We are facing two stark scenes of posturing and misadventure that have cost Arab countries a lot of pain and destruction. Those behind them are not politicians, but adventurers, or if you prefer, political "thugs."
The first scene is that of Khaled Meshaal’s appearance on the first anniversary of the Gaza war. The Hamas leader considered the setbacks of what he called the "Resistance Axis" to be tactical and Israel's losses to be strategic. He called for the opening of additional fronts, including the West Bank, and concluded his speech by urging the people of Gaza to remain steadfast, asserting that victory is inevitable, even if it may not be imminent.
Of course, he is outside Gaza, and he clarified that Hamas had worked hard to reach a ceasefire agreement, but Israel thwarted it!
The second scene is the pre-recorded speech of Hezbollah deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem, who said the party maintains its capabilities and is in "good shape.This war has not affected our will, and it will not affect it. We are determined to resist," he added.
"Israel and Western countries are trying to pressure us to make us afraid, but we do not fear them," he insisted. His party, Qassem told us, has overcome "the painful blows... This is a war where the first to scream loses, and we will not scream." Qassem also expressed his support for the efforts of Nabih Berri, who he called an "older brother," to reach a ceasefire!
Meshaal and Qassem claim that their organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, are "in good shape" despite the destruction in Gaza, South Lebanon, and Beirut’s southern suburbs... and although 42,000 people have died in Gaza and nearly 3,000 have died in Lebanon, not to mention millions have been displaced.
Both Meshaal and Qassem are dismissive of people's suffering. When he discusses a ceasefire, Meshaal proclaims that Israel’s intransigence is the reason we have yet to see an agreement, while we all know that the decision is in the hands of Yahya Sinwar, not Meshaal.
Qassem supports Nabih Berri's effort to reach a ceasefire now, after Hezbollah was decapitated and as the southern suburbs are being destroyed. But his party, specifically Hassan Nasrallah, insisted that Lebanon would not be decoupled from Gaza, a commitment Qassem did not reiterate yesterday!
So if this isn't recklessness, adventurism, failure, and delusion, what could we call it? It is true that Hamas and Hezbollah, along with other subordinates of the Iran axis, present themselves as the "Resistance Axis." However, they and their actions are anything but political.
I will hold them to the standards of none other than Iran itself, which, to this day, pragmatically uses political means to safeguard its national interests as it avoids a war and direct clash with Israel. Whatever we think of Tehran, it plays politics, even though it uses this Axis to perpetuate destruction.
Egyptian researcher Karim Shafik remarked recently commented on this. "The paradox, not the contradiction and opportunism, here, is that the pragmatic objective pursued by the Velayat e-Faqih regime, which depends on its local proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, is to maintain its political standing in Tehran and its foreign ties during critical moments, both in the field and politically."
He added that Iran does not hesitate "to turn ideologically charged bases of support fueled by a doctrine of martyrdom into a force for destruction that leaves piles of decaying bodies." That is true, and developments on the ground affirm this claim, as evident from the carnage seen in four Arab countries and the distortion of the Palestinian cause.
And so, this is the Axis of failure and delusion.
