By Mohamed Harees –

Lukman Harees

The drumbeat of war in the Middle East has started once again. Not in defence of Palestinians after Israel fired over 70,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza, killing over 60,000 people mostly women and children, but in defence of Israel after having waged an aggressive war on Iran. It’s far from a war of two equals. But Israel and its Western allies are doing their best to make us believe otherwise. And the double standards are glaring.

Of all the reactions to 13th June unprovoked Israeli attacks on Iran, the Western leaders was the worst. No one had the balls of steel or the moral capacity to call it what it was: naked aggression against a sovereign state and a member of the UN. The conflict intensified after the psychopath Trump authorised an aerial strike on three of Iran’s nuclear sites. Tehran first responded by launching missiles at Tel Aviv, then targeted US bases in Qatar following the American strikes. On Tuesday morning, Trump announced that Iran and Israel had reached a “ceasefire”. The G7 nations did once again display clear bias and double standards, by continuing to endorse Israel’s “right to defend itself,” even as evidence suggests Israel initiated the recent conflict with Iran which led to mounting civilian casualties.

Israel, without evidence, claimed that its initial strike on Iran was “preventive”, meant to address an immediate, inevitable threat from the Iran’s mission to construct a nuclear bomb. Tel Aviv also suggested that the IAEA report released on June 12, which condemned Iran for material violations of its Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) commitments until the early 2000s, constituted such an emergency. However, the IAEA also seemed to reject that claim, since there was nothing in the report that was not already known to the relevant parties, according to Al Jazeera. It is ridiculous that the West always wants Iran to return to the negotiating table, because as Iranian FM stressed, they did not leave the negotiating table, but have always demanded interaction and negotiations. The fact that these attacks against Iran have happened in the middle of a negotiations process aimed at finding a peaceful diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue makes it all the more morally repugnant and against international norms.

On the contrary, it is comical that IAEA choses to ignore that a rogue regime of Israel, which has US and  EU as its backers, that is not even a member of the NPT and there is no monitoring and inspection of its nuclear arsenals, can do anything and has the authorisation to carry out any aggression and attack on Palestine, Gaza, Yemen and now against Iran. These countries are the targets of these deliberate and reckless actions of Tel Aviv, which is not held accountable by the IAEA. There is little doubt that Israel is capable of striking any part of the Arab world and at Iran with nuclear weapons.  It may even be capable of striking London and Washington. Describing the Middle East as a “cauldron of chronic instability” since Israel’s creation in 1948, Iran’s UN Ambassador said: “This regime must be disarmed of all weapons of mass destruction, placed under international supervision and held fully accountable.”

The Western argument is that it is more realistic to dissuade or prevent states of proliferation concern from crossing the nuclear threshold and further complicating the geometry of nuclear deterrence. So, they say that the focus is on countries like Iran and North Korea, where it is not too late to prevent them from acquiring a nuclear warhead and the capability to fire it against an enemy.

However, to be fair, Iran has never initiated the war, but both the destruction of diplomacy and the initiation of the war were carried out by Israel and the US, which led to the illegitimate aggression of Israel on Iran. The question remains whether Iran is a bigger threat than Israel to world peace and security? History affirms that over the past four decades, Iran has not been involved in any wars save for its war with Iraq during the eighties and substantial amounts of evidence indicate that Iran did not initiate aggression. As for Israel, international organisations have classified it as one of the most aggressive countries and demanded its withdrawal from Palestinian land. Israel continues to defy the international community by rejecting all resolutions related to Palestine. President Carter’s national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, once described the US attitude toward Iran as silly and disturbed; that it pushes Iran outside the negotiation process which in itself constitutes a loss. Brzezinski regarded the Western demand that Iran stop uranium enrichment as a precondition for dialogue as being neither understandable nor justified.

In this context, the aggressive war launched by Israel against Iran constitutes a serious violation of the UN Charter and international law. Besides, these attacks as unprecedented actions that undermine the principles of the non-proliferation regime and the legal protection that should be afforded to non-nuclear states from such aggression. US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and questions surrounding their legality, also pose a longer-term risk as the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte clearly stating that US strikes did not violate international laws, and that NATO has long opposed Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Evidence shows that Israeli interests were indeed the real motive behind the Western conflict with Iran regarding its nuclear aspirations. Iran has always wanted and appreciated its relations with the West based on mutual respect; trade between Europe and Iran reflects strong affiliations and shared interest. Nevertheless, due to the status of Israel in Europe, the Iran’s policy Israel appears to be at the crux of tensions between Iran and Western countries.

