by B. R. GOWANI
Ground invasion? Doubtful
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US President Donald Trump were hoping for a quick victory when they went to war against Iran on February 28, 2026. They heavily bombed that country and assassinated its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei and several other leaders in hope the government will fall. In the ensuing chaos, the US and Israel or “USrael,” Dr Niaz Murtaza’s term, wanted to install a pliable person. Iran continues to suffer great losses, but the government has survived.
Trump doesn’t take defeat easily, and it seems he wants to fight back. Of course, it will be at the expense of the lives of thousands of Iranians’ and a few US soldiers.
Just recently, 10,000 more US troops have joined the already stationed 40,000, making a total of over 50,000 US troops in the Middle East. This excludes the 4,500 troops on U.S.S. aircraft carrier Gerald Ford.
While addressing the US public (and the world) on April 1, 2026, the 30th day of the USrael’s illegal/criminal war against Iran, Trump warned:
“We are going to hit them [Iranians] extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages [<1>], where they belong.”
Trump wants to end the war but is frustrated by his inability to break the will of the Iranian government. Sending US troops is risky and so Trump wants to avoid it. But, as they say, the loser doubles the bet. USrael is bombing bridges, medical research center, steel mill, and anything they want.
No Israeli ground troops
It is Israel’s war that the US is fighting but Israel has refused to send its soldiers for ground invasion in Iran. Netanyahu’s son Yair (July 1991 born) has been living in Florida since October 2023 to avoid joining the army. His mother Sara is with him now.
Former White House official Howard Stoffer questioned why Nair hasn’t joined IDF (Israeli Defense Force) like his fellow citizens. He also warned that Yair’s presence in the US could make him “highly vulnerable target for an attack or kidnapping.”
In October 2024, the cost to protect Yair was 2.5 million shekels – nearly $700,000. The security is provided by Shin Bet, AKA the Israel Security Agency (ISA), something like the US CIA. The cost is probably much higher now.
Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon, a right winger, who had opposed war against Iran, blasted Yair:
“Netanyahu’s kid down in Miami, turf him out tomorrow. Where’s DHS [Department of Homeland Security] when we need them? Throw him out. Get him back there. Put a uniform on him. Let’s have him in the first wave.”
Bannon also wants “Arabs” to join the war.
“Let’s have the Arabs. I want Arabs.”
“I want UAE…MBZ, who’s the best they got over there, and he’s got a real army…it’s not huge, but they actually know how to fight. Kharg Island, there’s your objective, go!”
He further added:
“And throw in a couple of Qatar princes. Throw in the Saudi princes in there, too. Get them out of London. Get them out of the casinos and whore houses in London.”
“And get them back to the Gulf.”
Pope opposes US/Israel war
On Palm Sunday in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Leo told a large gathering of people he is opposed to people using Jesus to justify war:
“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.”
“(Jesus) does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’.”
People protests against US/Israel war
On March 28, “No Kings” protests were held in many US cities and towns in where about 8 million people took part in more than 3,300 locations — hundreds of those locations were rural, where Republican-leaning communities live. According to the Democratic Party-aligned 50501 Movement, it was “the largest single-day protest in modern American history.” The second most used slogan After “No Kings” was “No ICE, No wars” reflecting people’s “understanding that dictatorship at home and imperialist violence abroad are two sides of the same class policy.”
As always is the case, when the Democratic Party is involved in protests, it can never convey a pure no war message but a polluted one where only coverage of the wars against Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon, are silenced. The polluters, as usual, are the AIPAC (American Israeli Political Action Committee) one of the main Israeli lobbies, and the liberal Democrats.
Michael Leonardi points out that No Kings protests were more frank in Italy than in the US:
The U.S. Version: Liberal Theater with AIPAC Guests
Protests are brilliant if they are not polluted with AIPAC and imperialist forces, and if they can succeed in forcing the president to reverse wrong decisions; and, force him to do things that are good for the people.
But we have seen often that in the Western world people are allowed to protest, but the leaders are allowed to adamantly refuse to listen. During the 2nd US war against Iraq in 2003, the New York Times wrote that half the world was opposed to George W. Bush‘s Iraq war. Did Bush pay any attention? No. He went to war and destroyed that country.
(In 1991, Bush’s father, George H. W. Bush, had gone to war against Iraq.)
Diplomatic efforts
After meeting his counterparts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, regarding the current Middle East situation, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the following:
“The foreign ministers advocated dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable pathway to prevent conflict and to promote regional peace and harmony. They called for upholding principles of United Nations Charter, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states.”
A couple of days later, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi told Trump:
“I tell President Trump: nobody can stop the war in our region in the Gulf but you.”
March 31 Pakistani newspaper Dawn‘s editorial stated the same thing:
“The fact is that the key to de-escalation lies in Washington’s hands. It was America that started this disastrous war, and only America can and should end it, even if it means eating humble pie.”
This is a fact; only Trump can stop the war. One wonders: why the hell, the four ministers met in Pakistan, rather than directly going to Trump and asking him to consider halting the war, as otherwise the region is going to burn for a long time with economic, social, political, and environmental consequences for the entire planet.
The war’s first fourteen days has released 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide — the amount equals to the combined emissions of 84 countries!
On March 31, Dar met his Chinese counterpart Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. they issued a Five-Point Initiative:
- Immediate Cessation of Hostilities
- Start of peace talks as soon as possible
- Security of nonmilitary targets
- Security of shipping lanes
- Primacy of the United Nations Charter
Dar wasted fuel and added to the pollution by traveling to China at a time when the already poor Pakistan is experiencing fuel shortages.
