Hostilities in the Palestine-Israel conflict have remained at an all-time high going on nearly two months since Hamas launched its October 7 surprise attack. An analyst has said Israel is becoming “bogged down indefinitely” in Gaza and claimed US military involvement would be “much costlier” than predicted.
The United States may be hoping for a broader conflict to break out amidst Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in order to damage Iran and other foes, according to author Jeremy Kuzmarov.
The claim was made on Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Monday as Kuzmarov discussed the geopolitical situation in the Middle East with hosts John Kiriakou and Michelle Witte.
“The leadership in the United States and Israel are hardline neoconservatives,” said Kuzmarov, who also serves as the managing editor of CovertAction Magazine.
“I think they have their own desires in the Middle East,” he added. “They may want to draw in other countries and have a wider war so they can finally take out Iran.”
While Kuzmarov suggested US President Joe Biden may be slightly less hawkish than politicians such as former US Vice President Dick Cheney, he insisted the US commander-in-chief should still be considered a “neoconservative,” a political movement traditionally associated with an interventionist foreign policy.
Kuzmarov said the Israeli government also favors an aggressive military stance in the region. “Israel wants to control southern Lebanon,” he said.
“I think they have plans for ‘greater Israel,’” the military analyst added, referring to the belief by some in the country that Israeli land should extend into Gaza and the West Bank. Some Israelis use the term to advocate for control of the full extent of territory ruled by the Biblical Israelites, which would include portions of modern-day Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Israel currently occupies a portion of Western Syria known as the Golan Heights and frequently engages in bombing campaigns in the country. The Middle Eastern nation has been involved in periodic wars with its neighbors since its founding in 1948.
“I think they [Israel] feel emboldened that the US is behind them and they can go forward with their plan until the Palestinians are crushed,” said Kuzmarov. “I think they’re excited, this is their moment they’ve been waiting for for years, to crush the Palestinians and take over everything. And that’s what they’ve always wanted, certainly the Likud Party.”
“They have plans for how they can transform the whole area economically,” Kuzmarov added. “And I think they’re pursuing those goals.”
Biden also spoke of “a better future for the Middle East” during his recent Oval Office address, referring to a US-led plan to build a rail corridor through the region.
Some analysts have suggested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like to formally annex Gaza in order to ensure control over natural gas discovered off the coast of the disputed territory, which would be transported via a new pipeline. Access to the deposits would increase exports to the United States and other allies, where energy costs have soared due to sanctions on Russia and Venezuela.
“The Iranians in my view have played this whole thing over the last six weeks perfectly,” said Kiriakou, noting the country’s restraint after the Israeli prime minister called for an attack on their historic foe in the hours after Hamas’ October 7 operation. Kiriakou also praised China’s attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, claiming the Asian superpower is “serious about being the peacemakers in the Middle East.”
“The likes of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan appreciate that, with the US… not seen as an honest broker in the region,” he added.
Kuzmarov agreed that China is “starting to build its stature in the world arena” by attempting to navigate tensions between world powers, such as when they negotiated an historic agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
“I think they [China] are gaining a lot of capital,” Kuzmarov said. “There is respect for them in developing world countries given their history. And China’s always empathized with groups that have experienced colonialism. So there’s identification with the Palestinians.”
Kuzmarov speculated Israel’s military action in the besieged Gaza Strip could end poorly for the US ally, despite the advantage of American largesse.
“They’re going to be bogged down indefinitely in Gaza,” said Kuzmarov. “They may be overconfident. The hubris of Israel you can compare perhaps to the United States in Vietnam. It may be a lot harder for them to wipe out Hamas and achieve their goals there than they thought.”
“The whole population [in Gaza] has been geared toward opposing Israel. They hate Israel and they’ll fight for their lives to the death. If Israel’s bogged down in a long Gaza campaign, they can’t fight on so many fronts at once, just like any other army. They have to be realistic.”
Kuzmarov also noted Hamas’ expertise in sabotage and tunnel warfare. “They [Israel] are not going to succeed in the way they envision,” he concluded.
Kuzmarov and Kiriakou agreed the United States has only offered perfunctory criticism of their Israeli ally. Kiriakou claimed the US is “joined at the hip with Israel” and called Israel’s attacks against Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital a “crime against humanity.”
“They’ve been talking about these tunnels for years,” said Kiriakou, expressing skepticism over Israeli claims the hospital served as a covert “command and control center” for Hamas. “There are no independent observers who have seen these things, at least not for any length of time.”
“I’ve struggled with this news over the weekend because when I was at the CIA we would routinely falsify evidence against our enemies and release that false information to the public through the media,” said Kiriakou, a former officer at the US Central Intelligence Agency.
Kiriakou served as an analyst at the CIA for 14 years, joining the agency after being recruited by a graduate school professor at George Washington University. The whistleblower is known for publicly revealing the CIA’s secret torture program in December 2007. The agency retaliated by seeking his indictment and incarceration, and he was sentenced to 30 months in US federal prison.
“They [Israel] are obviously in damage control mode because they’re losing the PR war,” agreed Kuzmarov. “This bombing of the hospital is just outrageous, it’s caused horrific suffering and it’s a violation of international law.”
“Even the BBC…was contradicting that,” said Kuzmarov of Israeli assertions of a vast tunnel system beneath Al-Shifa Hospital. Various other prominent news outlets have also expressed skepticism towards Israeli claims in recent days.
“They’ve been caught in a lie – a big lie – with serious implications.”
