‘Israel’s’ Nakba in The Face of Gaza: American Political, Military, and Intelligence Mobilization

Following the first day of the victorious Palestinian resistance operation, American political institutions have engaged in widespread mobilization. Successive sessions have been conducted and statements issued to alleviate “Israel's” fears and reassure Tel Aviv that US support is on the way and that Washington is by its side in all fields.

One of the ironies that highlight the scale of the crisis is that “Israel”, which is described in the Western media as “the strongest military force in the Middle East,” requested urgent aid from the US in the face of the Palestinian resistance, which has been besieged for many years.

A correspondent for “Israel’s” Yediot newspaper said that "Israel" passed through security channels on Saturday (the first day of the battle) a request to the United States to assist it militarily. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed this request and the rapid response.

Military support

Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced several steps to strengthen the Pentagon's posture in the region and to "bolster regional deterrence efforts." 

The steps include the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean, along with a cruiser equipped with missiles and destroyers, and strengthening US Air Force fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. 

In addition, the US government will be rapidly providing the “Israel” Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin arriving in the coming days.

“My team and I will continue to be in close contact with our “Israeli” counterparts to ensure they have what they need to protect their citizens and defend themselves,” Austin stressed.

Despite the ongoing controversy in the United States about the feasibility of spending on foreign wars, most recently in Ukraine, which causes a permanent deficit in the general budget and threatens to halt the work of the American government, President Joe Biden announced that he had approved an emergency military aid package to “Israel” worth $8 billion. 

That money is being added to the existing American aid that “Israel” receives annually amounting to $3.8 billion, most of which goes to the military, in addition to emergency economic aid such as supporting the resettlement of Jews migrating to occupied Palestine.

Biden called “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warned “that no enemies of “Israel” believe they can or should seek advantage from the current situation” - a signal that was interpreted by “Israel” as directed at Hezbollah.

Coverage of the aggression and the intelligence failure

The American government was quick to cover in advance every military step that the “Israeli” government would take. The US State Department said that the “Israeli” response “is likely to take some time, and it’s fraught with very difficult decisions for the “Israelis” to make.”

This means the US is giving “Israel” ample time to achieve the goals of the aggression so that it is not caught in a rush. It considers that everyone must accept without discussion the difficult “Israeli” decisions without placing controls or restrictions on the expected “Israeli” action. 

If the Zionist entity was greatly alarmed and frustrated by the Palestinian resistance’s attack on the settlements facing the Gaza Strip, the repercussions quickly reached the American intelligence services, especially in searching for the causes of the deplorable “Israeli” defeat. The US administration informed members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about the situation in “Israel”.

According to a report by Politico, citing Jim Himes, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the operation “was kind of shocking in its size and ambition.” Himes said the attack “raises lots of questions about who knew what.”

CIA officer Mick Mulroy described what happened as an “intelligence failure”. While he placed blame for the failure primarily on “Israeli” officials, he said US intelligence also should have picked up on some of the indicators.

Beyond the alert

All of this close American follow-up to the earth-shattering developments in “Israeli” contains important points:

“Israel” is in real trouble and will not be able to face this challenge alone, the first of its kind in decades. It is a cardboard tiger that is only strengthened by the air force provided to it by Americans.

Without it, the “Israelis” could fall in hours as was the case with the youth of Gaza who penetrated into its settlements and greatly disrupted the effectiveness of air intervention. Even its tanks, which it is showing off to the media today in preparation for what it describes as a possible ground operation, were unable to repel the Palestinian resistance fighters who entered the “Israeli” camps and took control of many tanks, armored vehicles, and weapons after the soldiers abandoned them without putting a fight or offering very little resistance.

Usually, there is an American aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean for use when needed. Therefore, adding other warships to it will not constitute a significant weight to the American military presence in the region. We know that the United States has withdrawn many of its naval vessels and military stockpiles to the seas and countries facing China and has transferred some of them to support Ukraine in its confrontation with Russia.

The presence of American naval vessels will not have an impact on the course of the battle on the Gaza front, except that it is a factor of moral support for the occupying entity, whose confidence in its capabilities has been shaken. In this regard, the “Israeli” army radio, quoting American reports, indicated that the US army is planning to bring its warships and fighter planes closer to “Israel” as a show of support.

“Israel” does not need additional planes, tanks, weapons, and ammunition; it has plenty of them. What it may lack most today is the will to fight in light of the reluctance of many of its youth to volunteer in ground units due to the high risks surrounding working there, in addition to internal disintegration.

It is known that there are large US weapons stores in occupied Palestine in case the American forces need them in the event of an emergency. However, the American administration allowed the “Israeli” entity years ago to use this stockpile when needed. However, more recent reports suggest that part of the stockpile was shipped to Ukraine. This makes it unlikely that the new American supplies announced are necessary at this early time and may indicate the existence of other objectives for this announcement.

It is likely that the new American military alert, if we accept that it is a new addition to the permanent American presence in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, is a message to the forces of the Axis of Resistance not to interfere in the conflict on the side of the Palestinian people in their legitimate jihad. 

The White House said that US military assistance to "Israel" will deter Hezbollah from participating in the war. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also expressed that his government is doing “everything we can to ensure that there’s not another front in this conflict, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

In other words, there is an American attempt to restore the balance of power to favor the occupation entity after it was shifted in favor of the Palestinian resistance. 

In addition, the Americans are trying to prevent the other resistance axis factions from influencing developments in Palestine. On this level, it will be difficult - according to estimates - to convince the forces of the resistance axis not to support the Palestinian resistance if Washington escalates in support of its ally “Israel” in the aggression against Palestine.

It has always been said that “Israel” is an advanced American base in the region. Every “Israeli” predicament, from the 1973 war to the martyrdom operations in Palestine in the 1990s, to the 2006 war on Lebanon, to the last qualitative operation of the Palestinian resistance in the settlements around Gaza, confirms that the shaking of “Israel” is a shaking of the foundations of American policy in the region and a painful blow to it. However, the American government cannot do much for an entity suffering from cracks and unrest that need more than emergency external support.