American Bombs, Israeli Slaughter

CrossFireArabia
Opinion
May 25, 2024

Congressmen Bernie Sanders Tells Joe Biden ‘You Can Stop This War’ right now, just don’t provide Israel with any more weapons.

Congressmen Bernie Sanders said the US government needs to stop financing the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. He was speaking on the X platform, stressing the fact there are thousands of children who are being starved in Gaza.

He told CNN the weapons used by the Israeli army in the latest “flour massacre” that killed 112 people and upwards to more than 700 people through Israeli snipers and tanks, was paid from the pockets of the American taxpayer. He stressed Washington needs to stop financing the Israeli army.

Sanders, a US Senator for Vermont, is one of the strongest critics of the stand of the American government supporting Israel and he is not a lone voice in America.

Washington has been the main financier and military supplier in this Israeli war against Gaza. At the start of the third month of the war on Gaza, the US already supplied Israel with 10,000 tons worth of arms to Israel through 200 cargo planes. Today, and six-month into the war, the military supply chain is still going strong with more of the same.

In the initial stages of the war following 7 October 2000 so-called military “advisors” were sent to Israel with US warships – USS Gerald Ford USS Dwight D. Eisenhower – scurrying to the east Mediterranean Sea. Today, these advisors are being beefed up by US mercenaries.

An American war

It would appear that most of the bombs dropped on Gaza are US made. In addition to the bunk busters which borrow deep into the ground before exploding turning Gaza into a graveyard, Washington has allowed itself to be an active participant in this war by supplying different types of bombs and shells that are too numerous to mention and name like the MK 82, MK 84 bombs, dumb bombs, air-to-surface munitions as well as thousands and thousands of ammunitions.

In terms of mass destruction Israel has been dropping two- three- and even four-ton bombs on Gaza. This has never been the case even when the US has been bombing ISIS-strong holds in Syria and even Afghanistan. The devastation of 2000-pound-bombs dropped have been analyzed on CNN.

This is certainly an American war on Gaza, but throughout this conflict, Washington has also tried to look reasonable. While supplying weapons to Israel through the White House and bypassing the US Congress, US President Joe Biden and his team have said they are for the status quo in Gaza, against the expulsion of the Palestinians into neighboring Sinai and want to see the revival of a two-state solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

But this has fallen on deaf ears despite the daily contact between US and Israeli officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long ignored such utterances and even recently introduced a draft law against the two-state solution that was passed by the Knesset making such recognition of a two-state solution as a illegal. This is seen as an snub to the American administration that refuses to increase pressure on Israel despite the mass onslaught and the “plausible genocide” as termed by the International Court of Justice that is being committed by Israel in Gaza.

Israel is riding roughshod on the Americans precisely because of the fact Biden keeps reiterating the fact he is a committed “Zionist” and refuses to stop the flow of weapons into Israel while the US Congress continues to support Israel with direct aid and monies even though a sizable group in the Democratic Party are criticizing the actions of the American president.

‘You can’t beat the resistance’

Meanwhile the American president continues to watch the murderous actions of the Israeli army and the refusal of Netanyahu to stop the war against Gaza and his insistence on eliminating Hamas. But in his heart, Netanyahu must feel, as everyone else, including the US administration he can’t do that, after six months of bombing the living day light out of Gaza.

What the Israeli army is doing now, is continuing to kill civilians on the ground – the figure dubbed currently at over 30,000 with more than 70,000 injured. As well, rather than combing Gaza from the north to the south and working, Israeli soldiers are finding out that Gaza is a tough series of battles.

Instead of concentrating in the south which they have promised to do in the stages they planned, they are bogged in below-center areas like Khan Younis and are having to go and fight in northern areas like Al Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Jabalia and Biet Lahia where the Palestinian resistance is putting up stiff resistance and where Israeli tanks are dying by the die in their thousands and their tanks continue to be destroyed in their hundreds.

