How Trump’s Eternal Peace Plan for the Middle East is going

Haaretz headline, Dec. 1: (1)

Zvi Bar’el reports:

Israel's military actions in the past several days raise questions about its true intentions in Lebanon and Syria. They all ostensibly seek to demonstrate determination to remove threats to Israel's security.

The moves include the assassination of Hezbollah chief-of-staff Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the daily strikes against so-called targets in Lebanon, preparations for a ground campaign and the arrest of Syrian activists on the Syrian Golan Heights, which escalated into a real battle. But anyone who tries to reduce the incidents into their basic components will struggle to find a consistent policy or orderly strategy. The throughline points to one dangerous goal – keeping Israel in a permanent reality of war that serves the political wishes of the government and its leader. [my emphasis]/>

He goes on to explain that the Lebanese government of “President Joseph Aoun insisted on a basic historic principle of consolidating all arms under the government's exclusive control.” Which means he is trying to get the Hezbollah militias to surrender their arms.

On its face, there’s nothing unusual in a government insisting that it has a legal “monopoly on violence” in its own territory. “Max Weber claimed that the ‘monopoly of the use of legitimate violence’ is the decisive criterion that distinguishes the modern state from all others.” (2)

But the Shi’s group Hezbollah has a long history now of maintaining its own militia. And Iran has seen it as a close ally.

And, of course, Benjamin Netanyahu continues to pursue his White Whale, Iran:

Roughly six months after Operation Rising Lion against Iran, a senior European diplomat warned Monday that Israel is likely to carry out a military strike on Iran within the next 12 months. …

[The official] emphasized that Israel should also engage diplomatically. “Smart politics would mean giving the Lebanese something—some signal that Israel’s footprint will be reduced if they do what they’re supposed to. There has to be more than just military action. Everyone needs to ask how we can help Lebanon—its government and army—do what’s needed and ensure Hezbollah doesn’t regain strength. I hear Iran hasn’t stopped supplying them with weapons.”

The envoy also voiced concern over the situation in the West Bank, pointing to a rise in nationalist violence and Israeli government moves to expand settlement construction. (3)

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, onetime feminist icon, now ridicules criticism of Israel’s government for committing genocide, just after 11:30 in this video: (4)

Owen Jones recently summarized Hillary’s grimly hawkish foreign policy record: “Young Jewish Americans are turning on Israel because they are ignorant of history and being brainwashed by TikTok, according to Hillary Clinton.” (5)

Hillary Clinton, a vocal supporter of the Iraq war, is here claiming that gullible young people are taking foreign policy stances based on bogus information.

Some might argue that if you were a US politician who voted to support the biggest Western foreign policy catastrophe of our time, which plunged Iraq into blood and chaos, as well as killing and maiming thousands of young American soldiers, you should just grovel for forgiveness before disappearing forever in disgrace - let alone stop commenting on foreign policy issues.

At the time, Hillary Clinton, who clearly sees herself as a towering figure when it comes to US foreign policy, was a Senator, and in her speech in support of granting authorisation to George W Bush to invade Iraq, she said: “I believe the facts that have brought us to this fateful vote are not in doubt.” [my emphasis]

Notes:

1) Bar’el, Zvi (2025): Instead of Seeking Deals, Israel Prefers Keeping Syrian and Lebanese Fronts Hot. Haaretz 12/01/2025. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-12-01/ty-article/.premium/instead-of-seeking-deals-israel-prefers-keeping-syrian-and-lebanese-fronts-hot/0000019a-d985-df9e-ab9e-ffeffec10000?gift=f67be60cf0f2490a81d51d1fcb2d4be2> (Accessed: 2025-01-12).