Middle East Press on: Israel, Volunteer, Spirit, Saudi, Palestinian: New Age Islam's Selection, 14 January 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
14 January 2025
Breaking The Bystander Effect: Lessons From Israel’s Volunteer Spirit
How The Israeli System Actually Works (Or Fails) May Surprise You
Saudi Perspective: The Palestinian Issue Cannot Be Pushed Aside
The Gaza Genocide: The Fall Of Israel’s Immunity
Israel Should Make The Ceasefire With Lebanon Permanent
The Price Of Impunity In Gaza
Aoun ... A President To Reclaim Lebanon
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Breaking The Bystander Effect: Lessons From Israel’s Volunteer Spirit - Opinion
By Micah Halpern
January 14, 2025
Bystanders. The bane of any healthy society. Bystanders. People who, while others are in need, remain on the sidelines. Bystanders, those who watch, often with apathy. Bystanders. Those who do nothing to offer help.
Almost always, those who are bystanders fear that if they were to get involved, something might happen to them. They fear that because of their involvement, they might even get sued or prosecuted. They fight the natural urge to help others in distress.
It is that fear that explains why, for many years, doctors recused themselves from helping strangers and from saving lives when they were out of their offices and hospitals – when they were not robed in their white coats. That fear of springing into action was ultimately what brought about the initiation of the Good Samaritan laws in the US. These laws protect doctors who help others in need by removing the fear of being sued for malpractice.
Bystanders think of themselves and not of the overall good of society. Their inaction is contagious, and it poisons society.
Often, a society slowly converts from active, engaged participants into a society of bystanders. It has to do with complacency and concern only for themselves. It coincides with a weakening of national pride.
Rather than act, rather than being proactive, bystanders let others do the hard work of running society. They want others to do the work of building a society that they can then enjoy. Bystanders do not become public personalities, neither are they volunteers. In their eyes, volunteers are suckers doing work for free and gaining no benefit.
Once a bystander does not mean always a bystander, however. People can change and bystanders can move up and become engaged members of their society. But sometimes, the reverse happens. Sometimes, a once actively engaged person becomes disillusioned and becomes a member of the bystander crowd.
Volunteers flock to help
IN ISRAEL, the tragedy of October 7 forced many bystanders into the sphere of engaged volunteers helping the many who needed support. Out of the horrors of October 7, wonderous societal changes emerged. Committed city folk flocked to help out in rural communities. Remarkable art, music, drama and poetry emerged.
What was happening in Israel caught on with American Jewry, many of whom flocked to Israel to do something, anything, that needed to be done. And they returned home inspired not by what they had done, but with the way Israel and Israelis were coping.
The national unspoken message was “get involved and do something!” That spirit of volunteerism should be a model not just for Jews the world over, but for the whole world.
In the US, there is a strong tradition of volunteerism, certainly within the Jewish community. Without the American Jewish women of Hadassah, led by the inimitable Henriette Szold who galvanized hordes of volunteers, Israel’s medical community would be a different place. It was Hadassah ladies, as they were called, who raised much of the money needed to create hospitals in Israel. It is hard to imagine how long it would have taken to establish those institutions without the volunteerism of Hadassah.
Fast forward to today. Despite that great history, nowadays the tone in the United States has weakened the spirit of volunteerism and few are willing to take the responsibility that comes with standing up and getting involved.
Trial of David Penny
THE TRIAL of Daniel Penny is a perfect example. On May 1, 2023, a homeless man named Jordan Neely boarded the Second Avenue subway in New York City. He threatened his fellow riders. They became frightened. Penny, an ex-marine, stepped in to protect those riding that subway car by placing Neely in a choke hold. Neely died.
Daniel Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and negligent homicide. With a deadlocked jury, the prosecution dropped the manslaughter charge. In the end, the jury found Penny not guilty of the second charge of negligent homicide.
Penny was a free man. But despite the jury’s decision, the message that was sent out to New Yorkers was be a bystander. Don’t get involved. That is a very dangerous and damaging message. A nation wants people to get involved – wants them to protect their country not only when they are in the military but to protect the nation in everyday life; to protect the character of their nation.
Nazi Europe
In Nazi-occupied Europe during the Holocaust, the citizens fell into three groups. One group, a relatively small one, collaborated with the Nazis. Another relatively small group rebelled and fought the Nazis. The vast majority of the people were simply bystanders.
The masses were afraid to stand up against the Nazis. They knew that they could be killed – not just them, but also their families. They were scared and they remained silent because they knew that Nazis practiced collective punishment, holding people responsible for actions taken by others.
During this awful period of history, most people just stood by and watched. There is a famous scene in Claude Lanzmann’s epic documentary Shoah in which a local Pole was asked what he did to help save Jews. The local recalled seeing cattle cars stuffed with Jews, he recalled seeing Jews trying to see through the tiny slat of the train and grab a breath of fresh air. This Pole recalled that when the trains stopped, he passed his hand across his neck as if to say he was warning them. Warning them that they were to be slaughtered.
It doesn’t take a hero to stand up and help others. Sometimes that comes in the form of monetary donations, sometimes it comes by donating time and even advice. All it takes is compassion and consideration for others. Just like Israelis are doing.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837338
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How The Israeli System Actually Works (Or Fails) May Surprise You
By Daniel Pomerantz
January 14, 2025
Israel’s judicial reform debate, which tore the country apart throughout 2023, had seemed a distant memory after October 7. Yet Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar presented a proposal last Thursday that focuses on judicial selection and Basic Laws.
To truly understand what’s happening, one must first understand how the Israeli system works (or fails to), how it compares with (and differs from) the American system, and what it all means for Israel’s future as a country.
In Israel, a Basic Law is the highest form of legislation, essentially the equivalent of an American constitutional amendment. However, there is a major difference: A Basic Law can pass with only a simple majority of the Knesset (parliament), while an American constitutional amendment requires supermajority approval of 75% of the 50 state legislatures.
In other words, the basic framework of American society is difficult to change, and Congress can pass only laws that do not conflict with the Constitution. However, the Knesset can change the very framework of Israeli society relatively easily, via a simple majority vote.
In theory, any coalition that runs the government can entirely overhaul the very fabric of Israeli society, including changes to fundamental individual rights. In reality, this is not the case, due to the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review: the authority to strike down laws that violate the nature of Israeli society.
In the United States, a violating law would be called “unconstitutional,” yet Israel does not have a constitution, making the Israeli system subtly but critically different.
The court has, over the years, accumulated a somewhat unstructured power to strike down laws passed by the Knesset. The current governing coalition objects to the Supreme Court’s “reasonableness” power: the authority to strike down laws on the basis that the court deems them “extremely unreasonable.”
The coalition sees this as “excessive” power, but the Knesset also has an excessive power: its ability to overrule Israel’s Basic Laws with a simple majority vote. These two excessive powers more or less balanced each other over the years, albeit somewhat chaotically.
Real-life examples
TO PROPERLY understand, it helps to examine real-life examples. Some bills introduced to Knesset in 2022-2023 included: a law to segregate women to the back of public buses, a law to separate men and women at public events, and a law to criminalize non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall, punishable by six months imprisonment for a first offense. A bill designed to segregate women in public higher education is currently on its way to becoming law.
All of these bills violate Israel’s Basic Laws, specifically the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty, providing a clear basis for the Supreme Court to strike them down. Anticipating this challenge, the Knesset had planned to turn these bills into Basic Laws themselves, making them the equivalent of constitutional amendments, and thus overruling any other Basic Laws that they may violate.
In such a scenario, the only tool remaining to the Supreme Court would be the “reasonableness power”: to strike down these new Basic Laws on the basis that they are “extremely unreasonable.”
In response to this stalemate, in 2023 the coalition passed a law stripping the Supreme Court of its power to strike down laws based on “extreme unreasonableness.” In January of 2024, however, the Supreme Court struck down that law, thus preserving its own power.
This is why the new judicial reform proposal is focused on judicial selection.
The judicial selection process is complex, involving input by judges, the Israel Bar Association, and Knesset. The new proposal would increase the Knesset’s role and reduce the influence of judges.
The Knesset’s direction appears to be: to appoint judges who are sympathetic to the judicial reform plan, then pass a Basic Law ending the reasonableness power (which would presumably be approved by the new judges), and then finally, to pass the various dramatic laws referenced above, as well as others.
As long as new laws are defined as Basic Laws (which can be done with a simple majority in Knesset), it would become impossible for the court to strike them down. In fact, the Knesset could theoretically define every new law as a Basic Law and thus effectively end the entire institution of judicial review in Israel.
PART OF the reason a new judicial reform bill has not yet been introduced is because the ultra-Orthodox political parties are insisting that the Knesset first pass a new law enshrining the exemption of ultra-Orthodox communities from military service. This is another topic that requires some context.
The ultra-Orthodox military exemption has long been a point of contention in Israel, with proponents insisting that full-time yeshiva preserves Israel’s Jewish character, while opponents object that it places an unfair burden of service on non-Orthodox communities. (Some proponents even insist that the IDF does not actually protect Israel at all, but rather yeshiva students do – by attracting divine protection that Israel would not otherwise receive.)
After October 7, the enlistment debate intensified due to its real-world impact. Specifically, the exemptions have begun to create a real security risk as the IDF simply does not have enough soldiers.
Also, reserve duty used to be typically a few weeks per year at most, but now many reservists are serving 200 to 300 days and counting, creating a burden on their families, communities, and careers.
Israel’s active duty forces number only about 165,000, and reserves only about 465,000, while ultra-Orthodox eligible to serve number about 60,000: a significant potential addition to the total IDF forces.
This issue became even more prominent in June 2024, when the Supreme Court ruled that religious exemptions from military service violate Israel’s Basic Laws. The ruling has not yet been fully enforced, but initial recruitment has begun, and the ultra-Orthodox political parties are concerned that full enforcement may be forthcoming.
n March 2023, President Isaac Herzog presented a compromise proposal for judicial reform: to limit certain Supreme Court powers, and also limit the Knesset’s ability to pass Basic Laws without a supermajority, thus maintaining a balance of powers. However, the major players in Knesset rejected the proposal at the time, and it has more or less disappeared from public conversation.
Israel needs a reform that will strengthen our society while also maintaining balance of powers: by modifying and codifying not only the Supreme Court’s powers but also certain aspects of the Knesset’s powers.
This direction would bring about a more organized system of checks and balances that would serve Israel for generations to come. However, that particular direction isn’t part of the public conversation at this time.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837333
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Saudi Perspective: The Palestinian Issue Cannot Be Pushed Aside
By Abd Al-Aziz Al-Ghashian
January 14, 2025
I heard that Israeli media has been debating about the Saudi position regarding the way to end the war and move forward, and its obligation to the Palestinian issue. It seems that Saudi Arabia’s position is ambiguous to you. The Saudi kingdom is not easy to understand. It is not just a state but an idea, comprised of religious, tribal, and Arab identities that intersect with threat perceptions, existential strategic interests, and dynamic pragmatism.
While the nature of Saudi Arabia is inherently challenging to comprehend, no one bears greater responsibility for your misunderstanding of it than your own prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. If you really want to understand Saudi Arabia’s position both with regard to normalization with Israel and on the Palestinian issue, then the best place to start is by examining Saudi discourse.
As a Saudi researcher of Saudi policy toward Israel, I have confronted the complexities of Israel. The complexities of a people – and its discourses – must always be respected.
This courtesy is something Netanyahu has not extended to the Saudi kingdom. Your political leadership has misled you by oversimplifying Saudi Arabia and its people – their logic, their beliefs, and their discourses.
Therefore, I want to make use of the opportunity to communicate with you, the Israeli people, directly as a Saudi who genuinely seeks peace.
I would like to dispel two key exaggerations that your country’s current political leadership has promoted.
The Iranian issue
The first has to do with the Iranian issue. Netanyahu has been promoting the idea that Saudi-Israeli normalization is the logical outcome of the shared Iranian threat. This idea is inaccurate to say the least. Netanyahu proposes that a major regional confrontation with Iran would lead the Saudi kingdom to move away from its traditional position, to set aside its grievances with Israel regarding the Palestinian issue, and to base normalization on a logic of mutual enmity. This is too simplistic, and the Saudi ruling elite thinks in a far more nuanced way than that.
It is true that the Saudis still view Iran as its primary security concern. Equally true, however, is that both Saudi Arabia and Israel fundamentally differ in how they strategically address that concern. While the Saudis have concluded that working with Iran is the best way to address its security grievances, Netanyahu’s robust approach is something the Saudis wish to avoid.
What we Saudis truly fear is a region embroiled in conflict. Saudi anxiety over regional turbulence stems from our concern about the restructuring of our economy, which we consider an existential issue, and we know we cannot achieve our ambitious economic goals in a turbulent region.
What the Saudi ruling elite fears most is the radicalization that is almost certain to arise from this ongoing war.
The images of death, destruction, and the loss of innocent Palestinian and Israeli lives are painful for all. Some members of the Israeli government talk of resettling Gaza and annexing more territory in the West Bank. This is not only repugnant to us but has two additional effects: It increases the sense of grievance toward Israel and the potential for further extremism in the region.
This leads to the second issue that Netanyahu has misled you on – the notion that the Saudis do not care about the Palestinian issue. Your government has misled you, the Israeli people, into believing that Saudis will willingly abandon their historical stance and normalize relations with Israel regardless of the Palestinian issue, which is now an inescapable reality.
Within Saudi Arabia, there is a sense of solidarity that perhaps has not been seen since the Second Intifada. What you will not see are pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli demonstrations taking to the streets of the kingdom, as that is not part of Saudi culture.
But I urge you not to measure the gravity of Saudi support by the absence of such demonstrations, which is about the fear of extremists trying to instrumentalize this pain. In that sense, I also want to communicate to you that October 7 was a barbaric atrocity that took the lives of innocent people. Too much innocent blood has been spilled in this conflict.
The Saudi-Palestinian relationship is not devoid of tensions. However, the reality is that sporadic tensions are part and parcel of deep, longstanding relations. I would suggest you avoid the perception that instances of tension with the Palestinians are signs of imminent Saudi-Israeli normalization.
Moving forward
How do we proceed? Our people have many interests in common, but there is nothing we share more, unfortunately, than the blood of our respective brethren spilled and mutual pain. We must empathize with each other and keep our eyes on the horizon of the necessary peace that will benefit us all.
There might be many possible points of departure, but I will present one: an Arab-Israeli “mid-level dialogue,” between analysts, think tanks, journalists, and academics with the aim of fostering healthier and more constructive Arab-Israeli discourse.
A discourse that speaks to the other, and not over or about the other. Mid-level Arab-Israeli discourse should be forward-thinking, presenting new, creative proposals that address the need for peace, while incentivizing political actors to remain invested in the process.
I know that there are people in Israel who desire real peace. We are ready to engage, but you need to help us by ensuring we jointly aim at solving this issue from its roots. Otherwise, and allow me to use a notion from the book From Mistress to Known Partner: Israel’s Secret Relations with States and Minorities in the Middle East, 1948-2020 by Elie Podeh: Israel and Israelis will once again become nothing more than the mistress of the region.
The Abraham Accords are indeed a milestone in Arab-Israeli relations. However, history has shown that even mistresses out in the open are still viewed as illegitimate and unacceptable. This can be seen in a range of polls from Abraham Accords countries, which indicate the lack of support by many for relations with Israel.
It is time we enter a process in which Israel moves from being considered a “mistress” into an open and legitimate partner for peace – and that can only happen through a two-state solution.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837324
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The Gaza Genocide: The Fall Of Israel’s Immunity
By Dr Ramzy Baroud
January 13, 2025
A dramatic escape was cited by Israeli media as the reason that Yuval Vagdani, a soldier in the Israeli army, managed to escape justice in Brazil.
Vagdani was accused by a Palestinian advocacy legal group, the Hind Rajab Foundation, of carrying out well-documented crimes in Gaza. He is not the only Israeli soldier being pursued for similar crimes.
According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), more than 50 Israeli soldiers are being pursued in countries ranging from South Africa to Sri Lanka to Sweden.
In one case, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint in a Swedish court against Boaz Ben David, an Israeli sniper from the 932 Battalion of the Israeli Nahal Brigade. He is also accused of committing war crimes in Gaza.
The Nahal Brigade has been at the heart of numerous war crimes in Gaza. Established in 1982, the brigade is notorious for its unhinged violence against Occupied Palestinians. Their role in the latest genocidal atrocities in the Strip has far exceeded their own dark legacy.
Even if these 50 individuals are apprehended and sentenced, the price exacted from the Israeli army pales in comparison to the crimes carried out.
Numbers, though helpful, are rarely enough to convey collective pain. The medical journal Lancet’s latest report is still worthy of reflection. Using a new data-collecting method called ‘capture–recapture analysis’, the report indicates that, by the first nine months of the war, between October 2023 and June 2024, 64,260 Palestinians have been killed.
Still, capturing and trying Israeli war criminals is not just about the fate of these individuals. It is about accountability—an absent term in the history of Israeli human rights violations, war crimes and recurring genocides against Palestinians.
The Israeli government understands that the issue now goes beyond individuals. It is about the loss of Israel’s historic status as a country that stands above the law.
As a result, the Israeli army announced that it decided not to publicly reveal the names of soldiers involved in the Gaza war and genocide, fearing prosecution in international courts.
However, this step is unlikely to make much difference for two reasons. First, numerous pieces of evidence against individual soldiers, whose identities are publicly known, have already been gathered or are available for future investigation. Second, much of the documentation of war crimes has been unwittingly produced by Israeli soldiers themselves.
Reassured about the lack of accountability, Israeli soldiers have taken countless pieces of footage showing the abuse and torture of Palestinians in Gaza. This self-indictment will likely serve as a major body of evidence in future trials.
All of this cannot be viewed separately from the ongoing investigation into the Israeli genocide in Gaza by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Additionally, arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Though these cases have moved slowly, they have set a precedent that even Israel is not immune to some measure of international accountability and justice.
Moreover, these cases have granted countries that are signatories to the ICC and ICJ the authority to investigate individual war crimes cases filed by human rights and legal advocacy groups.
Though the Hind Rajab Foundation is not the only group pursuing Israeli war criminals globally, the group’s name derives from a five-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza who was murdered by the Israeli army in January 2024, along with her family. This tragedy and that particular name are a reminder that the innocent blood of Palestinians will not go in vain.
Though justice may be delayed, as long as there are pursuers, it will someday be attained.
Pursuing alleged Israeli war criminals in international and national courts is just the start of a process of accountability that will last many years. With every case, Israel will learn that the decades-long US vetoes and blind Western protection and support will no longer suffice.
It was the West’s shameless shielding of Israel throughout the years that allowed Israeli leaders to behave as they saw fit for Israel’s so-called national security—even if it meant the very extermination of the Palestinian people, as is the case today in Gaza.
Still, Western governments, including the US and Britain, continue to treat wanted Israelis as sanctified heroes—not war criminals. This goes beyond accusations of double standards. It is the highest immorality and disregard for international law.
Things need to change; in fact, they are already changing.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, Tel Aviv has already learned many difficult lessons. For example, its army is no longer “invincible”, its economy is relatively small and highly dependent, and its political system is fragile. In times of crisis, it is barely operable.
It is time for Israel to learn yet another lesson: that the age of accountability has begun. Dancing around the corpses of dead Palestinians in Gaza is no longer an amusing social media post, as Israeli soldiers once thought.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250113-the-gaza-genocide-the-fall-of-israels-immunity/
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Israel Should Make The Ceasefire With Lebanon Permanent
By Ehud Eiran, Nimrod Goren, Michael Harari
January 14, 2025
The election of the Christian Commander of the Lebanese Army, Joseph Aoun, as Lebanese president is an important milestone for Lebanon and a positive geopolitical development for Israel. It highlights the need to transform the ceasefire on Israel’s northern border into a permanent arrangement.
Lebanon now has a leader after over two years of failed attempts to elect a president. Aoun is backed by the international bloc opposing Iran (primarily the United States, Saudi Arabia, and France) and comes from the military establishment responsible for upholding the ceasefire with Israel. This is promising news – but realizing its potential depends also on Israel’s actions.
In the past year, Israel heavily struck Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel’s use of force during the summer and fall of 2024 – assisted by US mediation efforts – led the terror organization to agree in November to a 60-day ceasefire, relinquishing its commitment to continue fighting as long as Israel fought Hamas in Gaza. The weakening of Hezbollah also paved the way for the Syrian opposition’s successful campaign to overthrow the Assad regime in Damascus, an ally of Hezbollah and Iran.
The ceasefire with Hezbollah is one of the few diplomatic achievements that Israel has managed to secure since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attack, and it bears significant importance.
Since the ceasefire began, rocket fire on northern Israeli communities has almost entirely ceased. Although many northern residents still do not feel secure enough to return home, public opinion surveys indicate that most Israelis support the ceasefire, support which is echoed by regional states and Israel’s Western allies.
Israel’s interest should be in making permanent this temporary lull in fighting and seizing the opportunities it presents – the weakening of Hezbollah within Lebanon’s internal politics and the gradual reshaping of Israel-Lebanon relations.
Doubts about the future
However, as the 60-day ceasefire period draws to a close, doubts are growing about Israel’s commitment to the agreements reached and to ending the fighting on the northern front. To achieve this, Israel must act wisely on both military and diplomatic fronts to best serve its long-term strategic goals.
Although Hezbollah has been defeated (in this round) by Israel, while weakened domestically, it has not been defeated in that arena and is working hard to maintain its assets and status. Hezbollah is an authentic representative of significant portions of the Lebanese population – as reflected in its representation and influence in Lebanon’s parliament. A survey published by an American think tank in early 2024 revealed that 93% of Lebanon’s Shiite population – about a quarter of the country’s inhabitants – held a positive view of Hezbollah at the time.
On the other hand, ahead of the recent presidential election, Hezbollah’s preferred candidate withdrew from the race to avoid a possible defeat, which would have signaled the group’s weakening.
Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon see an opportunity to shift the balance of power and have successfully worked to elect a new president since the ceasefire began, viewing it as a chance to establish new leadership in Lebanon that opposes Hezbollah and aligns with the West and moderate Arab states.
Despite its military strength, Israel has limited influence over Lebanon’s internal politics and should avoid actions that portray it as attempting to dictate processes or appoint leaders there – much as in the 1980s.
Nevertheless, Israel’s actions do create a context that impacts Lebanon’s internal developments. In the past, Hezbollah gained support beyond Lebanon’s Shiite community by presenting itself as a defender of Lebanese sovereignty against a powerful Israel. Now, Israel should use its military power cautiously to avoid reigniting dwindling public support for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel should reduce its military footprint in Lebanon, including reported drone flights over Beirut. Israel should also make a special effort not to hit Lebanese army soldiers.
Formal apologies for any such hits, as Israel made in early December, are important signals to the Lebanese public.
According to the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese army is supposed to play a key role in replacing Hezbollah, and Israel has an interest in empowering it. On a tactical level, continued IDF strikes on the Lebanese army would likely diminish its willingness to confront Hezbollah. Strategically, such actions could undermine Joseph Aoun’s position as he transitions from army chief to president.
In Lebanon, there are complaints about repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire, with reports of over 1,000 such incidents since late November. This creates anger in Lebanon, portrays Israel as a heavy-handed aggressor harming civilians unnecessarily, and hinders the creation of mechanisms to promote shared interests between the two countries. Israel should stop these violations, in accordance with the self-determination clause mentioned in the ceasefire agreement, and cease the destruction of villages it has occupied in southern Lebanon. Israel’s current actions risk fueling support for Hezbollah and generating hostility among moderate factions in Lebanon, who could be crucial interlocutors in future efforts to demarcate the land border and redefine relations between the two countries.
Israel must learn from the experience of the First Lebanon War in 1982. Its swift military achievements then were gradually eroded when they were met with Lebanon’s complicated internal situation.
The Palestinian armed forces were exiled to Tunisia but were then replaced by an even stronger force, Hezbollah, which has become a strategic problem for Israel, partly due to its ties with Iran. We must not be blinded by Israel’s recent short-term military success. Lebanon is a complex and difficult country to influence, but the outcomes of the war have already sparked internal processes there that could align with Israel’s interests.
Israel must now avoid causing harm or disrupting Lebanon’s internal processes, express commitment to implementing the ceasefire – including withdrawing the IDF from southern Lebanon – declare its desire for a future peace with the Lebanese state, and invest diplomatically in expanding coordination and channels of communication with Lebanon, with the assistance of international actors such as the UN, the US, France, and Gulf states. This is even more important in light of the dramatic changes occurring in Syria, which are likely to shape the region’s future in the coming years.
Excessive and prolonged use of Israel’s military power against Lebanon could lead to the imminent collapse of the ceasefire, delay the return of northern residents to their homes, cause further harm to IDF soldiers, strengthen Hezbollah, increase hostility toward Israel among moderate elements in Lebanon, and erase Israel’s impressive military achievements.
Israel is now required to act wisely, both diplomatically and militarily, and not let the Lebanese opportunity slip away. The ceasefire must be implemented, preserved, and turned into a permanent arrangement.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-837319
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The Price Of Impunity In Gaza
Dr. Ramzy Baroud
January 13, 2025
A dramatic escape was cited by Israeli media as the way that Yuval Vagdani, a soldier in the Israeli army, managed to escape justice in Brazil. Vagdani was accused by a Palestinian advocacy group, the Hind Rajab Foundation, of carrying out well-documented crimes in Gaza.
He is not the only Israeli soldier being pursued for similar crimes. According to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, more than 50 Israeli soldiers are wanted in countries ranging from South Africa to Sri Lanka and Sweden.
In one case, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint in a Swedish court against Boaz Ben David, an Israeli sniper from the 932 Battalion of the Nahal Brigade. He is also accused of committing war crimes in Gaza.
The Nahal Brigade has been at the heart of numerous war crimes in Gaza. Established in 1982, it is notorious for its unhinged violence against occupied Palestinians. But the brigade’s role in the latest genocidal atrocities in the Strip has far exceeded its dark past.
Even if these 50 or so individuals are apprehended and sentenced, the price exacted on the Israeli army pales in comparison to the crimes it has carried out.
Numbers, though helpful, are rarely enough to convey collective pain. Medical journal The Lancet’s latest report is still worthy of reflection. Using a new data collection method called capture-recapture analysis, the report indicates that, in the first nine months of the war between October 2023 and June 2024, 64,260 Palestinians were killed.
Still, capturing and trying Israeli war criminals is not just about the fate of these individuals. It is about accountability — something that is absent from the history of Israeli human rights violations, war crimes and recurring genocides against Palestinians.
The Israeli government understands that the issue now goes beyond individuals. It is about the loss of Israel’s historic status as a country that stands above the law.
As a result, the Israeli army announced last week that it has decided not to publicly reveal the names of soldiers involved in the Gaza war and genocide, fearing prosecution in international courts.
However, this step is unlikely to make much difference for two reasons. First, numerous pieces of evidence against individual soldiers, whose identities are publicly known, have already been gathered or are available for future investigation. Second, much of the documentation of war crimes has been unwittingly produced by Israeli soldiers themselves.
Reassured about the lack of accountability, Israeli soldiers have posted countless pieces of footage showing the abuse and torture of Palestinians in Gaza. This self-indictment will likely serve as a major body of evidence in future trials.
This cannot be viewed separately from the ongoing investigation into the Israeli genocide in Gaza by the International Court of Justice. Additionally, arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court against top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Though these cases have moved slowly, they have set a precedent that even Israel is not immune to some measure of international accountability and justice.
Moreover, these cases have granted countries that are signatories to these two world courts the authority to investigate individual war crimes cases filed by human rights and legal advocacy groups.
Though the Hind Rajab Foundation is not the only group pursuing Israeli war criminals globally, the group’s name derives from a five-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza who was murdered by the Israeli army in January 2024, along with her family. This tragedy is a reminder that the death of innocent Palestinians will not be in vain.
Though justice may be delayed, as long as there are pursuers, it will someday be attained.
Pursuing alleged Israeli war criminals in international and national courts is just the start of a process of accountability that will last many years. With every case, Israel will learn that the decades of US vetoes and blind Western protection and support will no longer suffice.
It was the West’s shameless shielding of Israel throughout the years that allowed Israeli leaders to behave as they saw fit for Israel’s so-called national security — even if it meant the extermination of the Palestinian people, as is the case today in Gaza.
Still, Western governments, including the US and UK, continue to treat wanted Israelis as sanctified heroes — not war criminals. This goes beyond accusations of double standards. It is the highest immorality and disregard for international law.
Things need to change; in fact, they are already changing.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, Tel Aviv has learned many difficult lessons. For example, its army is no longer “invincible,” its economy is relatively small and highly dependent and its political system is fragile. In times of crisis, it is barely operable.
It is time for Israel to learn yet another lesson: that the age of accountability has begun. Dancing round the corpses of dead Palestinians in Gaza is no longer an amusing social media post, as Israeli soldiers once thought.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2586257
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Aoun ... A President To Reclaim Lebanon
Ghassan Charbel
January 13, 2025
I was at the Damascus residence of Iraqi politician and publisher Fakhri Karim. A visitor, who appeared weighed down with disappointment, arrived. I tried to persuade him to return to journalism after a long break. My friends warned me that he was a difficult person to deal with. But I viewed him as a unique writer and it was an honor for publications to print his works.
