The West Is The Real Culprit In The Israeli-Palestine Conflict

Part 2: Geopolitics and Armaments

M. D. Kwak

LAST WEEK, I TALKED ABOUT THE WEST’S HISTORICAL CULPABILITY in creating the origins of this conflict, and our persistent failures to ameliorate it. However, there’s more to the story than what the West has failed to do; in various ways, we have actively worsened the conflict on the ground.

The existence of Israel has always been an overwhelming geopolitical advantage for Britain and the U.S. In the minds of policymakers, the protection of Israel is equivalent to the survival of their only Western ally in a sea of Arab states that (for quite justified reasons) refuse to play proxies for Western strategic interests. This incentive existed a century ago when the Balfour Declaration was drafted, and it exists now. This military concern is also inextricably linked with an ethno-religious one. Zionist lobbies, particularly in the U.S., are incredibly powerful and far-right evangelical Republicans would much prefer Israel to be in the hands of white Judeo-‘Christians’ as opposed to Arab Muslims, whom they fearmonger and racially vilify as being barbaric terrorists (strangely enough, it’s these ultra-conservative radicals that have also been the most Anti-Semitic in U.S. political history).

So, despite all their claims of support for a two-state solution, it is in every Western interest to preserve Israel’s hegemony over the region, and as long as Israel possesses this asymmetrical advantage, peace will be virtually impossible to attain. Indeed, how on earth is it in the interests of peace for the U.S. to send billions of dollars of lethal weaponry to Israel every year? (the most recent being a $14.3 billion package) Some argue that creating a US-backed Israeli superpower creates deterrence from conflict, notwithstanding the fact that an ideologically-driven terrorist group like Hamas will never be deterred and never has been, by Israel’s military might (evidenced by their 7 October attack, which killed 1,100 and took 248 hostages). All this means is that Israel now has more bombs with more devastating firepower to try and sniff out Hamas terrorists from Palestinian civilians. The result? Over 28,000 dead, 12,000 of whom are children, 68,500 injured and 7,000 missing.

Israel also happens to have one of the world’s largest defence industries. So even if Australia, India or the E.U. aren’t pouring billions of dollars into direct aid like the U.S., they do sign lucrative ‘defence contracts’ to buy Israeli-made drones, missiles and cyberspying technology. Sickeningly, many of these weapons have been ‘tested’ on Palestinian civilians to devastating effect – allowing weapon manufacturers to attest to their product’s ‘combat-readiness’ in so-called ‘counter-terrorism operations’. Israel’s weapon exports not only feed its military-industrial complex but also serve as a bargaining chip to insulate themselves from any political backlash over atrocities committed. By holding security contracts over our heads, Israel has ensured that the West turns a blind (or at least ambivalent) eye to its actions.

Israel and Hamas may both bear responsibility for the suffering caused in this war, but this is a conflict we have exacerbated by bankrolling Israel’s military – whether it be to preserve our neo-colonial interests in the Middle East or to safeguard our military contracts. For this, the whole world ought to hang its head in shame.