July 31, 2024 (EIRNS)—On early Wednesday morning, July 31, Israel assassinated the political chief of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, during his visit to Tehran for the inauguration of the new Iranian President. Not only was he one of the top leaders of the Hamas government, but Haniyeh was the top official involved in the negotiations for a potential ceasefire and hostage deal with Israel, therefore all but guaranteeing that a diplomatic resolution in Gaza will be taken off the table. Taken together with the fact that only hours earlier, Israel assassinated a leading Hezbollah commander in a residential neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, it’s clear we are on the cusp of a major war exploding throughout the entire region and beyond.
The response so far from the U.S. has been appalling. During an emergency UN Security Council meeting convened Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Alternative Representative Robert Wood not only said that “Israel has the right to defend itself,” but that “there is still time and space for a diplomatic solution” so long as the world takes additional measures against Iran! To any honest observer, the current path being taken by Israel and with the blessing of the United States is a guaranteed path to full-blown war.
This rapid escalation prompts a number of relevant questions. First, did the United States know about either of the two attacks ahead of time? And was it involved in any way? Conspicuously, these two strikes took place only days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington and received Pavlovian responses from most of the U.S. Congress that they “stand with Israel.” It would seem this visit was timed perfectly to get the support of the U.S. for an expected escalation in the near future—without which Israel would likely not survive. And secondly, what will the U.S. do now? As it becomes clear that we are on the verge of a major war, will the U.S. exercise its control over Israel, or will it cheer on a war that could quickly spread throughout the region and ignite a global nuclear showdown?
The truth is, we’ve entered the period of end-game. The Anglo-American project of using Ukraine to either destroy Russia or discredit it on the world stage has backfired, with new admissions by the day that Ukraine can not win the war and should shift toward negotiations. Meanwhile the internal strife within the so-called “collective West” is spreading as in particular European economies creak under the weight of sanctions, vast increases of militarization, and decades of deindustrialization. On top of this, despite all the talk of stopping “Russian disinformation” and other CIA-MI6 psychological warfare campaigns, the Western narratives have failed to garner the support of most of the world, and many nations have actually gone in the opposite direction—repulsed by the overt hypocrisy and degeneracy which is so dominant in the West.
In light of this, and of the impending collapse of the trans-Atlantic financial system which is lurking in the background, Western geopoliticians are doing the last thing they know how—create massive chaos. Hence the stirring up of new tensions around Taiwan and China; hence the bombastic attempts to spark an overthrow of the Venezuelan government and send Ibero-America into chaos; and hence the green light to Israel’s launching headlong into a massive war throughout Southwest Asia. The recent attacks on the Presidency in the United States—against both Donald Trump and Joe Biden—should be considered from this standpoint as well.
In her weekly dialogue today, Helga Zepp-LaRouche responded to the events in Southwest Asia over the past 24 hours with the following:
“I think we are on the verge of not only a regional war: One step more, and it becomes a regional war involving Lebanon, involving Israel and possibly even Iran. And then the question is if the United States backs Isr ael all the way, then obviously Iran—which has strengthened its relationships with Russia and China in the recent period very much—that we could be in a few moments, in the blink of an eye, we could be on the verge of a global nuclear war.
“And this is so absolutely disgusting, I think the only thing that can be done which would be efficient, would be that the United States changes that attitude, and basically tells Israel to stop. Nothing else will function.
“So I think this is terrible, and it’s one step more showing the utter contempt of the Western system, if you like, or the collective West, or U.S.-NATO, that whole alliance—utter disrespect for legality, utter disrespect for anything.”
Now more than ever, this moment calls for a “Council of Reason,” where leaders from various nations and walks of life come forward and appeal to those Western governments that a new path must be taken. As we look into the jaws of all-out war, made possible by an increasing array of retaliatory attacks, simply asking the question of “who started it” is entirely insufficient. Under the current conditions, no solution will ever be found by seeking to assign blame. Only a solution on a higher platform, such as the 1648 Westphalian principle of the “benefit of the other,” can stop this, and provide a pathway for the potentially-immortal species of mankind to survive.
