Headlinesby Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
September 30, 2024
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/30/ ... transcriptIsrael Kills Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah; Netanyahu Addresses U.N. Despite Growing Pariah StatusSep 30, 2024
Lebanon is marking three days of mourning after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah Friday in a massive attack that leveled multiple high-rise apartment buildings in a suburb south of Beirut. Nasrallah had led Hezbollah since 1992 and was widely considered one of the most powerful figures in the Middle East. Multiple news outlets report Israel likely used U.S.-made 2,000-pound BLU-109 bombs in the attack. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both described Nasrallah’s death as a “measure of justice.” But on the streets of Beirut, Lebanese residents vowed to keep resisting the Israeli attacks.
Françoise Azori: “You won’t be able to destroy us, whatever you do, however much you bomb, however much you displace people. We will stay here. We won’t leave. This is our country, and we’re staying. Do whatever you want to do. We don’t care.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the order to kill Nasrallah shortly after giving a speech at the United Nations General Assembly here in New York. As he was being introduced at the U.N., dozens of diplomats walked out of the General Assembly hall in protest.
Iran responded to the assassination of Nasrallah by seeking an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, warning Israel is “pushing the entire region into an all-out catastrophe.” A prominent general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was also killed in Friday’s attack on Nasrallah.
Over the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 105 people, bringing the death toll over the past two weeks to more than 1,000, with 6,000 people injured. The Israeli attacks have also displaced about 1 million people in Lebanon. More than 100,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria. Earlier today, Israel killed the head of Hamas in Lebanon along with his wife, son and daughter in a strike on their home in a Palestinian refugee camp. In a separate strike inside Beirut, Israel killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Fears are now growing Israel may soon launch a ground invasion of Lebanon. Earlier today, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, vowed the group is ready to confront an Israeli invasion.
Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill More Displaced Palestinians, Journalist Wafa al-UdainiSep 30, 2024
In Gaza, Israel is continuing to attack schools where displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. Earlier today, an Israeli warplane bombed a school in Beit Lahia, killing at least two people. In Deir al-Balah, another Israeli strike killed Palestinian journalist Wafa al-Udaini and three of her family members, including two children. On Sunday, at least four people were killed in northern Gaza in another Israeli strike on a school turned shelter.
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Israeli Assassination of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah “Shocked All of Lebanon.” What Happens Next?by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
September 30, 2024
Israel is expanding its attacks across the Middle East, bombing more sites in Yemen and Lebanon over the weekend after carrying out a massive attack in the suburbs of Beirut on Friday that killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders of the militant group. Nasrallah led Hezbollah for more than three decades and was considered one of the most powerful figures in the region. Israel likely used U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs in Friday’s attack that leveled several high-rise apartment buildings, with a death toll estimated in the hundreds. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both called Nasrallah’s killing “a measure of justice” while saying they were against further escalation of the war. “The news really shocked all of Lebanon, both supporters and people who oppose him,” says Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, who notes about 1 million people inside Lebanon are now displaced by the fighting. “The airstrikes aren’t stopping; they’re continuing. And now people are anticipating a ground invasion.”
TranscriptThis is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: News reports from northern Israel show Israeli military tanks massing along the Israel-Lebanon border after Israel launched its first attack in central Beirut. Earlier today, Israel struck a building near the busy Cola Bridge intersection of the Lebanese capital after carrying out a massive attack Friday on a Beirut suburb that assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He led Hezbollah for more than three decades and was considered one of the most powerful figures in the Middle East.
Israel likely used U.S.-made bombs in Friday’s attack that leveled several high-rise apartment buildings. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both called the killing of Nasrallah a, quote, “measure of justice.”
Meanwhile, Monday’s attack targeted senior figures in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian militant group. The strike leveled another apartment building.
MOAMEN AL-KHATIB: [translated] We are Palestinian firefighters and rescuers from the camps in Lebanon who came to help our brothers after the raid that happened here in Ain Ed Delb. We have been here since yesterday, since the incident. We have not left the site, and we will remain here until we complete the entire mission, God willing. There’s still people under the rubble, people we have not been able to rescue yet. We are doing everything we can to save them as quickly as possible.
