Zoilo ‘Bingo’ Dejaresco III l October 9, 2024 l Business Mirror
So much propaganda has been unleashed against Israel, portraying it as a “villain” in the current Middle East armed conflict. What is truth and fiction?
Recall that Iran is considered the world’s worst exporter of global terrorism and its allies in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen want to exterminate Israel from the face of the earth.
Israel has been using proxy agents in Hezbollah and Hamas to engage Israel militarily and on October 1, 2024, using 200 ballistic missiles was Iran’s first direct attack on Israel.
It was largely an “acoustic war” with Iran announcing later that it had no joy in escalating the war in the Middle East but instead gave Israel the pretext to attack Iran in three possible ways as a consequence.
One way is for Israel to obliterate its nuclear facilities before it can weaponize the nukes and pose a real threat in the region. The other way is to cripple Iran economically and bomb its oil facilities. (Iran has the fourth-largest global oil reserves). Or lame its military infrastructure and defang its warlike behavior for good. Any of the three can stop Iran on its evil tracks.
Iran and its allies are facing a “Military Might Mite” in Israel, the 17th most capable military nation in the world with the geographic size of New Jersey and less than 10 million people. It has achieved the highest levels in science and technology development resulting in a projected gross domestic product of $623 billion by 2026 and a per capita income of $54,221.
Israel has 170,000 active military men and 465,000 reserves. It is protected by a sophisticated dome system against any military attacks. It has 2,200 tanks and 530 armed trucks, 399 attack jets, 43 helicopters, five submarines and 49 patrol boats. It has the most sophisticated intelligence units headed by the Mossad.
Israel saw through Iran’s malicious strategy. First, Iran unleashed the murderous Gaza animals that attacked 1,700 Israelis in a harmless concert scene on October 7, 2023. Iran knew this would infuriate Israel who would not allow the crime to go unpunished- and then attack Gaza as it did.
So, they earlier spent billions in building Gaza underground tunnels, then placed hospitals and schools above them and egged the world to blame Israel when they were destroyed above ground. They also used the tunnels to hide and abuse the hostages. The Hamas also killed innocent Palestinians in Gaza and claimed them to be Israeli wrongdoings.
As two million people in Gaza were displaced, Iran placed the blame on the door of Israel when it was the perpetual non-availability of top Hamas negotiator Ya Yah Sinya that made the “ceasefire” talks in Gaza an impossible task: bringing the Gaza War to nearly a year of endless combat. And it fueled anti-Israel global resentment.
Amid the Gaza offensive of Israel, the Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon kept firing missiles at Israel to make Israel attend to a difficult war of attrition on many fronts. Thus, Israel’s assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Ismael Haniyeh and the massacre of Hezbollah officers and men by the detonation of pagers and communication facilities (by long-distance detonation) were pre-emptive strikes to nip Iran’s evil strategy in the bud.
With its proxy agents largely obliterated in Lebanon and Syria- Iran tried to show intransigence in the October 1 direct attack. Now Iran will have hell to pay.,
Hopefully, Israel’s expected massive counterattack against Iran will be so decisive – it could also force Hamas to go to the ceasefire table with its patron Iran largely bloodied. Now, Israel (and its main ally, the USA) must repair the “reputational damage” done by propaganda against them. It seems it is inevitable that Israel will have “to escalate in order to de-escalate.” Will it succeed?
People must not forget the historical and Biblical significance of the state of Israel since it was proclaimed an independent nation back in 1948- after centuries of its people being wandering Jews.
Many Christians believe the Israelis are part of the “Chosen People” descended from the line of David and a promise of God to the faithfulness of Abraham. Israelis are supposed to be the “beacon of light” to reflect God’s “character on earth.” What about Israel’s counter-violence—is that necessarily non-Christian? Maybe not.
Self-defense, legally and morally, is a solid defense to use violence as a reaction. Besides, history had shown mortal combats between the Romans and Jews- and the Christians and the Muslims as they battled for the possession of the Holy Land during the Holy Crusades. The Middle East War is not something new.
Bible scholars have shown that the final battle of Armageddon, the last war that will reportedly presage the Second Coming of Christ will be fought somewhere in the middle of Israel, near the holy city of Jerusalem.
Based on one’s own Christian beliefs and in the context of present-day geopolitics, Israel is not going to “go quietly into the night” in the present-day Middle East War. Quite on the contrary.
*** Zoilo P. Dejaresco III, a former banker, is a financial consultant, media practitioner, author and a Life and media member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex). His views here are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of the Finex and the BusinessMirror. Contact the author via dejarescobingo@yahoo.com. Photo from Pinterest.