ISRAEL’S terrorist act of killing Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh has escalated threats to the peace of the region to a dangerous level as the US media reports suggest the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered his forces to strike the Jewish state directly. He issued the order during an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will respond forcefully to any attack.
The international community is rightly emphasizing the need for restraints as escalation of the conflict would mean more bloodshed and miseries for not only the people of the countries involved but the entire inter-connected world. Saner voices have long been urging Israel to end its terrorist activities but it is proceeding ahead with its plans as confirmed by two high profile killings within 24 hours – killing of Hizbollah Commander in Lebanese capital Beirut and assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. Israeli belligerence can be gauged by the fact that these terrorist attacks were carried out at a time when the entire world was calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where over forty thousand innocent people including children and women have been killed. The latest attacks are serious blows to peace efforts and Qatar, which has been trying to broker a deal, has questioned how mediation can succeed when the one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side. Iran’s Supreme Leader has said that Israel has provided grounds for harsh punishment for itself and it was Tehran’s duty to avenge the killing. The risk of a deepening war between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has also grown following the strike in the Golan Heights that killed 12 children in a Druze village on Saturday and the subsequent killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr. The remarks of Hamas deputy chief in Gaza Khalil Al-Hayya at a news conference in Tehran that Hamas and Iran don’t want a regional war, but there is a crime that should be punished also indicate the counter strategy of the group. There is scant possibility of any concrete move towards restoration of peace in the region as the backers of the Jewish state continue to encourage it to continue with its aggressive posture despite calls by the UN and a verdict by the International Court. Strangely enough, instead of condemning the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the US Ambassador to the UN urged the Security Council to pressure Iran to stop escalating its attacks on Israel through its “proxies”, as well as arming and financing “terrorist groups”. Might is right has virtually become a global order and it is for the UN and other influential members of the world community to play their role to save the peace of the region and the world.