AMY GOODMAN: Also today, Israel killed the head of Hamas in Lebanon along with his wife, son and daughter in a strike on their home in a Palestinian refugee camp.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the order to kill Nasrallah shortly after giving a speech before the U.N. General Assembly. Before his remarks, dozens of diplomats walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall in protest.
Today, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, vowed to fight on, saying the group is prepared for a long war, in his first speech since Nasrallah was killed.
SHEIKH NAIM QASSEM: [translated] Israel is committing massacres in all areas of Lebanon and choosing villages one by one until there is no village or house that does not have traces of Israeli aggression in it. It is attacking civilians, health organizations, al-Risala Scouts, all those who are in the streets and all those who are staying in their homes, including children, women and the elderly. These people are not fighting the fighters but rather are killing and committing massacres against civilians and innocents. … The Islamic resistance will continue to confront the Israeli enemy in support of Gaza in Palestine, in defense of Lebanon.
AMY GOODMAN: Over the past 24 hours, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 105 people, bringing the death toll over the past two weeks to over 1,000, with 6,000 people injured. The Israeli attacks have displaced about a million people in Lebanon. More than 100,000 have fled from Lebanon to Syria, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, Israel forces launched a wave of airstrikes on Yemen Sunday, targeting the city of Hodeidah for the second time in recent months, in response to missile fires by Houthi militants.
This comes as more than a thousand Israelis protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday to call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to refocus his efforts on securing the release of hostages in Gaza, where the death toll from nearly a year of Israeli attacks is nearing at least 42,000.
For more, we begin in Beirut to speak with Kareem Chehayeb, the Beirut-based journalist reporting on Lebanon, Syria and Iraq for the Associated Press. His recent piece is headlined “What to know after Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.”
Kareem, welcome to Democracy Now! Well, why don’t you tell us about the significance of this assassination and who exactly the Hezbollah leader was?
KAREEM CHEHAYEB: So, this assassination really rattled all of Lebanon. Hassan Nasrallah for decades led Hezbollah and oversaw significant developments within the militant group, oversaw, you know, ending Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s sort of transformation into having a more heavy involvement in Lebanese politics with MPs, parliamentarians, ministers and so on, and also led Hezbollah when it began to expand more regionally, notably in Syria, where they played a pivotal role in keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power.
The news really shocked all of Lebanon, both supporters and people who oppose him. I recall I was on the streets here in Beirut when the news happened. And, you know, some of the supporters were screaming. They were [inaudible] shocked by the news. And, you know, they thought that this was a leader — some told me that they felt like he was immortal almost. And, of course, his assassination, on top of a handful of Hezbollah leaders, seven senior leaders, over the past eight days, really rattled the organization. Even the deputy leader Naim Qassem said so today. But he said that they’re going to regroup and appoint a new leader soon. It’s unclear when. And it’s definitely something that rattled the region, for sure.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking this weekend.
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: [translated] Nasrallah was not just another terrorist. He was the terrorist. He was the axis of the axis, the main engine of Iran’s “axis of evil.” He and his people were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel. … As long as Nasrallah was alive, he would have quickly rebuilt the capabilities we took from Hezbollah. Therefore, I gave the directive, and Nasrallah is longer with us.
AMY GOODMAN: If you can respond, Kareem, to what the Israeli prime minister said after the assassination, and also what has happened since, both the killing of a top-level Iranian commander along with Nasrallah and now the head of Hamas in Lebanon with his family?
KAREEM CHEHAYEB: So, you know, a lot of people, after the assassination of Nasrallah, sort of wondered, you know, “What happens next now?” The Israeli government maintains that their goal is to secure their north for their residents to return. And, you know, since the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, other senior officials have been assassinated, as well. And the airstrikes, you know, aren’t stopping; they’re continuing. And now people are anticipating a ground invasion.
And, of course, experts say that Iran is sort of in a policy dilemma. You know, Iran has dealt with several attacks that are widely blamed on Israel, including a strike on a consulate building in Syria and the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in late July. Iran hasn’t necessarily responded in such a decisive way. And the question is, you know: What are Tehran’s red lines? We don’t know how they’re going to respond to that and what this means for the region. What we do know is that, you know, they’ve sort of maintained that they’re going to keep piling diplomatic pressure. This is according to statements from different Iranian government officials. But the big question is: Given the severity of this attack, you know, will this eventually not just widen the war in Lebanon, but also have a regional component? Iran has, you know, proxies in Yemen and Iraq, and there’s a lot of speculation as to whether they will be involved or not. So, there is a really big sort of gap as to what happens next in this very intense phase of the war.
AMY GOODMAN: Kareem, we’re speaking to you in Beirut. So, you’re not only a journalist covering all of this, you’re a resident there. Can you describe what the blast was like in the suburb on Friday, and then this Beirut-based blast that just took place?
KAREEM CHEHAYEB: Yeah. The airstrike in the Beirut southern suburbs that killed Hassan Nasrallah was probably one of the most, if not the most, intense strike thus far in this conflict. You know, eyewitnesses and others, even as actually close to this office, heard eight to 10 explosions. There were multiple airstrikes. And it leveled several buildings, several buildings to the ground. It was a very shocking experience for many here. A lot of people were panicking. And it definitely sparked a wave of displacement. A lot of people in the Beirut southern suburbs immediately fled their homes and went in large groups to other neighborhoods in Beirut to find safety.
And then, the strike yesterday near the Cola Bridge, you know, this is a — it’s a very central part of the city. It’s very busy during the day. You know, it’s a critical point for public transportation, as well. And this is the most central part of Beirut where Israel has struck so far in this conflict. And, you know, a lot of the questions now among people here is, you know: Where else will be hit, given that it appears that central parts of the city could be possible targets and this is not limited to just the south or the east of Lebanon anymore? So, there’s a lot of fear and anxiety and confusion among residents all over Beirut, where over the past previous months where the fighting was mostly limited to southern Lebanon, you didn’t really feel that so much.
AMY GOODMAN: And we just have reports — I mean, and this has been going on for days — of Israeli tanks amassing along the border. What is the response of the Lebanese to what is taking place? I mean, Lebanon has one of the most, if not the highest percentage refugee population in the world. Now a million people are displaced. Many are trying to go into Syria right now.
KAREEM CHEHAYEB: Yes. So, you know, the Lebanese government has sounded the alarm on a massive displacement. Prior to this recent intense escalation, I guess, you know, there was over 100,000 displaced people. Now that number is almost a million, in such short period of time. The Lebanese government is struggling to keep up. Remember, this is a country that’s going through an economic crisis. The government is essentially broke. And the United Nations is trying to get as much funds as it can to support. And a lot of what’s helping these displaced people here is just the goodwill of a lot of people, community initiatives and so on. A lot of people I speak to in Beirut and elsewhere are doing their best, but they are questioning how sustainable it is, you know, within just a couple of weeks. And yes, it does seem like a larger number are going to Syria, as well. So, it’s indicative of the desperation taking place. And, of course, you know, a possible ground invasion is certainly the talk of the town right now, and people are wondering what the consequences will be, whether it means this war will last for a much longer time and it will widen, further widen the displacement.
So, you know, it is definitely a critical time. The Lebanese government is trying to sort of push a recent U.S.-led initiative for a temporary ceasefire for 21 days. The French foreign minister is in town, met with the prime minister and the speaker of Parliament. And, you know, it appears that the message that they’re sending is that they are willing to, you know, go about this ceasefire and try to put an end to this war as quickly as possible. The question is whether Hezbollah at the same time — you know, whether they will change their approach to this. You know, Hezbollah have maintained, even after Nasrallah’s assassination, that they will stop once there’s a ceasefire in Gaza. And they accuse the Israelis and the American government of basically wanting them to set up a deal independent of Gaza. So the question really is: How can this diplomatic gridlock be broken? And I think we could be at a major turning point right now, given the heightened developments.
AMY GOODMAN: Do you see Lebanese troops joining or replacing Hezbollah militants on the border?