Ninety percent for instance, of the underground tunnels are intact. These Hamas and Jihad fighters are still below ground and keep come up for the kill and battle despite the fact Israeli politicians and military keep saying they are destroying the “terror infrastructure.” But by their own admission also, Palestinian resistance fighters keep coming up and destroying.

Meanwhile, bombs and munitions in a constant stream, continues to be provided by the Americans as they talk of the necessity of peace to all good men and satisfying themselves with making the first American food airdrop on Gaza whilst determined not to be outwitted by other countries like Jordan, Egypt, France and Italy. But rather than moaning about Netanyahu, America can stop this war rather than be engaged in this new campaign to attempt to save Gaza from starvation imposed by its very good friend and strategic partner Benjamin Netanyahu who fears jail if he stops bombing Gaza because of his corruption accusations.

Everyone is hoping still there would be some kind of a ceasefire come the Muslim month of Ramadan shortly. If Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are not convinced, the blood bath will likely continue because of the expected onslaught on Rafah and with the Israeli hostages held in Hamas tunnels be ever more in peril. Their number, originally thought at 136 are down much lower according to Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida who says at least 70 of them have been killed so far by Israeli bombs.

Will they be any left by the time the war is put to an end?

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

Opinion

US-Iran: Who Will Blink First!

Dr Khairi Janbek
April 24, 2026

One would say that our main inheritance from the Covid period is the term, new normal, which has been since used, conveniently, in any circumstance we found baffling to our senses.

So one wonders if the stand in Hormuz will not be our current new normal, which will mean putting up with the economic consequences of the blockage and trying at the same time to find different routes for trade. Here, one is talking economics and trade simply because the loss of life and destruction doesn’t more matter in comparison to budgets and the flow of goods.

In fact each time anyone finds an intelligent reason for this ongoing conflict, the rediculous actions of the protagonists proves the impossibility of saying an informed or otherwise opinion. For all intents and purposes, all what can be reasonably said, is that for now, the war is supposed to be inconclusive despite the threats flying around, because essentially no one wants a regime change in Iran because no one can predict the consequences.

Therefore, back to economics again, the strategy seems, who will blink first and accept the conditions of the other to return to Islamabad. Iran with its enormous financial and economic problems which fears a new uprising in the streets once the stalemate with the US becomes the norm, or the USA with the mid term elections looming, rising inflation and higher energy prices, as well as volatility in stocks and shares prices in Wall Street.

When it comes to the situation in Lebanon, clearly the link with Iran is in fact Hizbullah; which is by its own admission the Party of Veliyati -Fatih in Lebanon, under the current circumstances, with the Israeli invasion of the south of Lebanon, for the first time in the history of Lebanon, not a sect, religious community, or power group, but in fact the official state representatives are talking about direct negotiations with Israel for peace, and in fact negotiating directly with each other in Washington.

For the Lebanese state, the situation now is legitimacy over the whole geography of the country, and limiting the possession of arms only in the hands of the Lebanese army and security. However, here also we face the scenario of whether the egg comes first, which is for Hizbullah Israeli withdrawal first, or the chicken, for the Lebanese government to negotiate the withdrawal of Israel.

Leaving the devil out of the details, would it mean ultimately, that a diplomatic agreement between Lebanon and Israel makes Hizbullah the enemy of both Israel and the Lebanese state together?, and what would the Lebanese state do as a next step, if Hizbullah decides to keep its weapons?

Then of course, there is the festering wound of Gaza and the West Bank which hardly warrant any news considering the scale of what is going on in the Gulf and in Lebanon. For Gaza, the vision fluctuates between lost peace, Israeli occupation withdrawn yellow lines, and Hamas with its show of force, amidst refugees, squalor, destruction and whether aid can go in or not, while on the other hand AI generated images of its rise beach resorts which no one is likely, from now on, be able to think about even if they can afford and realize them.

Future? What can one say save for bleak.

As for the West Bank, one has to apologise for saying that the Arabs, before anyone else, are reconciled with idea that the PNA is no longer there, apart from of course, moneymaking, here and there, and that what is termed as Palestinian territory will become a Bantustan in the sea of expanded Israel. Thus where do we go from here, well, there are people with paid salaries to think about!

