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Editorial丨US enabler of Middle East crisis

CHINADAILY · 公众号 · 时评 · 2024-10-23 10:06

正文

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a weeklong visit to the Middle East since Monday, his 11th "pro-peace" trip to the region since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on Oct 7 last year. Apart from Israel, Blinken is also visiting a number of Arab countries, which, according to the State Department, could include Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Although "bringing the war in Gaza to an end" is a primary goal of his visit, as the State Department's statement said, people hope his visit does not make the situation any worse, as has been happening over the past year.

▲ US Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks an aircraft as he arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel on Oct 22. Photo/Agencies

It was along with the top US diplomat's earlier time-to-end-the-war visits to the region that not only has the war in Gaza escalated — about 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Tel Aviv's "self-defensive" military operation in the Palestinian enclave since October 2023 — but also the conflict has spilled across the region, with a war with Iran looming on the horizon.

It was along with Blinken's previous we-come-for-cease-fire visits that the US has sent troops to the Middle East to deter any regional country's possible response to Israel's reckless actions that escalated tensions, including eliminating multiple Hamas and Hezbollah leaders even if the two militant groups have clearly voiced support for a cease-fire, and Israel's reckless actions have, instead, ended any possibility of cease-fire talks at many critical junctures.

It was along with his enough-is-enough visits that the US has continuously provided unconditional military and financial assistance for Israel, enabling the warmongering Benjamin Netanyahu Cabinet to proudly claim that Israel is fighting on "seven fronts" at the same time.

It was along with his we-care visits that the US has covertly encouraged Israel to turn Gaza into a hellhole of humanitarian crisis by not only carrying out what many countries call "genocide" but also weaponizing its control on humanitarian aid trickling in for the desperate Palestinians.

It was along with his let's-bring-them-home visits that the US has kept a studied silence over the fact that Netanyahu no longer cares about the remaining hostages held by Hamas, but only his personal political survival. By trying to wag the dog, the Israeli leader aims to be remembered for taking full advantage of external resources, at negligible costs compared with its gains, to technically annex Gaza, markedly expand Israel's buffer zone with Lebanon, and cripple Iran's major regional proxies including the Hezbollah and Hamas.

It was also along with his we-are-concerned visits that the US has connived with Israel to kill more than 200 personnel of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, attack UN peacekeepers' positions in Lebanon, and carry out a systematic insidious campaign to smear the world body while ignoring multiple binding UN resolutions including those initiated by Washington that the latter claimed have full support of Tel Aviv.

No more facts are needed to prove that the US is the sole enabler of the Middle East crisis. That the US side claims again, as before, that Blinken will use the trip to "reaffirm the US commitment to work with partners across the region to de-escalate tensions and provide lasting stability" exposes Washington's hypocrisy. The US has never truly cared about a two-state solution — not to mention Palestinian autonomy — despite claiming so; it is only interested in taking advantage of the Netanyahu government to advance the US' geopolitical agenda in the Middle East and beyond. Compared with the upcoming US presidential election, the Middle East crisis is nothing but a subject on the table, though a little more urgent than others.

Notably, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials shortly before Blinken's ongoing visit that the Joe Biden administration could be forced by US law to curtail some forms of military aid should the delivery of humanitarian assistance continue to be hindered. That only takes care of the US' callousness.