KAREEM CHEHAYEB: There is certainly a lot of speculation that has come about the fate of Lebanon politically and with the war after Nasrallah’s assassination. There are allied groups to Hezbollah that have been involved in the south since the beginning — you know, for example, the Fajr Brigades of the Islamic Group, which is the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas early on, as well, here in Lebanon were involved, as well. And, you know, the question, of course, is: If there’s a ground invasion, will more groups allied that have some sort of weapons be involved? It appears that most experts say that it might actually be more about the allies of Hezbollah outside of Lebanon, whether the Houthis in Yemen or the Iran-backed militias in Iraq will be much more involved. So, that is sort of the big question right now, given a possible ground invasion.
AMY GOODMAN: Kareem Chehayeb, we want to thank you for being with us, speaking to us from Beirut, journalist covering Lebanon, Syria and Iraq for the Associated Press. We’ll link to your piece, “What to know after Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.”
When we come back, we’ll be joined by Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, the award-winning Israeli journalist and author, columnist for the newspaper Haaretz, a member of its editorial board. One of his latest pieces in the Haaretz newspaper, “Israel’s Barbaric Glee Over Nasrallah’s Assassination Is a New Low for Israeli Society.” Back in 20 seconds.
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Gideon Levy: “Israel’s Barbaric Glee over Nasrallah’s Assassination Is a New Low for Israeli Society”by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
September 30, 2024
We speak with Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, who says the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday was met with “barbaric glee” by much of Israeli society. “We are getting down and down, lower and lower, believing more and more in only one thing, namely in killing and destructing,” says Levy, who warns that Israel is very likely to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon next and continue expanding the war as long as it enjoys unlimited U.S. support. The ongoing escalation in the region comes after a year of “only bombing and refusing any kind of diplomacy,” Levy says.
TranscriptThis is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.
As Israel strikes central Beirut, Yemen and Gaza after the massive attack Friday in the Beirut suburb that killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one of the most powerful figures in the region, we’re joined by Gideon Levy. He is Israeli journalist, author, columnist for Haaretz, as well as a member of its editorial board. His latest piece, “Israel’s Barbaric Glee Over Nasrallah’s Assassination Is a New Low for Israeli Society.”
Gideon, thanks so much for joining us again. If you can start off by talking about what happened on Friday? You have Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, ascending the podium at the U.N. General Assembly. Apparently right after, he gave the go-ahead for the assassination of Nasrallah. Right before he came up on the podium, dozens of world leaders walked out. If you can talk about the significance of this decision and then the bombing of Yemen and, of course, the continuation of the assault on Gaza?
GIDEON LEVY: You know, Amy, listening to your program is enough. Israel is shooting here, and Israel is assassinating there, and Israel is bombing here, and Israel is bombing there. Where are we aiming to? I mean, all those operations might be [inaudible], to them, are justified. But what comes next?
This thought that Israel can solve everything by force and that war is always the first answer for everything must change, because, otherwise, we will really find ourselves one day totally lonely in the world. Even the United States, which supports Israel still blindly and automatically — and I must emphasize on your show that the United States is a full partner for everything that Israel is doing in the last year, including the massacre in Gaza — even the United States will wake up one day. And then what?
AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about the assassination of Nasrallah. You’re talking to us from Tel Aviv. And the response in Israel?
GIDEON LEVY: I’ll give you a few examples. In one of the main channels of Israeli TV, a reporter, live, was distributing chocolates. That’s the spirit in Israel. That’s the spirit. Another important columnist wrote, “We smashed him like a lizard.” And if this is the atmosphere, this is the mindset, this is the zeitgeist even, so it will be very hard to change things, because we are getting down and down, lower and lower, believing more and more only in one thing, namely in killing and destructing.
AMY GOODMAN: So, if you can talk about what Netanyahu’s strategy is and if he has one other than a military strategy? You have the tanks, Israeli tanks, amassing on the border. Do you see a ground invasion of Lebanon happening at this point? What does this mean? Does he just want to deplete Hezbollah or completely wipe it out?
