- Having witnessed Israel's total disregard for the moral and legal principles both in Gaza and Lebanon, we have watched Netanyahu and Trump display equal disregard for justified international criticism as they embarked on an illicit war of aggressi
The author is the co-founder and director of Forward Thinking, an UK-based conflict resolution and political dialogue charity.
It was in the immediate aftermath of October 7th that a senior political advisor we met in Jerusalem outlined Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's plan to reorder the Middle East. The inhabitants of Gaza were to be relocated into the Sinai Peninsula, the people in the West Bank were to be deported into Jordan, and the population in the south of Lebanon was to be forced north of the Litani River. Finally, the aim, we learnt, was to bring America into war with Iran to ensure that this new order would not be threatened. The whole operation was described by a senior Likud MK as the first stages in a war against so-called "radical Islam".
Israel, he warned us, was in the frontline of a struggle that would eventually reach the streets of Berlin, Paris and London, if we failed to recognize the threat and support their efforts to hold it in check. He was calling for a Judaeo-Christian alliance, and failed to understand why we had a totally different perception of the realities that were unfolding around us. This was the opportunity, he believed, to establish a Jewish state, which would stretch from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, and would act as protector of Judaeo-Christian civilization. Words such as "grievance" and "occupation" were not part of his analysis.
Israeli aggression continues
Wars in Gaza and Lebanon, military operations in the West Bank, and now aggressive strikes against Iran have clearly demonstrated Netanyahu's determination to implement the plan as outlined to us. Despite the fact that Egypt and Jordan have utterly refused to cooperate by accepting Palestinians forced to flee from their currently occupied and internationally recognized territories, and the determination of many southern Lebanese communities to resist forced internal displacement, the Israeli aggression aimed at implementing the plan in full continues.
What is thwarting Netanyahu's expansion plan and his dream of establishing under his leadership the greater Israel is clearly the "resilience" demonstrated by the population of the three countries under attack. He will meet a similar resilience, I am certain, should he decide – with Trump's approval – to expand his war into Syria on the pretext of security.
Whatever develops over the coming weeks, what worries me greatly is the fact that we are currently at a very dangerous moment in our human history, the consequences of which could spread far beyond the borders of the Middle East. We are already experiencing in Western Europe some of the economic impact with higher prices at petrol pumps and in shops. My concerns are far greater than this, however. Having witnessed Israel's total disregard for the moral and legal principle of proportionality both in Gaza and Lebanon, we have watched Netanyahu and Trump display equal disregard for justified international criticism as they embarked on an illicit war of aggression against Iran.
The open contempt they have displayed for the post-Second World War rules-based order, the Geneva Conventions, and, equally importantly, the moral order that is at the root of these legal norms should be extremely worrying to us all. The New York Times insider's account of the decision-making process that led Trump to launch his attack on Iran makes no reference to either legal or moral considerations being taken into account. This is clearly a war of choice, a war that is being prosecuted without the restraints required by the established legal and moral norms. We are, I fear, in a very dark place in which no country or individual can feel truly secure.
The rules-based order was established to protect not only internationally recognized borders but also each of us as individuals. It cannot be set aside at the will of any political leader, no matter how powerful he or she may be. We have been in this dark place before and know only too well the horrible consequences.
Illusion of peace through strength
Trump and Netanyahu are locked in a dangerous mindset that believes the only way peace can be secured is to ignore the established legal and moral norms and to act without restraint. They suffer from the illusion that peace can be achieved only through strength, and security through dominance. In their speeches they have frequently referred to this failed doctrine of "peace through strength." They chose to ignore that history clearly demonstrates that a peace imposed regardless of people's rights is unsustainable. Alexander the Great learnt this lesson in Gaza during his campaign against the Persians in 332 BCE. As long as there is a genuine grievance and an ongoing occupation, there will never be sustainable, durable security and peace in the region.
The claim that the current American-Israeli aggression in the region is a frontline battle to save our Judaeo-Christian inheritance from the onslaught of so-called "radical Islam" is profoundly false. On the contrary, Islam shares the same foundational principle as the true Judaeo-Christian tradition — that peace can only be achieved through justice: a genuine recognition of the right of the other to exist and the willingness to make the necessary space for them to exercise their basic rights to sovereignty and freedom. We will never break the cycle of violence that has marred the lives of millions in the region over the past century or more until we accept that this principle should be the basis for any future negotiations.
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu
