US President Donald Trump is often perceived as a bully who attempts to go after leaders of states who rule in a dictatorial manner. In the instance of stopping the active war that Israel has engaged Iran in, however, it must be recognised that the American president has been successful in sparing the world from a potential holocaust.
His bombing of the nuclear facilities of Iran has had the double effect of getting the leaders of the two countries to agree to a ceasefire, and to serve, if only temporarily, the West’s objective of preventing Iran from allegedly attempting to develop nuclear weapons.
With active and inhumane wars going on between Russia and Ukraine and the genocidal onslaught continuing in Palestine, which has the real possibility of inflaming the tinderbox that often well describes the Middle East,
President Trump must be credited for getting the leaders of the two countries to agree that “enough is enough” in the present circumstances.
Notwithstanding that acknowledgement, the original statement by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the volatile leader always seeking to control the Arab-Islamic world with his country’s superior war machine, that there were outstanding objectives of the war to be achieved is cause for serious concern.
On the other hand, Iran’s reported movement of large quantities of its nuclear apparatus before the bombing, means the country’s leaders have no intention of divesting themselves of the advances in nuclear technology so far achieved.
The latter continues to be important and puts to rest the American President’s boast that Iran’s nuclear capacity has been completely “obliterated.” Contradictorily, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi is quoted as saying reports are that much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium survived Israeli and US attacks because it may have been moved by Tehran soon after the first strikes.
So, while President Trump’s intervention has brought a well-needed end to the killings, the volatile nature of the 70-year-old conflict, the objective of Israel being to remain in control, and the determination by a number of Arab-Islamic states to resist domination, continue to be live issues which can impact on the arrived-at peace.
Unfortunately, with the attention on the above-stated matters, focus on the continuing slaughter of hundreds of women, children and non-combatant male Palestinians by the Israel Defence Force seems to have gone out of sight.
Regarding the US President’s claim of wanting to end and prevent wars, the war in Gaza and the West Bank is the one most in need of an immediate end. If not, it will be easy for the conclusion to be drawn that it’s only those wars which interfere directly with American interests that are considered a priority.
The time is also long past for the International Court of Justice to make a definitive ruling on the South African claim that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. The reputation of the international justice system is at stake. If that is compromised, where else can countries go for justice from here?