GIDEON LEVY: I can’t see a scenario in which Israel is not going for a ground operation. First, it will be, as usual, presented as a very, very limited one, limited in time, limited in territory. We’ve been in those shows many times. And then it will get complicated, and then we’ll have to widen it and expand the time that we stay there. As usual, we are getting into those things without having any clue, any idea how we will get out of it. Look at Israel in Gaza. Nobody has a clue how we are getting out of Gaza. [inaudible] Gaza. Israel is going to repeat the same mistake with Lebanon, using the excuse or the passiveness of the world, which allows Israel to do now whatever it wants.
Netanyahu, I think, is also now in euphoria after what is perceived in Israel as wonderful successes, James Bond successes, first with the pagers and with the walkie-talkies and then with all the assassinations. This is perceived in Israel as an enormous success. So, being riding on this success, I guess nothing will stop Israel to get into a ground operation.
And then, you know there will be a moment that a regional war might become a factor, might become a reality. And then what, when Iran might come in? And with all those risks seem what? Unimportant? Unreal? And if Iran comes into the picture, what’s next? We will bomb Iran?
This whole mindset of bombing and bombing for one year now, and only bombing, and refusing any kind of diplomacy — remember, there were deals to release the hostages. Israel said no. Ceasefire, Israel said no. Lebanon ceasefire, Israel says no. This will not guarantee the security of Israel, not to speak about the price the other side is paying. But even the security of Israel will not get better. We are now in a less good situation than one year ago. I can tell you that in Tel Aviv, we are more scared than we were one year ago.
AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. military said Sunday it’s increasing its air support capabilities in the Middle East, putting troops on heightened alert. ABC News’s Martha Raddatz interviewed White House national security communications adviser John Kirby on This Week Sunday and asked about the reports.
JOHN KIRBY: There’s a contingency of additional forces in the region right now to help us with any possible contingencies that might come up.
MARTHA RADDATZ: Dozens more?
JOHN KIRBY: Certainly —
MARTHA RADDATZ: I mean, I know we have 40,000 troops in the region already.
JOHN KIRBY: Yeah, I don’t want to get into the exact numbers or who these guys are, but we did — we did deploy some additional forces into the region. I would tell you that there’s other options available, as well, in terms of adding and enhancing that force posture.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you talk, Gideon Levy, about a regional war. Right before Netanyahu spoke at the U.N., as you said, there was this discussion that the U.S. and France was leading with Saudi Arabia and others to have a ceasefire, and then Hassan Nasrallah is assassinated. Is this more than Israel engaging in a regional war, but trying to bring the U.S. into it, as well? Netanyahu is known as a close Trump ally and friend. How that would affect the U.S. elections, as well? And right before Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations, you have Israel saying Thursday it had secured another $8.7 billion in aid from the United States to support its ongoing military efforts. We’re going to end with this question of whether Israel could continue what it does if the U.S. stopped the weapons flow.
GIDEON LEVY: But the U.N. — but the U.S. does not stop —
AMY GOODMAN: If the U.S. stopped.
GIDEON LEVY: — the weapons. That’s the point. The U.S. is saying one thing and acting exactly to the opposite direction. Can you believe that a major superpower is telling Israel to stop the war and in the same time it is supplying it with weapons and bombs and ammunition? What is Israel supposed to do? Why not to shoot and to bomb, to continue to do this, if the Americans are supplying it in an unconditioned way? No conditions.
So, this hypocrisy must come to its end. The United States is supporting the war, is supporting Israel. The bombs that were falling on the bunker of Nasrallah were American bombs. The bombs that fall on Gaza are American bombs. The children who were killed, 17,000 of them, in Gaza were killed by American ammunition. And America, the United States, cannot say that it is against killing children, because it is a partner.
AMY GOODMAN: Gideon Levy, we want to thank you so much for being with us, award-winning Israeli journalist, author, columnist for the newspaper Haaretz, also on their editorial board. We’ll link to your latest pieces, including “Israel’s Barbaric Glee Over Nasrallah’s Assassination Is a New Low for Israeli Society.”
