The latest rounds of fighting in Gaza and Lebanon show that nothing has been resolved as a result of the U.S.-imposed ceasefires. Hamas and Hezbollah refuse to disarm and Washington is pressing Israel to hold off from taking decisive action against the two groups that are intent on Israel’s destruction.
Hamas and Hezbollah were both severely weakened by Israel, but are rebuilding their forces and preparing for future attacks on Jews. Israel, if it is to survive as a refuge for Jews in a world of increasing acts of Jew-hatred, must act to prevent the Tehran-backed groups from launching new pogroms.
President Donald Trump’s so-called peace plan says Hamas must disarm and an “International Stabilization Force” — which exists only on paper — will take its place. But the only force capable of disarming Hamas is the Israeli army.
“Hamas is not disarming; they are actually rearming,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters visiting an Israeli army post in Gaza City Nov. 19. “It’s something that we will not accept.”
Despite beatings, torture and murders of Palestinians carried out by its thugs in Gaza, Hamas has not been able to stamp out the growing opposition to its rule.
Hamas thugs have also repeatedly violated the ceasefire by crossing the “yellow line” between the 53% of Gaza controlled by Israel and the remainder of the territory where Hamas is reimposing its brutal dictatorship.
Since Nov. 21, the Israel Defense Forces killed at least 11 Hamas operatives who tried to flee the tunnels in Rafah. Six Hamas thugs surrendered, even though the Nazi-like group’s leaders boast that “surrender” is not in their “dictionary.”
The Israel Defense Forces is destroying remaining Hamas tunnels in the Rafah area. This can make it possible for Gazans who want to be free from the boot of Hamas to move there and begin rebuilding their lives.
U.S. officials are planning to set up temporary housing compounds for up to 25,000 people each with clinics and schools in areas of Gaza controlled by Israeli forces.
The Popular Forces, one of several anti-Hamas militias based in the Israeli-controlled zone, says it is taking measures to secure parts of Rafah and “prepare it to receive families as quickly as possible.”
Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel for more than a year to reinforce Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom. But after Israel severely wounded thousands of Hezbollah fighters, destroyed its most advanced missile stores and decimated its leadership, Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon in November 2024.
Hezbollah was created in 1982 at the initiative of Tehran to extend its reactionary influence in the region. Since 2005 Hezbollah has been part of the Lebanese government.
The Lebanese army has helped to enforce the ceasefire in southern Lebanon, removing nearly 10,000 rockets, 400 missiles and over 205,000 smaller explosives. But Hezbollah refuses to disarm and is stockpiling missiles in the north. An Israeli airstrike Nov. 23 killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, a central figure in its attempt to reorganize and prepare future assaults on Israel.
While the White House claims it supports limited strikes by Israel against Hamas and Hezbollah, it insists Israel exercise “restraint” and not launch an offensive.
U.S. imperialism puts plunder first
Washington is trying to create an alliance with regimes from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Tehran to take on Beijing, its main rival worldwide, to push back its influence in the Middle East. The U.S. capitalist rulers see maintaining the ceasefires as essential to this goal and for advancing their plunder of the oil and other natural resources in the region.
President Trump welcomed Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of oil-rich Saudi Arabia, to the White House Nov. 18, greeting him with a military band and a flyover of F-35 fighter jets. This was followed by a lavish state dinner that included major capitalist owners, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Trump approved a deal selling two squadrons of F-35s to Saudi Arabia and announced that the Saudis would purchase nearly 300 U.S. tanks.
This will make Saudi Arabia the only Middle Eastern country besides Israel with the stealth F-35 in its arsenal, although the Israeli version includes electronic warfare systems and fuel tanks with 30% greater capacity than the Saudis were given. Israel objects, as this undercuts its military superiority in the air.
In addition, U.S. companies will begin working with the Saudi kingdom to construct nuclear energy plants. A White House fact sheet called all this a demonstration of “the Trump Administration’s ‘America First’ approach.”
This is also the U.S. rulers’ approach to Syria. The week before bin Salman’s visit, Trump welcomed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to the White House.
Twenty years ago al-Sharaa, then a member of al-Qaeda, was a U.S. prisoner in Iraq. He later became the central leader of the Islamist groups that overthrew the Assad dictatorship in Syria last year.
The Israeli government has good reason to distrust the new government. Despite claiming to be building a new Syria for all of its nationalities and religions, the regime’s forces have clashed with the Druze, Kurdish and Alawite minorities, killing hundreds of civilians.
This is of little concern to the U.S. rulers. The Trump administration has lifted sanctions on Syria so it can rejoin the international banking and financial networks, making possible loans, financial transfers and aid.
While the capitalist government in Israel looks to U.S. imperialism to aid its defense, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understands that Israel must be ready to act on its own if it is to survive.
Israel’s message to Washington
When Netanyahu visited Syrian territory held by Israel Nov. 19, a Ynet article was headlined, “Netanyahu’s tour of the Golan buffer zone sends a message to Syria — and Washington.” The Israel Defense Forces expanded the buffer deeper into Syrian territory after the fall of Assad to prevent the new regime from threatening Israel.
The article pointed out “the unusual composition of the entourage accompanying Netanyahu — including not only Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Shin Bet Director David Zini, but also Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.” Netanyahu made clear that Israel will not withdraw from any part of the zone — regardless of what Washington wants — until al-Sharaa agrees to ban heavy weapons and any substantial Syrian armed presence there.