NOVANEWS
Over 50 Palestinians have been killed and about 500 others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli regime on the Gaza Strip since November 14.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Mark Glenn of the Cross and Crescent Solidarity Movement from Idaho. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: This time around I would think is different, don’t you agree? We’re looking at Tel Aviv being hit. We’re looking at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu running for cover in a bunker. Do you think that Israel underestimated when it decided to escalate its aggression against Gaza?
Glenn: No, I do not think that they underestimated it at all. In the end, you and I and others may to a certain degree relish images such as the war criminal Netanyahu running for cover.
The fact of the matter is that the media machine, the worldwide Zionist media machine is going to use this to their own interest in “proving” how dangerous the Palestinians are and how Israel is justified in executing this extremely unbalanced use of force in killing all of these civilians.
Again, like I said, as much as we may get a certain amount of justifiable enjoyment out of seeing this war criminal scurrying for cover, the fact of the matter is that it will be used to galvanize Israel’s support around the world, and to circumvent what is a growing awareness on the part of the rest of the civilized population that Israel is a mad dog and she is a danger to not just peace in the Middle East but peace around the world.
Press TV: Are we going to be seeing, based on your views, what many are saying an imminent ground invasion? If so, what benefit would that have for Israel?
Glenn: The benefit for Israel is that Israel has to engage in this kind of serial murder on a periodic basis. She is no different than stories that we read about in the press where some serial killer kills with regularity, and that there is no reason for it other than the fact that he gets simple, pure pleasure out of causing innocent people suffering.
Whether there’s a ground invasion or not, I don’t think it’s possible for us to accurately predict at this time — she clearly appears to be, she’s calling up her reserve forces.
We have to factor into this that Netanyahu is stinging following the US elections where his man did not get elected, ok? He is seeding with anger and he’s looking for an outlet to express that anger and, at the same time, to show the world that he still is… despite the fact that maybe the elections in the United States did not turn out the way that he had hoped they would.
He still has to demonstrate to the world that he is capable of projecting force. I think this is in large part why we see this thing taking place in Gaza. It’s his way of thumbing, sticking his thumb to his nose in the face of the civilized world and saying, ‘these are the rules that Israel plays by; we don’t recognize Western values; if we feel like killing dozens, hundreds or even thousands of innocent civilians we’re going to do it, and we’re going to get the support of the American president and American Congress in the package deal’.
At this point, like I said, it’s impossible to tell. The only thing that we can predict with Israel is that as long as she continues to exist in the fashion that she did, we will see this forever.
We need the rest of the world to finally come to terms with the fact that Israel really is the mad dog that former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said that she should be.
Press TV: Tell us about Egypt then. We have seen the prime minister visit the Gaza Strip for a short period and he came back. That didn’t stop Israel to continue with this outrage. Neither did the rockets and missiles to come out from the Gaza Strip.
What’s the best case, worst case scenario to come out of there? Some are analyzing that this type of provocation may bring Egypt and Israel to some kind of dangerous armed tensions. Is that a possibility? How do you see Egypt’s role and whether it’s going to be fruitful or not?
Glenn: Absolutely, I think that part of the short and long term goals here with Israel engaging in this barbaric behavior in Gaza was to bring about this kind of pressure on Egypt.
As much as we read about in the Israeli press that Israel wants to keep this peace treaty with Egypt and all others, that is just not true. Israel has been bristling under this peace treaty since it was drafted in 1979.
According to the terms of this peace treaty, Israel was forced to relinquish the Sinai Peninsula which she stole in 1967; and Israel not only wants the Sinai back but the rest of the Middle East. Israel has just been waiting for an opportunity to see this peace treaty with Egypt fall apart.
In the aftermath of the revolution in Egypt with the installation of this new government and now with the situation taking place in Gaza right now, we have a situation where Egypt is being pressured to side with her Arab brothers and sisters which may very well lead to a dissolution of the peace treaty, which is exactly what Israel wants.
She wants the Sinai back because she considers it to be part of greater Israel and, of course, the Sinai is very rich in natural resources; so as much as we may see Israel crying like a baby and pretending to be worried about this peace treaty with Egypt falling apart, this is just more theatrics on the part of the Jewish state.
She would love nothing more than to see this peace treaty fall apart so that she would have a reason for reinvading and re-conquering the Sinai and absorbing it into greater Israel.
Press TV: Your thoughts on how the US has been pressing Turkey and Egypt to help stop what they say are rockets coming from Hamas. At the same time, we also have heard words of condemnation from Qatar.
Of course, Qatar and Turkey are two countries involved in the backing of the new opposition umbrella group who are obviously partly responsible for arming these insurgents in Syria. Could this spill over and create divisions there?
Glenn: I don’t see it creating divisions, no. I think it’s the United States pretending to put pressure on Turkey and other players to “reign in” Hamas.
But this is just more posturing. It’s just more theatrics on the part of the United States so that she can appear to be an honest broker, an unbiased broker in the region, and all she’s really interested in is bringing peace when everyone knows that the United States is Israel’s personal attack dog.
Again, perception is everything. It is nine-tenths of the battle. Israel and the United States have mastered this form of black magic, of altering people’s perceptions, in order to create a narrative on the battlefield that works in their interests.
The United States operating in this fashion and making these very public moves to pressure these other countries to get involved in the “peace process,” this is just a way of buying more time for Israel so that she can continue on with her serial mass murder which is what she is good at, and what she will always be good at because it’s the nature of the beast.