Janbek is a Jordanian columnist based in Paris

Opinion

Trump: Tunes, Ceasefire and Hormuz

Saleem Ayoub Quna
April 23, 2026

Saleem Ayoub Quna

The latest ceasefire by Trump reminded me of an aspiring young violinist, who every time she started playing her own written piece, the tunes of her instrument would go havoc!

Last move, the declaration of a ceasefire with no deadline, by President Donald Trump on the Hormuz virtual chessboard with Iran, did not lack the usual element of surprise. Still, it was a relief for some, annoying for others and revealing for a third group!

While at it in the White House, the Pakistani host intermediaries in the other side of the hemisphere, were stood up for the arrival of the negotiation teams, who seemingly were hindered by other conflicting schedules, while pilots of the jet fighters, in the air bases and on board destroyers, and the launchers of missiles, drones and anti–missile batteries, were all getting itchy over the delay of orders from their commanders, which left TV anchors and other commentators, boringly speculating and redundant!

After the two rounds of exchanging intensive missile and rocket attacks, between Iran and the US-Israeli axis, in less than a year, using the open skies over the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the Gulf area, as a last resort to make each party’s views clearer to the other, President Trump, the man who happens to hold most of the important cards in his hands, seems today, to have come to the conclusion, that neither his message, nor his tools, or even his sheer luck have helped making his message loud and clear enough to his opponents and to the rest of world!

Luck in this context can be associated with the totality of internal, regional and world unanticipated reactions to this complicated conflict, in terms of rising oil and gas prices for the average consumer, whether in Europe, North America or in Eastern Asia. It is highly suspected that these instruments in the hands of Trump, started producing tunes that were not written or desired by Trump himself, and if they did, it was just a kind of dissonance!

It is also very probable that Trump’s tactics as a deal maker, continuously changing his tone and vocabulary, made his listeners lose track of his true original storyline, if there was one! But more seriously, weighing and counting the odds that have befell Trump in the aftermath of the breakout of the war, some of which were

of his own making, and other developments that came out as natural by-products of the original move!

Following is a rundown of those unexpected unpleasant by-products, or side-effects, some of which might turn into chronicle headaches*, of the whole initiative which Trump had closely coordinated with his persistent ally, Netanyahu, the first in June 2025, when the two of them orchestrated the “Midnight Hammer” surprise operation against sensitive Iranian targets, and the second round “Epic Fury” on Feb28 this year, while negotiators were in session:

1. Rise of oil and gas price in world markets

2. Drop of share prices in stock markets

3. Fracture with NATO*

4. Decline in Republican Party ratings ahead of the midterms congressional elections in November

5. Resurgence of Trump’s friendship with Epstein’s scandals.

6. Firing key US generals in the midst of crisis, culminated by ousting Navy Secretary, John Phelan.

7. Emulating Jesus Christ in a replica image!

8. Personal row with Pope Leo who stands as the most respectful living figure in the Western civilization.*

9. Lebanon and Hezbollah’s connection.*

10. The Strait of Hormuz new strategic entanglement*

None of the above problems or symptoms of problems, except for point 5 and 9, existed before Trump made up his mind to go into war against Iran last year. Even back in 2018 during his first term, Trump shocked the world by tearing up the Iran-nuclear deal approved by Obama’s Administration after being endorsed by the rest of the Western powers. No one expected that Trump would go this far in his second term, except the Prime Minister of Israel!

All things considered, the whole world, minus Israel, was shocked by the magnitude of the bombings to finish Iran’s potentials to own its own nuclear knowhow and capabilities. All of which leaves me wondering if this latest ambiguous ceasefire, and the way it was presented and its timing, will prove to be a real turning point in the ongoing strife in the Middle East, or just another boring maneuvering tactic by Trump!

As for the fate of young aspiring violinist, it was said that after she had discovered that her violin was not authentic but a replica, she decided to become a soprano!