Ep17 - Gaza, Ukraine and Ben Gurion Canal: The Invisible Links in the West's War for War for Global Arteries
In a previous episode, number 7 to be precise, we reconstructed the history of the Gaza Strip. In today's episode, we continue to talk about Gaza. This time, however, we will focus on the motivations behind Israel's actions, telling you facts that are rarely disclosed by the Western mainstream narrative. Today, we will shed light on the deep strategic objectives hidden behind the events unfolding in the Gaza Strip—events that are defined as acts of genocide not by us, but by the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and numerous international NGOs. Once these objectives are clarified, the apparent madness and ferocity of Israel's actions will make a chilling kind of sense.
To understand what is happening around us, and geopolitics in particular, one must always start by asking a single question: “Cui Prodest?” Cui prodest is a Latin phrase meaning 'who benefits?' and is used rhetorically to identify the beneficiary of an action or event, often a crime. The expression is often found in the context of criminal investigation as a criterion for discovering the culprit, stemming from the Roman jurist Cassius Longinus and a passage from Seneca’s Medea: "Cui prodest scelus, is fecit" ('the crime was committed by the one who profits from it'). Indeed, in all criminal investigations, two questions are often posed by investigators to discover the perpetrator: 'who is the beneficiary of this action?' and 'what is the motive?'
Well, returning to the Gaza Strip, in this episode we will tell you the motive behind the genocide, but also—a very important fact—who benefits. As we will discover, the beneficiary is not only Israel. On the contrary, there are other countries interested in controlling that piece of land and sea. Finally, we will show you how we can connect the dots and see a tight link between the genocide happening in the Gaza Strip and the Russia-Ukraine war. Some of the lines connecting these dots are not abstract but incredibly concrete, and we could define them as: pipelines. Yes, because the stories we will tell you today involve natural gas, pipelines, and canals. Let's start with the canals.
The Suez Canal
In geopolitics, a knowledge of geography is fundamental. Indeed, as is known, wars exist for purely economic reasons. The driving forces that push one country to attack another are represented by the control of a territory, in order to exploit its mineral or energy resources, or simply because of its strategically relevant position. In this regard, the control of canals or straits through which ships pass is strategically important. For example, the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are critical maritime trade routes, particularly for the shipping of oil and containers. The Suez Canal is an artificial waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, creating a shortcut for ships between Europe and Asia without having to circumnavigate Africa. The Suez Canal is therefore a fundamental hub because it significantly reduces travel times and fuel consumption compared to other maritime routes, such as the one around the Cape of Good Hope. Suez Canal traffic has generally increased over the years, reaching a historic high in 2022 and 2023, but it has suffered a sharp drop during periods of war and crisis. Historical closures include the 1956 war and the 1967 intervention.
In July 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abd el-Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, even though British banks and companies still held a 44 percent stake. In 1956, there was the military occupation of the Suez Canal by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel, which Egypt opposed. The crisis was resolved when the Soviet Union threatened to intervene alongside Egypt and the United States. At that point, the British, French, and Israelis, fearing the escalation of the conflict, decided to withdraw. It was a conflict remembered by historians for various peculiarities: for the first time, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to guarantee peace; for the first time, Canada spoke out and acted in contrast to the United Kingdom; it was the last military invasion by the United Kingdom without the political approval of the United States, which, according to many, marked the end of the British Empire. Similarly, it was the last military invasion by France and thus the final act of the French colonial empire; finally, it was one of the rare times the United States disagreed with Israel's policies.
However, a series of events starting in 1964 led Israel to believe that the geopolitical situation defined in the region after the Suez crisis was at risk, leading to the Six-Day War in 1967. The Six-Day War (June 5-10, 1967) was the culmination of a prolonged crisis, triggered by a complex intertwining of deep tensions. The regional conflict was part of the Cold War dynamic. The Soviet Union supported and armed the Arab countries (particularly Egypt and Syria), while Israel enjoyed increasing, though initially cautious, support from the United States and some Western powers. Global tension exacerbated the local one. After the 1956 conflict, Israel was forced to withdraw from the Sinai, but obtained two crucial guarantees: the presence of UN troops (UNEF) in the Sinai and freedom of navigation in the Straits of Tiran. The Straits of Tiran are narrow sea passages formed by the presence of Tiran Island at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Access to the ports of Eilat, in Israel, and Aqaba, Jordan's only port, depends on access to the Gulf of Aqaba and therefore on the control of the Straits of Tiran, which is why they have proven to be an area of strategic importance for the surrounding countries.
The moves of Egyptian President Gamal Abd el-Nasser in 1967 were aimed at nullifying these gains. On May 22, 1967, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli navigation (and to ships bound for Eilat). Israel had declared since 1956 that such a blockade would be considered an act of war. Furthermore, on May 4, 1967, the Egyptians deployed troops in the Sinai and asked the UN to withdraw the Emergency Force (UNEF) from the peninsula and the Gaza Strip, effectively surrounding Israel and fueling the perception of an imminent Arab attack. Nasser's ideology of Pan-Arabism aimed to unite the Arab world under a single leadership against Israel. The 1967 War was seen by Nasser as a way to consolidate his leadership and redeem Arab honor after 1956. The growing activity of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO, created in 1964) and the guerrilla group al-Fath (led by Yasser Arafat) increased the fear in Israel of an existential threat not only from neighboring countries but also from internal and border movements. Then there is the issue of water. Disputes over the control of water resources, particularly the Arab project of the Headwater Diversion Plan along the Jordan River, represented a vital threat to Israel's agriculture and development. The Headwater Diversion Plan was an Arab League plan to divert two of the three sources of the Jordan River and prevent them from flowing into the Sea of Galilee, in order to thwart Israel's plans to use the water of Hasbani and Banias in its National Water Carrier project for irrigation outside the basin. Israel responded with its own water project, triggering exchanges of fire and sabotage. During this period, Nasser's intense anti-Israeli propaganda and calls for war put strong pressure on the Israeli government, pushing it to form a national unity government and opt for a preemptive strike to break the encirclement and the perception of weakness. Finally, we must consider religious factors. The deepest cause, in fact, lies in the Arab-Israeli conflict itself, namely the claim of two peoples (Zionist Jews and Palestinian Arabs) to the same territory, a situation exacerbated by the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. All these factors triggered the Six-Day War in 1967.
In May 1967, Nasser received reports from the Soviet Union that Israel was massing troops on the Syrian border; Nasser began massing troops in the Sinai Peninsula, along the Israeli border (May 16), expelled the UNEF force from Gaza and the Sinai (May 19), and occupied UNEF positions in Sharm el-Sheikh, on the Straits of Tiran. Israel reiterated the declarations made in 1957, according to which a closure of the straits would be considered an act of war or at least a justification for war. Nasser declared the Straits closed to Israeli ships on May 22-23. On May 30, Jordan and Egypt signed a mutual defense pact. The following day, at Jordan's invitation, the Iraqi army began deploying troops and armored units in Jordan, with a subsequent reinforcement of an Egyptian contingent. On June 1, Israel formed a national unity government and on June 4 the decision was made to open hostilities. The following morning, Israel launched Operation Focus, a large-scale surprise air attack, which marked the beginning of the Six-Day War.
During the 1967 war, Egypt stopped the Suez Canal to prevent its use by Israel, which occupied the Sinai and the eastern coast of Suez. Sunken ships and mines continued to block transport until the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when, after a couple of years and the demilitarization of the Sinai, the blockade was lifted...