When the Indian opposition reminded India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar that Pakistan’s role as a mediator is a setback for India, Jaishankar said India is not a “dalal nation” like Pakistan. (“Dalal” is sometimes regarded as a derogatory term in many South Asian languages, it means broker and it also means pimp. <2>
Diplomacy is good when the person/party to be convinced has ears open to critical feedback. That is not the case with Trump — his ears are open only to hear praise and things he wants to hear. What Trump has is a big oral member which spews hate, violence, rubbish constantly.
Can the ongoing mayhem be stopped?
Yes. Definitely. But only when the people with power decide. One example:
On March 29, 2026, Israeli police denied Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Rev. Francesco Ielpo entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to commemorate Palm Sunday Mass. The Church is located in Jerusalem’s old city, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified. In centuries, this is the first time that the mass couldn’t be celebrated in a timely manner.
Under heavy international pressure, Israel relented. <3>
The same pressure is needed to stop the insane Trump/Netanyahu’s inhumane and vicious war.
Mind you, it is not easy.
Even though Trump came to power with a US first platform, he’s working for Israel.
“Trump promised to put “America First,” in actuality, it is Israel-first donor’s agenda: billionaires like Larry Ellison, Bill Ackman, Alex Karp, Miriam Adelson, Haim Saban, Michael Dell ,,, etc. Their Israel-first wish list, supersedes America First.”
Jonathan Cook reminds us:
“Trump’s off-ramp is elusive. And Israel will do its level best to make sure it stays that way.”
There are many Israeli agents in the White House who are not letting Trump get the real picture of the war. A couple of White House sources told Time magazine that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was worried because Trump was being provided “a rose-colored view” of the war rather than the true picture. She has asked her colleagues to be “’more forthright with the boss‘” about the economic and political threats.
Three things can stop the war
(1) Major countries should voice their extreme opposition to the naked USrael war and violence on Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon. One country has shown that courage.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the Spanish Congress:
‘This is not the same scenario as the illegal war in Iraq. We are facing something far worse. Much worse. With a potential impact that is far broader and far deeper.’
‘This time, it’s an absurd and illegal war. A cruel one that sets us back from achieving our economic, social, and environmental goals.’
‘It is not fair that some set the world on fire while others bear the ashes. It is not right that Spaniards and other Europeans should pay out of their own pockets for this illegal war.’
Switzerland invoked its neutrality laws in prohibiting US war flights.
If other European countries were to act in a way as Spain did, it could make some difference.
If the Gulf countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE) realize that Israel, the nuclear power, is waging war against Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians, and others, for regional hegemony and beyond. They should withdraw their friendship with Israel and ask the US to remove its bases from their countries.
(2) the Catholic Pope Leo should ask Christians, at least, Catholics <4>, in the US, including Vice J. D. Vance to oppose the war. Vance was not in favor of the war but went along with Trump.
The Pope himself should announce a visit to Iran at his earliest, forcing the USrael to stop the war.
(3) Those opposing war against Iran, such as Bernie Sanders and others, should ask businesses to shut down till US stops the war. Of course, the businesses supportive of Trump won’t join but Sanders and other leaders should ask their supporters to boycott those businesses.
All else — protests, diplomatic efforts, and Pope’s statement are exercises in futility, while people keep on being bombed, killed, orphaned, wounded.
Notes
<1> It was US Air Force officer Curtis LeMay who used the phrase “bombing back to the stone ages” for the first time in regards to the US war against Vietnam.
On January 9, 1991, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz was threatened by the US Secretary of State James Baker that if Iraq did not vacate Kuwait, the US would bomb Iraq “back to the Stone Age.”
A US official Richard Armitage warned Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that if Pakistan refused to join US in its war against Afghanistan, Pakistan would be “bombed back to the Stone Age.”
<2> India’s extreme closeness to Israel and US and it’s marked indifference towards Iran has created room for Pakistan, which has good relations with Iran and the US, to offer mediation.
Indian politician Pawan Khera reminded the Modi government:
“Was India a “Broker Country” when Modi was desperate to mediate between Russia & Ukraine? Selective brokering or selective memory?”
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khwaja Asif retorted:
“Diplomacy is Jaishankar’s family profession. His father was also a diplomat, so if we’re “dalal,” he’s a khandaani dalal.”
Khandani means hereditary.
<3> When the Western world wants Israel not to cross its limit, Israel understands.
Surprisingly, the US ambassador to Israel and a supporter of Israel’s plan for “Eretz Israel” or “Greater Israel” and its war crimes, Mike Huckabee criticized such a move:
“… the action today by the Israel Nat’l Police to deny Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and 3 other priests from entering the Church to offer a blessing on Palm Sunday is an unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world.”
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni had this to say:
“… Preventing the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Custos of the Holy Land from entering, especially on a solemnity central to the faith such as Palm Sunday, constitutes an offence not only against believers but against every community that recognises religious freedom.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also raised his voice:
“I condemn this decision by the Israeli police, which adds to the worrying increase in violations of the status of Jerusalem’s Holy Sites.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the Israeli action:
“We condemn this unjustified attack on religious freedom and demand that Israel respect the diversity of faiths and international law. Because without tolerance, coexistence is impossible.”
Among the major Western European powers, Spain is an anomaly. Sanchez openly prohibited US from using Spain’s territory in war against Iran.
After global outrage against the Israeli action, Netanyahu government lifted the ban and granted permission to the Latin Patriarch to enter the Church.
<4> Between 19% to 22% of the Christians in the US are Catholics. There are 1.3 billion Catholics in the world, making them the largest of Christian denomination. They make up 17.8% of the world’s population. With 2.3 billion followers worldwide that makes Christianity the world’s largest religion.
B. R. Gowani an be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com