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Trita Parsi on Israel’s Nasrallah Assassination and Why Netanyahu Still Wants War with Iranby Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
September 30, 2024
As the Middle East gets ever closer to an all-out war, we speak with Iranian American analyst and author Trita Parsi about Iran’s response in the aftermath of Israel’s assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The powerful Lebanese militia is closely aligned with Iran and is part of the “Axis of Resistance” of forces in the Middle East opposed to Israel that also includes Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. “Israel has quite successfully cornered Iran,” says Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “At this point, if Iran does almost anything, it will risk triggering the larger regional war that Netanyahu wants and that the Iranians have tried to avoid.”
TranscriptThis is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! We’re going to turn to Washington, D.C., right now for more on all of this, to look at how Iran could respond to the Israeli strike Friday in Lebanon that killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. We go to Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He’s just written a piece for Zeteo headlined “Nasrallah Assassinated: What Happens Next?”
Trita, thanks for joining us again. What happens next? And can you respond to the assassination of the longtime Hezbollah leader — since what? 1992 — Hassan Nasrallah?
TRITA PARSI: So, a lot of eyes are, of course, on Iran and trying to figure out what Iran is going to do next. But we have to recognize that Israel has quite successfully cornered Iran. Iran played the long game, tried to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel, absorbed a lot of hits, but in the process of playing the long game, its options have become fewer, weaker and more dangerous. At this point, if Iran does almost anything, it will risk triggering the larger regional war that Netanyahu wants and that the Iranians have tried to avoid.
As a result, I think our eyes should actually be on what Israel does next, whether it will go through with an invasion — we’re already seeing reports now that some commando raids have been conducted inside of Lebanon by the Israelis, probably in preparation for a land invasion — as well as what Israel plans to do with the Houthis. If it reaches a point in which the Iranians conclude that Israel’s strategy is to take out some of these entities before going to Iran itself, that may trigger the Iranians to act now in the hope of actually having better options now rather than waiting.
But other than that, the Iranians seem to be of the mindset that they do not want to get in a direct engagement because of their own internal problems. Iran is faced with a significant anger from the population over the abuse and repression of the Iranian regime, particularly in the protests of two years ago. It does not believe that it actually can afford a war of this kind. Instead, its priorities are to try to see if it can get a deal with United States on the nuclear issue, reduce tensions, lift some of the sanctions, improve the economy, in order to reduce the distance between the society and the government. The last thing they want in that context is a war with Israel that will most likely increase that distance and the anger of the population.
AMY GOODMAN: In addition to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, Israel killed the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the deputy commander Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed in that Nasrallah strike, a seminal or a key figure in the Iran-Iraq War. Can you talk about his significance and then the role of the new Iranian president, seen as a reformist?
TRITA PARSI: So, Iran has taken quite a lot of hits. Nilforoushan is just the latest commander that has been killed by the Israelis, not just since October 7th, but over the course of several years, in Syria and in Lebanon itself. And this is part of their long game in terms of not necessarily reacting to each and every one of these, because they know that Israel is in a stronger position and Israel has an interest of having a confrontation sooner rather than later.
But again, that strategy, that long-term strategy, only works if there’s also a short game. And Iran’s short game seems to be losing right now, given how Israel has managed to crack the communications system of Hezbollah, take out the top echelon of its commanders and put Hezbollah in a very, very weak position.
AMY GOODMAN: So, the U.S. struck Hodeidah in Yemen. And the Houthis, now the question is how they will respond. Can you talk about Iran’s relationship with the Houthis, with Hamas and with Hezbollah?
TRITA PARSI: I think one of the things that has not been acknowledged, at least not in the Western narrative, about October 7th is that it clearly came at a very bad time for the Iranians and for Hezbollah itself. I think, actually, there’s been privately quite a lot of irritation in Tehran with Hamas, because it obviously did not coordinate any of that with the Iranians. The Iranians, Hezbollah were not even aware of the plans that Hamas had for that attack. And the reason, again, is because it forced a confrontation with Israel at a much earlier stage than what the Iranians and Hezbollah were ready for. Lebanon’s economy was in complete disaster. Iran had its own problems. They were not looking for a fight. Hamas’s calculation was completely different.
