Daniel Levy writes:

It has taken less than two months for normal service to be resumed – a White House that is the plaything of the prime minister of a client state, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. Having briefly flirted with leading the ‘ceasefire over war’ camp, the US is back to bombing Yemen, threatening Iran with military action, and undermining its own negotiations in the service of greenlighting Israel’s resumed bombing of Gaza.

Trump has apparently been reminded who is the superpower here. The peace president? Not if Israel says otherwise. It is hard to say that Trump 47 has exactly been duped, he of the ethnically-cleansed Gaza Riviera plan. Alignment with Israel’s genocidal orientation would seem to come naturally.

Having, in the words of Einav Zangauker (mother of Israeli captive Matan), “sabotaged negotiations” in order to “blame Hamas,” Netanyahu definitively shattered the ceasefire in the early hours of March 18, aerially bombarding parts of Gaza, killing over 400 Palestinians, among them over 180 children, and the slaughter of innocents has continued since. The timing of the initial strike was designed to coincide with Suhoor, the pre-dawn meal taken during the month of Ramadan, rubbing salt in the wounds of religious sensibilities well beyond Gaza.

Israeli officials have claimed that the resumed strikes create leverage in getting Hamas to accept Israeli terms for a deal. Lies, pure and simple. Israeli war crimes failed to shift the terms of a deal for over a year. Hamas is negotiating in accordance with the parameters agreed in January, Netanyahu is not. On Wednesday, Hamas clarified that “any proposal based on negotiating the second stage and permanently ending the war will be welcomed.”

Protesters inside Israel are also calling out Netanyahu’s bluff. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement calling for a renewed ceasefire, dismissing the government’s claim that a return to war is “for the sake of hostages’ return” as “a complete deception,” and blaming the government for “withdrawing from the agreement” and endangering the hostages. Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, addressing a Tel Aviv rally, accused Netanyahu of “start[ing] yet another round of war … not to protect your people but to protect your government. Another war with no purpose, another war with no strategy.” [Continue reading…]