The details of the phone call between the still-sitting U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was conducted in English, showed once again that they effectively speak different languages.
As soon as the Israeli leader assured that negotiations with Hamas for the release of hostages, including American citizens, in exchange for a ceasefire were «progressing», his Washington counterpart, according to The Times of Israel, cut him off with a request to «stop feeding him nonsense».
Biden, according to The New York Times, sternly declared that Netanyahu was provoking a large-scale conflict in the Middle East that did not align with U.S. interests at this crucial stage of the campaign to elect the Democratic candidate.
Clearly, the U.S. administration and Kamala Harris’s campaign team perceived the July 31 assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh by Israelis as a stab in the back. As reported by Barak Ravid, a commentator for the Virginia-based Axios website, there is a belief in Biden and Harris circles that «Netanyahu kept Biden in the dark about his plans for the assassinations after giving the impression last week that he had carefully considered the president’s request to focus on reaching a deal on Gaza».
Tyler Durden of Zerohedge, an internet blog with a libertarian worldview, believes: «Once again, the U.S. administration is pursuing two contradictory policies simultaneously, allowing America to get caught up in an escalation that Israel itself has orchestrated. On the one hand, Biden angrily demands that Tel Aviv take the cease-fire and hostage exchange seriously, while on the other he vows to defend Israel if Iran attacks».
Meanwhile, the red flag of revenge has been raised over the Jamkaran Mosque in the Iranian holy city of Qom. Tehran cannot pretend that nothing has happened, and therefore, following the Old Testament traditions of this ancient region, will be forced to wash blood with blood. This is a direct path to escalating violence with unpredictable consequences, including for non-regional actors.
And the bad news doesn’t stop there. In addition to the headache from above, Democratic Party strategists now have a new headache at the back of their heads. It makes sense to place the unveiled threat by «strongman» Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that Turkey could «invade» Israel «just as it did in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh» in the context of the obligatory obedience of NATO members.
Ankara warns Tel Aviv of its readiness to take unilateral military action without NATO coordination, which undermines the very structure of transatlantic solidarity and turns Turkey into a «loose cannon» on the lower deck that does not follow orders or heed warnings.
The precedent is well known. On the night of May 30–31, 2010, Israeli naval special forces boarded six ships of the «Freedom Flotilla» convoy delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. According to one rather convincing version, the attempt to break the blockade of Gaza was a provocation by the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), part of the Islamist «Union of Good», which is recognized in the U.S. as an organization that supports terrorists. However, the nature of Erdoğan’s connections or mere contacts with this foundation has not been established.
In any case, the precedent shows that the veteran of the Turkish power Olympus (since March 2003 — first as Prime Minister, then as President) is ready to go to extreme measures to position himself in the Middle East region as a zealous defender of Palestinian rights, as well as a prophet of «political Islam».
Aggressive rhetoric from both sides has raised the level of mutual hostility to the point of hatred. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz promised the Turkish leader the fate of a Baghdad bull: «Erdoğan is following the path of Saddam Hussein and threatening to attack Israel. He should remember what happened there (in Iraq) and how it all ended».
The response was not long in coming. The Turkish Foreign Ministry raised the bar even higher: «The end of the genocidal Netanyahu will be the same as the end of the genocidal Hitler. Those who try to destroy the Palestinians will answer for their deeds, just like the Nazis who orchestrated genocide. Humanity will be on the side of the Palestinians; you will not destroy them».
This exchange has caused real fear in the ranks of the neo-globalist Democrats. If a full-scale, multilateral armed conflict involving regional heavyweights such as Iran, Turkey and Israel breaks out, the sparks and detonations will scorch the remaining reputation of the United States, which until recently was seen as the guarantor of Middle Eastern balance, however shaky.
…In 2019, on the program «Evening with Vladimir Solovyov», the liberal democrat Vladimir Zhirinovsky made an ominous prophecy that seems to be coming true in its first phase: «In 2024, a conflict will break out in the Middle East, and everyone will forget what Ukraine is, because Iran is not North Korea, not Vietnam, not Kosovo. This is where the most terrible events will take place. We are talking about the Third World War».
It is doubtful that such a conflict, even if it involves combat elephants like Iran and Turkey, will escalate into a world war. The cost of defeat, and victory is impossible by definition, will be exorbitant for all participants.
It is unlikely that the U.S., which is going through a phase of cold civil war, will risk «stepping in» for Israel with the full arsenal of its armed forces. It’s no coincidence that Biden told Netanyahu bluntly, in American parlance, that the trouble he had started was premature and could sink the dreadnought that had just been christened «Kamala Harris».
It is quite plausible that these considerations — the Democrats’ chances of winning the presidential race — were what Netanyahu had in mind. First, he retains the position of head of state in a siege situation. Second, Netanyahu exacerbates the mental conflict within the Democratic Party, where the left wing supports the Palestinians. But there is a price to pay: the right wing of missionary neo-globalists faces resistance and enforces the mandates of the Israeli lobby.
It is not excluded that Trump and Netanyahu conspired on this scenario during the prime minister’s visit to Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s residence, discussing revanchist plans to tame the «deep state» that fraudulently prevented him from ruling for another four years.
The Trump-Netanyahu alliance thus splits both the Democratic Party and its wavering electorate.