And it also shows you the distance that does exist between these different entities. Iran and Hezbollah are much, much closer to each other, whereas Hamas is a more recent addition to Iran’s axis and a very problematic one in terms of their relationship. They have had several fallouts. Hamas originally was quite a strong enemy of Iran. Then you have the Houthis, who is a very different entity, does its own thing, is part of the axis, essentially, but has made it very clear it is not taking any orders from Iran. It’s been quite critical publicly of Iran, arguing that Iran has been far too risk-averse and that Iran should have entered into this fight much, much sooner, rather than watching from afar and not aiding Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis to an extent that they believe that Iran should have.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to finally ask about — the same question I put to Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, Trita. You’re Iranian American. You’ve been writing extensively books on U.S., Iranian, Israel policy. Among your books, Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy, your first book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel, and the United States. Do you feel that the Israeli prime minister is attempting to pull Iran into a war with the United States, as the number one sponsor, the United States, of the military in Israel?
TRITA PARSI: I don’t think there is any doubt that that is Netanyahu’s game plan. And the reason why he has been successful in the last couple of weeks is not because of any particular action by the Israelis — although, of course, they’ve scored some major successes. It’s because of the posture of the Biden administration. Biden has chosen to be so deferential, more deferential than any other American president has been to Netanyahu. And as a result, despite all of the talk of wanting to avoid a larger regional war, which clearly is in the U.S. interest to avoid, Biden has adopted a posture in which he essentially says that that’s what he wants to avoid, but then he provides the Israelis with the weapons, the political protection, the diplomatic support and the arms and money to be able to pursue exactly the escalation that Biden says that he does not want.
That’s the big difference that has happened here now, that the United States has now, under Biden, chosen to completely be in support of whatever Netanyahu wants to do. And Netanyahu’s plan for quite some time has been to reverse the balance in the Middle East, to make sure that Israel is once again enjoying a much stronger and favorable position in the region by cutting down many of the different challengers to Israel that exist in the region. Reversing that balance is not something that Israel can do on its own. It can only do so by bringing in the United States into the war, whether it is directly or in the manner that Biden has been supporting everything that Israel is doing.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, you have U.S. troops. You have the warships in the eastern Mediterranean, in the Gulf. You have U.S. soldiers in Jordan, around 50,000 overall U.S. soldiers in the area. If this is intensified, how do you see this playing out in the U.S. election? Do you actually think — I mean, after Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress and got more applause than any president in U.S. history — what, more than 50 standing ovations — he went down to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump — this will serve Trump in this election?
TRITA PARSI: Whether one thinks that Trump is going to be different or not from what Biden has done or what Harris may do, reality is, I think, that if you have this explosion taking place in the region with the U.S. itself getting dragged into the war before the elections, it will serve Trump. The Biden administration have gone out and said that they’ve been working 24 hours without any rest to try to secure a ceasefire for more than 10 months now, and they have absolutely nothing to show for it except for constantly giving Israel more weapons and arms.
And if that may not push away some of the more loyal supporters of the centrist elements of the Democratic Party, I think it does significantly risk losing a lot of the people who have been on the fence, who have given Biden the benefit of the doubt, certainly were willing to give Kamala Harris the benefit of the doubt. But if this disaster happens, I think those voters, that voting bloc — which I’m not talking about the Arab Americans or the Gen Z or the Muslim Americans, but that other voting bloc that is more on the fence on this — they may also be lost as a result of this.
AMY GOODMAN: Trita Parsi, I want to thank you for being with us, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. We’ll link to your piece in Zeteo, “Nasrallah Assassinated: What Happens Next?” Author of a number of books, including Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy.
Next up, Hurricane Helene tears through the southeastern United States as scientists say climate change rapidly intensifies hurricanes. We’ll speak with climate activist and scientist Peter Kalmus in North Carolina, one of the states hit hardest by the storm. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: “Third World War” by Kris Kristofferson. The politically conscious singer and actor died Saturday at the age of 88. He once said, quote, “I was in Nicaragua with the Sandinistas. I’ve argued for Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, the United Farm Workers. I’ve been a radical for a long time. I guess it’s too bad. I’d be more marketable as a right-wing redneck. But I got into this to tell the truth,” Kris Kristofferson said.