Israel’s deceptive war strategies resurface amid Biden’s support

In mid-1982, Israel launched a limited military operation in Lebanon, calling it "Peace for Galilee". Defence Minister Ariel Sharon sold a military contingency plan dubbed "Little Pines" to Prime Minister Menachem Begin. This involved deploying troops to the depth of 40 kilometres to clear the south of Lebanon from the border to the Litani river of Palestinian fighters. Begin approved this limited operation. Sharon sent his troops to Beirut in accordance with his "Big Pines" plan with the aim of driving the Palestinian resistance out of Lebanon. En route, Israeli troops attacked and cleared Palestinian refugee camps at Tyre and Sidon. After bombarding and occupying West Beirut, the Israeli army surrounded the Palestinian urban neighbourhoods of Sabra and Shatila and introduced Israel's local surrogates who massacred hundreds of unprotected men, women and children.

Sharon’s larger objectives were to drive the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from Beirut and elect a pro-Israeli president in Lebanon. Sharon succeeded in pushing PLO fighters out of south Lebanon and deporting the PLO but Israel’s choice for president Bashir Gemayel was assassinated and Hizbollah emerged in the wake of the war to disturb the peace in Galilee.

Having sent its troops into Lebanon again, does Israel's current Israeli military command have in mind another "Little Pines-Big Pines" deception? This time there is no need to deceive a cautious prime minister. Incumbent Binyamin Netanyahu is even more aggressive than his generals and has long called for waging war on Hizbollah, Iran's most potent ally, as the means to put an end to regional rejection of Israel. Israel wrongly argues that once Iranian meddling ceases, Israel will be accepted. But Israel has made acceptance and normalisation of relations across the region impossible by its 12-month war on Gaza which has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians and turned the coastal strip into a wasteland. 

This time Israel's Lebanon deception is mainly focused on the Biden administration which last week joined France in calling for a 21-day ceasefire in Israel's bombing of Lebanon. Although their plan was backed by Britain, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Italy, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Netanyahu ordered the army to carry on with "full force".

Since then, Israel has mounted an escalating assault on Lebanon with the objective of eliminating Hizbollah. This culminated in the assassination of the movement's military leader Hassan Nasrullah and half-a-dozen of Hizbollah's senior commanders.

So far, the Biden administration has voiced support for Israel's latest "Little Pines" and is unlikely to take any action to curb Israel if it shifts to a second "Big Pines". In mid-August 1982, after intensive Israeli bombing of West Beirut, US President Ronald Reagan ordered Begin to stop. The bombing ceased after 20 minutes. 

Joe Biden is no Ronald Reagan. Instead of using the provision of arms as a leverage to curb Israel, Biden has done the opposite. Shortly before issuing a call for a ceasefire in Lebanon, the administration released $8.7 billion in arms aid to Israel: $3.5 billion to buy US arms and munitions to enable Israel to wage its Gaza and Lebanon wars and $5.2 billion will pay for air defence systems for delivery in 2026.

After Hamas' October 7 surprise attack on Israel, the administration adopted deception and made 100 covert deliveries to Israel of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter and bunker buster bombs and small arms to use in Gaza. The value of each sale fell below the amount requiring approval by the lower house of Congress which holds the purse strings.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that the US, which provides Israel with 69 per cent of war materiel, delivered thousands of bombs and missiles to Israel at the end of last year. The administration, however, made public only sales of $106 million in tank shells and $147 million in components for artillery shells.

The Obama administration committed to a decade-long annual contribution of $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel. This commitment has continued during the Trump and Biden administrations with additions. Under Biden an additional $20.3 billion consignment consisting of F-15 fighter planes, air-to-air missiles, tank and mortar rounds, and related materiel is set for delivery in 2026.

The longstanding US aim has been to supply Israel with an "edge" over all and any combination of regional actors. This is a highly dangerous commitment when Israel is led by aggressive adventurists like Netanyahu.

The US Council on Foreign Relations reported that since its founding in 1948 Israel has received about $310 billion in US economic and military assistance, making it the "largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid". Of this amount $230 billion has been in military materiel. Most is in grants to pay for purchases of US military equipment and services. Last October, the administration said Israel had nearly 600 orders worth $24 billion. Another $500 million a year is invested in joint US-Israeli military research projects and production of defence systems such as Israel's Iron Dome.

Israel's next largest arms supplier at 30 per cent is Germany which provided Israel with $361 million last year after the October 7th surprise attack by Hamas, a 10-fold increase over 2022.