Poet Mohammed Al-Maghout smiled at me and said: “You want me to return to writing articles? My pen has grown tired of what I have written. I am weary myself. What do you want me to write about amid this cross-border chaos and destruction we are witnessing?”
Commenting on an interview I had held with Bashar Assad, Al-Maghout smiled again and said: “Be careful. This cub is the son of that lion (Assad is Arabic for lion).” He did not elaborate, but his expression said it all. This regime cannot be reformed. Before leaving, he advised me against “falling into the trap of hope.”
I have recalled Al-Maghout frequently in recent weeks. I recalled him the first time Ahmad Al-Sharaa made his appearance at the Umayyad Mosque square in Damascus to declare the fall of more than half a century of Assad rule. I recalled him again when the rudderless Lebanese republic elected army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun as president, tasking him with the mission of restoring the republic and reviving hope in building the state after decades of ruin.
Lebanon has witnessed a particularly terrible slide toward ruin in recent years. It experienced long years of humiliation and poverty. The more the state grew fragmented, the more the Lebanese people became isolated and orphaned. The Lebanese and non-Lebanese people lost their life savings in the banks amid the financial collapse. Citizens queued in front of banks to beg for a handful of dollars. World news agencies broadcast images of Lebanese people rummaging through garbage in search of anything that would stem their hunger. For the first time in the country’s history, youths threw themselves into the “boats of death” to escape unemployment and hunger.
Aoun feared that the army would fall apart, but his integrity encouraged the friends of Lebanon to aid the military institution and prevent it from collapsing under the weight of poverty and as the state lay in a coma. From his office in Yarze, Aoun took bold decisions. He refused to quell protests against the political elite that caused this chaos. He also prevented the country from sliding into civil war.
The abasement of the Lebanese people became a daily occurrence. The abasement of the constitution became a rule. The parliament and the state were in disarray. The judiciary fell into the hands of those who were undermining it. Lebanon lost its regional and international friends. It lost its role and meaning. It seemed that the Lebanese patient was resisting all treatments that would save it.
With the vacancy in the presidency lasting two years yet again, it seemed that the Lebanese entity was drawing its last breath and that the segments that make up its society no longer shared the same principles and beliefs that would allow them to coexist under the same roof.
Aoun did not lose hope. Throughout the vacuum, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati tried to salvage what he could from the last remaining pieces of the state and delay the imminent collapse. But then the surprises started to happen. Yahya Sinwar launched the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation and Hassan Nasrallah opened the “support front” a day later and everything unraveled after that.
US envoy Amos Hochstein had to stop the Israeli machine of destruction. Lebanon had no choice but to agree to return to UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The Israeli practices after the ceasefire came into effect revealed the extent of the power imbalance. Benjamin Netanyahu had launched a war to change the features of the Middle East and his brutal military machine struck near and far, targeting Iran’s proxies and even Iran itself.
Then the seismic shift happened. Assad got on a plane that flew him to exile and Al-Sharaa took his place in Damascus, while the Iranian influence in the region waned.
The war that had taken place across several maps altered the balances of power in the region. Lebanon found itself confronted with the fallout of the ceasefire and the major change in Syria. It had to find a man who believed in the state, institutions and the state of law, and who had not played a part in the country’s ruin. Aoun’s candidacy started to build up steam.
Several blocs did not want to elect him. They view him as a difficult man to deal with. He is brave and cannot be intimidated. He is honorable and his will cannot be broken with temptations. Wide internal support for him intersected with an Arab and international drive to help Lebanon reclaim its state.
Aoun was elected. His inaugural speech revived the dream of restoring the state. He spoke of unity and equality in a state of law. He spoke of the Taif Accord, positive neutrality and an independent judiciary. He spoke of the state reclaiming all of its rights, including limiting the possession of weapons to its institutions. He spoke of what the vast majority of the Lebanese people dreamed of. The world soon rushed to embrace Lebanon.
It will not be easy to save Lebanon from ruin and it will not be easy to revive the state. It needs internal and external support. It needs a Lebanese awakening that supports integrity and the state of law and that understands the need to take difficult decisions. This is not just a test of the new president but a test of all the Lebanese people and the political powers. Patience will be necessary. The roles that are beyond Lebanon’s capabilities and which led it to ruin need to be abandoned.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2586243
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URl: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/israel-volunteer-spirit-saudi-palestinian/d/134322
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