CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The US-Israel Culture of Annihilation

“I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 1911 “I’m not looking for war, and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before.” – Donald Trump, 2019

“I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate.”

– Theodore Roosevelt, 1911

“I’m not looking for war, and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before.”

In close coordination with the Israeli regime, Donald Trump has embraced Roosevelt’s style of gunboat diplomacy without prior congressional authorization or a declaration of war but with far more violence and destruction. This is a man who came to politics not only undisciplined by the formalities and limitations of the presidential office or the Constitution but with the level of narcissism and egotism of a dangerous sociopath holding massive WMD. This is the lowest point in US political history.

Trump chose people for conducting foreign affairs with no training in international relations or diplomacy, only personal loyalty. Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, said that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, on whom Trump primarily relied in deciding whether to go to war in Iran, are simply “Israeli assets.”

Both Kushner and Witkoff are ardent Zionists and, like Trump, have used Middle East negotiations to conduct multibillion dollar personal business transactions in the region, illegally and unashamedly violating Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution, the emoluments clause. They have played key roles in false flag operations to try to deceive the Iranian leadership into believing the US was serious about negotiating an agreement to foreclose Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.

The Israeli government doesn’t even pretend to negotiate. Israeli journalist Gideon Levy has said that Israelis as a whole think of militarism as the first, not the last, option in dealing with adversaries. Their model for dealing with Muslim or Arab nations, all potential Amalekites in Netanyahu’s view, is the Gaza final solution.

It is confirmed by abundant human rights reports and physical evidence that Israel, using the Gaza playbook, is targeting and destroying residences, hospitals, clinics, schools, sports stadiums, businesses, cafes,........

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