HASSAN NASRALLAH

Oppressed people will always resist. The apartheid Israeli occupation and killing of thousands of Palestinians living in open air prisons since 1967 explains, although it does not justify,the atrocities of October 7. It also explains the militant resistance of Hezbollah which was formed to resist apartheid Israel’s war on Lebanon and occupation of southern Lebanon for eighteen years until expelled in 2000. The Sabra and Shatila massacres of hundreds of Palestinians by Christians militias, protected by the Israeli army, destruction of Beirut, and killing of thousands of Lebanese, were the product of apartheid Israel’s war on Lebanon and the Palestinians. It is the ominous threat of apartheid Israel that has sustained Hezbollah as a force to defend Lebanon. 

All leaders of oppressed people are in the gunsights of the oppressor, and this they know. Hassan Nasrallah is not the first and will not be the last leader assassinated by the apartheid state of Israel. His predecessor was assassinated, also by an Israeli airstrike in 1992. Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of Hamas,was assassinated in July. A few months before, his three sons and their small children, not known to be Hamas members, were assassinated in Gaza. The founder of Hamas, Sheikh Yasin, a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair, was assassinated in 2004. Dozens of other leaders and officials have been assassinated in apartheid Israel’s decades long policy of assassination of Palestinian and Iranian officials. Those who resist apartheid Israeli oppression know what to expect and are no doubt prepared for it. This has not dimmed the resistance of the Palestinians or of Hezbollah.

King Hussein speech last week at the UN General Assembly is worthy of note. As one of the most moderate of Arab leaders, hesaid that “for years the Arab world have extended a hand to Israel through the Arab peace initiative offering recognition and normalization in exchange for peace, but consecutive Israeli governments emboldened by years of impunity have rejected peace and chosen confrontation instead. Impunity gathers force. Left unchecked, it gains momentum. Palestinians have borne more than fifty years occupation and oppression. During this time the Israeli government has been allowed to cross one red line after another. But now Israel’s decades long impunity is becoming its own worst enemy and the consequences are everywhere.” One consequence is the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah and the impending destruction of Beirut and killing of thousands which the US will not lift a finger to stop apart from allowing itself to be led by the nose by Prime Minister Netanyahu, who promises a cease fire and as soon as his rightwing objects, withdraws it. The US apparently has an infinite capacity to absorb embarrassment by Netanyahu.

According to Netanyahu, the main enemy is Iran whose proxies are Hamas, Hezbollah, militias in Iraq and Syria and the Houthis. Netanyahu said that Iran’s first objective is the conquest of the Middle East and implied that after that, it will conquer the rest of the world. The theory that Iran’s objective is world domination is one of the newest and most ludicrous propositions to have now emerged. What about the view that Iran considers the US to be an existential threat to its existence as an independent nation and believes that its surrogate, apartheid Israel, armed with nuclear weapons, will do everything it can to harm it as a country or to damage its independence? And what about the view that the various groups, even though they have their own internal challenges and are fighting severely oppressive regimes in or nearby, are groups that can engage and divert apartheid Israel if it attacks Iran? It may or may not have escaped apartheid Israel that Hamas and Hezbollah are not engaged in activities on behalf of Iran but are fighting their own battles. The view propounded by apartheid Israel is that these groups along with Iran are now, or soon will be, on a mission to defeat or degrade Israel militarily. Apartheid Israel sees Iran, not as a country interested in or capable of world domination, but as a power that is capable of eventually challenging its economic and military supremacy in the Arab world in the future and wishes to destroy such possibility. It assumes that Iran will use that economic and military capacity to its detriment.

Hassan Nasrallah has overseen the rise of Hezbollah from a small, militant, political and military force into one that now has major military capacity capable of seriously confronting apartheid Israel. He is regarded by some who sympathize with his objective as a bulwark against apartheid Israeli aggression,aa a moderate and intelligent leader who is cautious but courageous. It is argued that he understands the dangers of war with apartheid Israel with its air power and its capacity for destruction and wanton mass killings. He has said that Hezbollah does not want war, only a ceasefire with Gaza. Hezbollah’s military campaign over apartheid Israel’s northern border was carefully calibrated not to incur a war. Even its retaliation against the assassination by apartheid Israel of its military leader was limited. But apartheid Israel has now taken off the gloves. We shall have to await Hezbollah’s response to determine whether caution would still prevail in these dire circumstances.