“U.S. policy toward the war has been nothing other than hypocritical,” Professor Mehran Kamrava tells the Tehran Times. The professor also says there is no doubt that “the primary objective” of Israel is to depopulate Gaza of “its Palestinian population”.
Following is the text of the interview:
Q: After 100 days of relentless and brutal war, Israel has not succeeded in disabling Hamas or free Israelis held captive in the Gaza Strip. What does it prove?
A: We have always seen that it is easier to launch an attack than to occupy. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been attacking Gaza, and destroying everything—houses, hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, refugee camps, roads, bridges, and everything else—but it has not had an ability to occupy Gaza. This is the first thing that is obvious.
Related to this is a second observation, and that is the will and determination of Palestinians to resist and fight Israel’s onslaught regardless of the conditions within which they find themselves and the indiscriminate nature of Israel’s assault on their lives.
Finally, Israel’s massacre of Palestinians and its ethnic cleansing of Palestine once again demonstrates the inhumanity of war. All wars are brutal and inhuman, and this one has been especially brutal, with Israeli soldiers videoing themselves celebrating the destruction of Palestinian buildings. War robs humans of their humanity.
Q: The Biden administration has been constantly warning that the Gaza war should not spread but it has been shipping arms to Israel, refusing to call on Israel to stop the war, and vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions demanding a ceasefire, and sent its top diplomat to the region for the fourth time for this purpose. Don’t you see a contradiction in what the U.S. lectures and what it acts?
A: US policy toward the war has been nothing other than hypocritical. The United States is the only country that has repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council resolutions calling for ceasefire, it has unconditionally supported Israel with weapons, it has actively prevented a cessation of the war, and yet it warns other countries from becoming involved. One has to be completely oblivious to reality not to see US hypocrisy in this conflict.
Q: Isn’t the Biden administration sacrificing the U.S. reputation for Netanyahu and his ultra-right ministers who are collectively punishing the entire Gaza residents?
A: The Biden administration is sacrificing the U.S. reputation for Biden’s re-election. Joe Biden is allowing the indiscriminate massacre of Palestinians, and the destruction of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives so that he could get re-elected.
Q: So far three Israeli ministers -- Amichai Eliyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich -- have openly said Gazans should be forced to leave Gaza. The degree of damage to Gaza’s infrastructure has also made it almost difficult for its residents. Don’t you think that the ulterior motive of the Netanyahu government is to force Gazans to leave the enclave?
A: Both the declaration of Israeli government officials, and the conduct of the Israeli army, prove beyond any doubt that the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and the depopulation of Gaza of its Palestinian population, is the primary objective of the current Israeli government.
Q: Do you see any resemblance between the Srebrenica massacre and the Gaza tragedy?
A: I don’t know enough about Srebrenica to comment.
Q: So far about 1% of the Gaza population has been massacred and many more injured. Don’t you see the West is an accomplice in this human disaster for its unwavering support for Israel?
A: History will record that countries like the United States, Britain, and Germany cried for Ukraine when Russia invaded it, accused Russia of crimes against humanity, and rushed support and assistance to Ukraine, and when it came to Israel’s war on the Palestinians, they stood by and pretended nothing was happening, rushed weapons to Israel, explained away the crimes of the Israeli army, prevented ceasefires, and forgot their own humanity.
Q: Do you see any strong will or sincerity by the West, particularly the U.S., to force Israel through different means to accept a sovereign Palestinian state in which Palestinians and Israelis would live in peace with each other?
A: No.
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