Jonathan Cook, author of “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations”, argues that at the core of Israel’s fear of Iran developing nuclear weapons is the fear that Iran could influence the peace process in such a way that would serve Palestinian interests and perhaps put an end to Israel’s control of the occupied territories. Cook believes that Israel’s exaggeration of the Iranian threat and its warmongering against Iran are largely based on this assumption. He also believes that the US understands and agrees with Tel Aviv, that it even shares its concerns and attitudes and that this is the reason why it has refused to hold talks with Iran.

The tough Western stance towards Iran is linked to several issues but nevertheless centres on preventing Iran from developing its nuclear capabilities, even though it asserts that they are exclusively for peaceful purposes. Irrespective of the truthfulness of these claims; whether Iran has a hidden agenda and is seeking the capability to produce a nuclear bomb and ultimately to enter the nuclear weaponry market, and even with the presumption of the Western claim that Iran is planning to accomplish a nuclear military program, the West’s double standards when it comes to the sensitive issue of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons are glaringly obvious.

In December 2006, Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated: “can you talk about equality, if they (the Iranians) are aspiring to have nuclear weapons like America, France, Israel and Russia?” This was the first public statement made by an Israeli official in which it was admitted that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal. The statement came as he warned of the threat posed by Iran seeking to possess nuclear artillery. This statement, it was said, was a “real slip of tongue by Olmert”; a statement he then withdrew claiming his words were misinterpreted. Everyone knows Israel did not sign the NPT, that it refuses to disclose its nuclear program and that it will not allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) onto its nuclear sites. Available information highlights the fact that Israel relies on Western technology and support in the development of its nuclear capabilities.

Further, Western media hypocrisy and double standards are disgusting to say the least. The Western media is reporting that Tehran is being evacuated, but it’s not reporting that Tel Aviv is also being evacuated. The Western media is saying that Iran wants to build an atomic bomb, but it’s not mentioning that Israel has already built one. The Western media portrays Iran as a threat to Israel, but it doesn’t highlight Israel’s threat to the entire Middle East. The Western media criticizes Iran’s interactions with the IAEA but fails to mention Israel’s refusal to allow inspections of its nuclear sites. Iran’s nuclear facilities were open to IAEA inspections, whereas Israel has never allowed such inspections.

The Western media labels Iran as irresponsible without noting Iran’s signature on the NPT, while Israel has refused to sign it. Iran isn’t occupying another country’s land, unlike Israel, which occupies Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, despite UN declarations against it.The Western media extensively covers anti-government protests in Iran but ignores pro-government, anti-Israel demonstrations. It also overlooks large protests in Israel against Netanyahu.

The media refers to Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories as “settlers” rather than “occupiers,” despite violating UN laws. Israeli citizens involved in Palestinian killings are called “vigilantes” instead of “terrorists.” Areas recognized by the UN as occupied Palestine are referred to as Israel. Despite this biased reporting, the Western media is considered credible, highlighting a concerning aspect of Western civilization’s brutality. Politicians and mainstream news editors alike have been conditioned to put players in the Middle East into fixed boxes. Israel’s actions will never cross a red line; Iran will forever be the bogeyman.

One can understand the US bias in favour of Israel, no matter what it does. This has become a trait of successive American administrations, which have denied the Middle East a just and lasting settlement to the core of its instability and conflicts for decades. Israel’s grip over US politics is well known. But one almost got duped by recent statements made by various European leaders who claimed that Europe must disengage and free itself from America’s orbit. The illusion of such an awakening presented itself in the past few months, when European leaders attempted to distance themselves from the government of Netanyahu over its genocidal war in Gaza. The EU tried, but failed, to make a distinction between its position against Russia’s alleged crimes in Ukraine and its initial support of Israel waging a full-scale war on 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza. Despite their apparent denunciation of Israel’s Gaza war, the UK and Germany have continued to supply Israel with weapons that are being used against civilians in Gaza. So much for the crocodile tears European officials pretend to shed over the 60,000 Palestinians Israel has killed so far.

Going back to the Iran fiasco, not one European leader has had the integrity to point to the fact that Israel launched its attack two days before the US and Iran were to hold a crucial sixth round of negotiations in Oman, when Trump hinted that the two sides were close to an agreement. Not one leader even cited the testimony before Congress in March by US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, in which she clearly stated: The intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. And not one European leader pointed to the danger to the lives of millions in Iran and the entire region that might come from Israel’s direct bombardment of Iran’s numerous nuclear facilities. Not one leader bothered to denounce Netanyahu for his irresponsible call for regime change in Iran and the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader. There was not one condemnation of Israel’s killing of civilians, including Iranian nuclear scientists and their families.

Thus, Western leaders’ blind support of Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, in his reckless wars, most recently against Iran, inexcusable and shameless as it is, continues, while the Gazan genocide continues unabated, while the world watches and does nothing.