At a time when pro-Israel protesters are holding rallies across Canada and the world, Israel is expanding the ground war with Hamas to Lebanon, pulling the Middle East into a higher chance of all-out war with Iran. And as gas prices are expected to go up from Iran’s deeper involvement in the war, with more human rights concerns coming from the deadly pager attack that took place in September, there is a genuine chance the world will be sitting in for a long war between Israel and Iran’s alliance of proxy militant groups.
However, I wanted to take the time to talk about how the new phase of this war is getting reactions from other Middle Eastern countries. Reuters released an article on how the Middle East reacted to the killing of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Saudi Arabia called for Lebanon’s security and sovereignty to be preserved, but Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain haven’t mentioned the death of Nasrallah. Egypt’s president went further and rejected any violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, as Reuters puts it, while Syria and Iraq have declared three days of mourning.
And even as the war expands, when these countries may have supported Israel against Iranian missile attacks and with backing from the United States it’s become clear that this war isn’t stopping anytime soon.
It’s probably the same reason, why we haven’t heard more about Israel’s plans to rescue the rest of the hostages from Hamas, as it may be becoming harder and harder to find them. This brings us back to home, with the question of why these pro-Israel rallies aren’t calling on the Israeli government to focus more on Palestine. From an outside perspective, it seems obvious that if Israel’s goal is to bring back the hostages to their homes and families, opening up another war front against Hezbollah looks wasteful. Added on to that, if Israel did commit the September 17th and 18th pager/walkie-talkie attacks (which it is highly believed Israel did) then it would only add to its growing list of problems with the international community, as growing calls for Israel’s leadership to be tried for war crimes.
So now we are all stuck with the same question, when does this all end? Originally that answer could have been simple, when Israel gets all of its hostages back. But as Israel added another war goal of being able to return northern Israelis to their homes, it begs the question of whether or not Israel may keep adding war goals. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have a main focus on fighting Israel to the end, and while it is easy and good to say that Israel wants to wipe out these recognized terrorist organizations, what happens after? In a world where the fighting is over and the Hostages are returned to Israel, Israel may continue to ignore a two-state solution for the Palestinian people and Lebanon will continue to go through one of the world’s worst economic crises.
But the question remains by the time Israel is done with its war in Lebanon, how many hostages will remain alive in the West Bank? And will there be a recognition of all the dead civilians Israel left in both the West Bank and Lebanon?
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