TV News LIES

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initiated the US-Israeli war on Iran at the end of February, Israel's objectives appeared clear: dismantling Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and bringing about the collapse of the Iranian government.

Now, following the signing of an agreement between Iran and the US, with negotiations between the two countries continuing in Switzerland, a new poll has found that 92 percent of Israelis believe Iran has won the war.

The survey, conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, found that Israelis overwhelmingly view the war and subsequent deal with the US in a negative way, with 83 percent of those polled saying the campaign has weakened Israel's long-term security and 86 percent feeling negatively about the outcome.

This public perception mirrors the feelings of Israel's political and military elite, many of whom see the end of the war on Iran as representing a turning point that could weaken Israel's regional influence.

The poll found that 72.5 perchttps://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ninety-two-percent-israelis-think-iran-has-won-war-new-poll-findsent of Israelis do not believe Netanyahu when he says Israel achieved significant gains and removed an existential threat, a feeling that also reflects the growing uncertainty around the prime minister's future.

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At least 29 people have been killed in a new wave of Israeli attacks on Lebanon across southern Lebanon and the eastern Beqaa Valley, just a day after a ceasefire was announced.

Lebanon’s civil defence agency said a series of Israeli attacks on the Nabatieh district in the country’s south on Saturday killed 16 people and wounded 12 others.

The ageneecy said its personnel had been working since dawn to respond to the ongoing attacks.

An Israeli strike on the village of Barish in Tyre, a coastal city known as Sour in Arabic, killed four members of the same family, which Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) described as a "massacre".

The NNA also reported that at least seven people were killed and 13 were injured in an Israeli attack on a village near the southern city of Sidon.

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The fee would effectively allow Iran to cement its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, but would likely require the cooperation of neighbouring Oman, whose territorial waters border Iran’s.

Iran agreed not to charge any fees in the waterway during the 60-day ceasefire with the US, termed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, but the agreement left open the possibility of a new system afterwards.

Tehran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority circulated a letter within the shipping industry that appears to lay out plans to charge a fee once the 60-day window passes.

“This insurance is provided free of charge to the vessel owner, with all expenses covered by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the letter said, according to Lloyd’s List, a maritime intelligence publication.

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Iran has announced plans to introduce a system of maritime fees in the strait of Hormuz in two months, after the 60-day period of negotiation that has been triggered by the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

Tehran, claiming a historic victory over the US, said the strait was under its control and a European plan for a naval mission to escort ships though the strait would not be welcome. The US on Thursday lifted its blockade of Iran, and oil tankers began freely moving through the critical channel.

Ahronoth reported that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had said Israel “will maintain the security zone in south Lebanon as long as our security needs require it”, referring to the more than 600 sq km of Lebanese territory occupied by Israeli troops along the border.

On Iran, Netanyahu stated that Israel would continue to “adhere to the supreme objective” of not allowing Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.

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Mustafa Al-Shawa awoke at 2:30 a.m. on Monday to the sound of gunfire and the rumble of tanks in Al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City. When he was finally able to go outside a few hours later, he found two yellow concrete blocks placed in the middle of the street—the Israeli military had moved them at least one hundred meters further west into Gaza where they now lay close to his home.

“They moved the yellow line forward to the Sanafour Junction. It used to be up by Al-Shaaaf Street,” Al-Shawa told Drop Site News. “This is the yellow line,” he said, pointing to the blocks. “There is another yellow line along Salah Al-Din Street that they have moved closer. Enough of what is happening to us. Enough of this suffering.”

Israel has been steadily encroaching further into Gaza, moving the “yellow line” that demarcates its area of control from 53% of the enclave since the start of the so-called ceasefire in October to well over 60%, in violation of the agreement. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered the army to take 70%.

“We can’t leave the neighborhood because there is nowhere to go,” Al-Shawa said. “If we leave the area we’re in now, we’ll end up sleeping in the streets, in filth. There is no place left. Where are we supposed to go?”

Along certain parts of Gaza, Israeli troops have placed yellow concrete blocks to delineate the new border. Their placement of the blocks further west into the Al-Tuffah neighborhood on Friday accompanied by gunfire, tanks, and quadcopter attacks caused dozens of Palestinians in the area to pack up their belongings and flee later that day.

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Of all the military failures the US has suffered in the past 25 years in the Middle East, the Iran war is probably the most consequential. 

Unlike America’s military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Syria, the Islamic Republic did not just survive another US attempt at regime change. The US-Israel war on Iran was never just about the fate of one regime.

The failure to subdue Iran has halted, or shattered, a much larger ambition: a project to change the shape of the Middle East, with a reborn and rejuvenated "greater Israel" at its head. 

This was the strategic goal of the Abraham Accords, and when Saudi Arabia baulked at signing on the dotted line, a war with Iran was manufactured instead.

Ironically, it took "the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House" to undo Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s biggest dream.

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