Thank You, Mother Russia, For Putting Israel In Its Place – Gideon Levy

Thank You Mother Russia, For Putting Israel In Its Place – Gideon Levy

JOAQUIN FLORES

In recent years, Israel has become more “out of control” than usual, ‘patrolling’ Lebanese airspace and bombing the territory of Syria, writes the correspondent Gideon Levy (pictured below) of the country’s oldest daily, Haaretz.

Russia, which after the incident with the IL-20 decided to send the S-300 complexes to Syria, managed to “curb” Israel, showing it the scope of what is allowed, the journalist believes.

“A ray of hope breaks out from behind the clouds: someone sets the framework of what’s permissible for Israel. For the first time in many years, another state makes it clear to Israel that its influence has boundaries, that it is abnormal to do everything that it likes, that it is not alone involved in the game, that America cannot always cover it and that it can not harm endlessly “, writes Levy.

While Hezbollah defeated Israel 12 years ago in a major conflict over Lebanon, and also showed it where its boundaries and limitations are, Russia is the first state actor to do so as a state in many decades. 

According to the journalist, Israel needs such restrictions as a no-fly zone. In recent years, “arrogance” and the general geopolitical situation have allowed the country “to get out of control.”

Israeli aircraft could patrol Lebanese airspace as if it was its own, and bombed Syria numerous times, for no coherent reason permissible within international law. Its troops also periodically destroy Gaza, its abuses against Palestinians have only increased despite growing international pressure and general disgust at the crimes of the so-called ‘Jewish state’, and it keeps captive Palestine in an “endless siege” and continues to “occupy” the western bank of the Jordan River. Levy stressed;

“Suddenly someone stood up and said:” Well, stop it. At least in Syria, everything is enough. ” Thank you, Mother Russia, for limiting the child, who has not been pacified for a long time,”

According to him, the Russian response caused “stupor” from Israel, which only showed how much the country needs a “responsible adult who can curb it.” After all, for decades Israel has not come across such a “strange phenomenon”.

In the spring, Bloomberg quoted former and current Israeli officials who threatened that the country’s air force would bomb the S-300 if Russia supplied Syria’s complexes. But now the voices of those who spoke with “empty bravado” have calmed down, notes Levy.

In the opinion of the journalist, any state has the right to possess air defense, including Syria, and no one should deprive him o such an opportunity by force. But this simple truth sounds to the Israeli authorities as something “unrealistic”.

They used to regard the sovereignty of other countries as “meaningless”, and their own – “sacred” and “highest.”

They “interfered with impunity” in the affairs of the region, hiding behind real or fictional fears about national security. But all this unexpectedly came across the Russian ‘NO’, which brought Israel back to reality.

This happened very opportunely. When Israel “was in the seventh heaven with happiness” because the United States moved the embassy to Jerusalem and reduced the funding to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), Moscow issued a warning.

Perhaps this will at least slightly balance the “intoxication with power” that has taken possession of the country in recent years, and it will begin to “grow smart and recover.”

Moreover, Russia may inadvertently turn out to be “better for Israel because of all this insane corrupting support that it receives from the current US administration and its predecessors,” Levy argues. He goes on to say:

“Russia has demonstrated to the world a way of dealing with Israel, using only the language that it understands. Let those who really care about the well-being of Israel and justice learn how it is done: only with the use of force,”

According to the journalist, only when Israel is punished and forced to account for its actions, does it act correctly. Its Air Force will think hard before starting another bombing in Syria, “the importance of which, if it exists at all, is unclear.”

Gideon Levy concludes;

“If such a Russian ‘nyet’ also hung over the skies of Gaza, so many useless deaths and destruction would have been avoided. If the international forces rebuffed the Israeli occupation, it would end long ago.

Instead, we have Donald Trump in Washington and pitiful condemnations from the EU because of the eviction of Khan al-Ahmar residents.”

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Featured image courtesy of Haaretz