressively consenting to defy governmental pressures and propaganda tropes that person successfully muted planetary calls for justness successful the past. A bully illustration is Ireland, whose increasing commercialized relations with Israel, chiefly successful the high-tech sector, formerly made it the fourth largest importer of Israeli products successful the satellite successful 2022.

Ireland is present 1 of 14 countries who person officially intervened to enactment South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel astatine the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the others are Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Libya, the Maldives, Mexico, Nicaragua, Palestine, Spain and Turkiyë. Israel reacted to Ireland’s intervention in the lawsuit by closing its embassy successful Dublin, and present Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has smeared Ireland’s Taoiseach (prime minister) Simon Harris arsenic “antisemitic.”

The Taoiseach’s spokesperson replied that Harris “will not beryllium responding to personalized and mendacious attacks, and remains focused connected the horrific warfare crimes being perpetrated successful Gaza, lasting up for quality rights and planetary instrumentality and reflecting the views of truthful galore radical crossed Ireland who are truthful acrophobic astatine the nonaccomplishment of innocent, civilian lives.”

If the radical of Palestine tin basal up to bombs, missiles and bullets time aft time for implicit a year, the precise slightest that governmental leaders astir the satellite tin bash is basal up to Israeli name-calling, arsenic Simon Harris is doing.

Spain is mounting an illustration connected planetary efforts to halt the proviso of weapons to Israel, with an arms embargo and a prohibition connected weapons shipments transiting Spanish ports, including the US naval basal astatine Rota, which the US has leased since it formed a subject alliance with Spain’s Franco dictatorship successful 1953.

Spain has already refused introduction to 2 Maersk-owned ships transporting weapons from North Carolina to Israel, portion dockworkers successful Spain, Belgium, Greece, India and different countries have refused to load weapons and ammunition onto ships bound for Israel.

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has passed resolutions for a ceasefire successful Gaza; an extremity to the post-1967 Israeli occupation; and for Palestinian statehood. The General Assembly’s 10th Emergency Special Session connected the Israel-Palestine conflict nether the Uniting for Peace process has been ongoing since 1997.

The General Assembly should urgently usage these Uniting For Peace powers to crook up the unit connected Israel and the United States. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has provided the ineligible ground for stronger action, ruling that the Israeli concern of the Palestinian territories Israel invaded successful 1967 is amerciable and indispensable beryllium ended, and that the massacre successful Gaza appears to interruption the Genocide Convention.

Inaction is inexcusable. By the clip the ICJ issues a last verdict connected its genocide case, millions whitethorn beryllium dead. The Genocide Convention is an planetary committedness to forestall genocide, not conscionable to walk judgement aft the fact. The UN General Assembly has the powerfulness to enforce an arms embargo, a commercialized boycott, economical sanctions, a peacekeeping force, oregon to bash immoderate it takes to extremity the genocide.

When the UN General Assembly archetypal launched its boycott campaign against apartheid South Africa successful 1962, not a azygous Western state took part. Many of those aforesaid countries volition beryllium the past to bash truthful against Israel today. But the satellite cannot hold to enactment for the blessing of complacent affluent countries who are themselves complicit successful genocide.