How US fails to talk Israel out of escalating Middle East conflict

Since last October, the United States has been warning over the threat of regional escalation or a wider war if Israel expands its bombardment or ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

But despite calls for de-escalation, Israel has done just the opposite.

It has ignored the advice of its biggest arms supplier and began an intense barrage of air strikes on September 23, as well as launching a “limited” ground invasion on Monday.

As a result, over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, several other Lebanese and Palestinian leaders, and a prominent Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general.

The question is: why has the US been unable to talk Israel out of this? Or, better yet: can the US talk Israel out of anything at all?

Israel has not stopped moving up the escalation ladder, and that too on multiple fronts.

Take Gaza as an example where the Palestinian death toll stands at over 41,600 — the largest casualties being women and children. Israel continues to brutally assault the tiny coastal enclave since last year, ignoring repeated calls for a ceasefire.

In the occupied West Bank, illegal Israeli settlers have carried out nearly 1,300 attacks against the Palestinians destroying their homes, crops and properties without accountability.

Both Gaza and the occupied West Bank are part of the territories that will form the State of Palestine, recognised by 147 countries out of the 193 UN member states. But Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state, in a clear challenge to US policy.

Israel does not budge when the US imposes sanctions on illegal Israeli settlers; it does not respond when President Joe Biden puts forth a ceasefire proposal for Gaza or when Washington openly, and rather sternly, warns against any unilateral action in Lebanon.

Israel acts as it pleases, and the job of cleaning up the mess falls to US State Department officials, who have allowed themselves to become a talking point on social media due to their unclear, frequently changing, and often tone-deaf responses.

Earlier yesterday, Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, told a press briefing, “We have never wanted to see a diplomatic resolution with Hamas.”

A Zeteo reporter quickly asked Miller, “Well, what about the ceasefire?”

“I wish that Hamas would come to the table,” Miller responded.

The US State Department spokesperson’s comments were in direct contradiction to earlier efforts and statements made by US government officials.

In June of this year, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while speaking to an Israeli channel, minced no words as he rejected a UN-backed ceasefire proposal that was presented by Biden.

“It will be an agreement according to our terms, and our terms are not to end the war,” Netanyahu had said.

As tensions escalate between Israel and Hezbollah, the US now finds itself in a precarious position, striving to avert a broader conflict.

The US’s diplomatic efforts to prevent Israeli retaliation against Hezbollah, which it feared could broaden the conflict, have also gone in vain. Perhaps a question to ponder is: what does the US need to do to make Israel listen?