DeepSummary
This episode of Intercepted discusses the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. The guests, Amal Saad and Kareem Makdisi, analyze Israel's strategy of trying to draw the United States into a wider regional war against what is called the "axis of resistance" - a coalition of groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Yemen.
The guests explain the history and military capabilities of Hezbollah, portraying it as a formidable adversary that could inflict massive damage on Israel in an all-out war. They suggest that Israel may be seeking to provoke such a war in order to force U.S. intervention, as it appears unable to decisively defeat Hamas in Gaza through its current campaign.
The episode also examines the role of the Biden administration, which continues to provide military aid and diplomatic cover to Israel despite condemnation of the civilian toll in Gaza. Saad and Makdisi characterize Biden as the most pro-Israel president in recent history, actively enabling what they describe as Israel's genocidal policies against the Palestinians.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Israel appears to be seeking to provoke a broader regional war with Hezbollah and Iranian proxy forces like those in Iraq and Yemen in order to draw the U.S. into the conflict.
- Hezbollah is portrayed as a formidable military adversary capable of inflicting major damage on Israel in an all-out conflict.
- The Biden administration is accused of actively enabling and encouraging Israeli military actions against Palestinians that are characterized as amounting to genocide.
- A wider war involving Hezbollah is seen as likely if not inevitable by the guests unless the situation fundamentally changes.
- Lebanon's domestic politics are unstable and overshadowed by the regional tensions between Hezbollah and Israel, with the Lebanese government portrayed as tolerant of if not aligned with Hezbollah.
- Historical contrasts are made portraying Biden as more extremely pro-Israel and permissive of civilian casualties than past administrations like Reagan's.
- Hezbollah is coordinating with other Iranian-linked militia groups in Iraq, Yemen and Gaza as part of an emerging regional "axis of resistance" against Israel and the U.S.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The extent to which Biden has gone to support and to encourage a genocidal war in Gaza has been shocking even to, I would say, even to the most strident kind of critic of american foreign policy in the region. I think it's been shocking.“ by Kareem Makdisi
- “When you go back and look at what Reagan and his administration were saying, Reagan himself, once the Israelis kind of pushed through and committed various massacres of civilians, Reagan was surprisingly, in retrospect, was surprisingly, at least officially, outwardly, is this needs to stop, that this is unacceptable and it needs to stop.“ by Kareem Makdisi
- “I do think we're talking here about a war if and when it happens, and I do think it's inevitable that this war will happen. What they're calling the great war, if you like, is that while Israel could obviously destroy much of Lebanon, no one doubts this, and kill a very large number of people with its aerial power, what Hezbollah lacks in aerial power it makes up for with military ability.“ by Amal Saad
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Episode Information
Intercepted
The Intercept
1/10/24
As Israel’s war of annihilation in Gaza enters its fourth month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pulling the U.S. deeper into a wider regional war. In recent weeks, Israel has intensified its military operations inside Lebanon, killing several mid-level Hezbollah commanders in what appear to be targeted assassination strikes. Israel is also widely believed to have been responsible for the January 2 drone strike in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri. Hezbollah, a well-armed and organized Lebanese resistance movement with close links to Iran and a central member in the axis of resistance, has regularly fired rockets into northern Israel and has conducted drone strikes of its own, including against a strategic Israeli military facility.
This week’s guests on Intercepted are Amal Saad, a lecturer in politics at Cardiff University and a scholar of Hezbollah, and Karim Makdisi, an associate professor of international politics at the American University of Beirut and co-host of the Makdisi Street podcast. They join Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain for an in-depth discussion on whether Israel's war on Gaza will spark what many in the region believe is an inevitable “great war” against Israel. They also discuss the role of Iran and its relationships with Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as how Joe Biden compares to past presidents on the wars in Palestine and Lebanon.
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