WE'RE NO LONGER AFRAID OF YOU - MUSLIM WORLD UPRISING AGAINST THE U.S. & ISRAEL - THE REAL WEST ASIA SPRING BEGINS AS AMERICA FACES ITS FINAL SUNSET

Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!

KUALA LUMPUR (Politics Now!) - As it becomes clear the Hamas-Israel war is going to turn into yet another prolonged proxy war prodded by the U.S. for its own sinister geopolitical purposes, Muslims and Palestinian sympathizers around the world, including inside the U.S. and its staunchest ally the U.K., gathered on Friday to protest against "Great Satan" America for its role in the conflict.

Shouts of “Stop the genocide!” and “Murderer Israel get out of Palestine" rang out in Muslim nations around the world as hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against "bullies" U.S. and Israel.

“The people want the fall of Israel,” protesters in Egypt chanted, adapting the Arab Spring catchphrase: “The people want the fall of the regime.”

And it looks like a full-blown West Asia spring has been triggered with the U.S. facing its final sunset in the region. 

'Ego queen' Washington is no longer able to hide its waning influence and can no longer quell the revolt against its mischief-making or even disguise its self-profiting strategies to divide and rule in an area it has long considered as being part of it global empire.

TWO PROXY WARS - AMERICA'S FINAL SUNSET

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made headlines this week when she said that America can afford to help Israel and Ukraine in their respective war efforts. 

“America can certainly afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel’s military needs and we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia,” Yellen had told Britain’s Sky News.

Her comments solidified suspicions that even if the U.S. knew it could no longer dictate terms, Washington would still poke fire to the extent of creating deadly wars so as to prevent other super-powers like China and Russia from gaining influence in the volatile but oil-rich region.

Yellen was following hot on the heels of equally controversial comments from U.S. President Joe Biden, who told Congress to approve a massive US$106 billion aid package that would basically fund two wars - the nearly two-year-old Ukraine conflict and the two-week-old Hamas-Israel war. 

ISRAEL TO SEND IN THE ARMY

Indeed, the war drums in West Asia are beating louder.

Despite such the global show of disdain, Israel said late on Friday it will go ahead with plans for a ground operation in Gaza, West Jerusalem’s envoy to Moscow, Alexander Ben Zvi, told Russia 24 on Friday. He said that "the decision has been made."

“One cannot do that without resorting to a ground operation,” he added, referring to Israel's mission of seeking the “destruction of all terrorist structures” of the Gaza-based Palestinian group Hamas, and also to free the hostages taken by the militants.

ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE

If Israel, which does appear to have received the tacit green light from Washington, does that, then all hell is likely to break loose. 

But it is unlikely the U.S. and Israel will pull back their plan despite dire warnings of the onset of World War III and a global economic holocaust as oil supplies get disrupted, perhaps permanently.

Already, the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon has threatened to escalate their gunfire should Israel launch a ground invasion of Gaza, while Israel has vowed to retaliate aggressively in Lebanon should that happen.  

Apart from the Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels who govern Yemen's capital of Sanaa and are also backed by Iran warned the U.S. against intervening in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, threatening they will retaliate by firing drones and missiles.

MUSLIM WORLD TAKES ON THE U.S.

The Arab world is now like a power keg waiting to explode. 

The difference now is that the Arab nations are now united and their common enemies are the U.S. and Israel. In past, they would take Washington's bait and fight among themselves, leaving the U.S. to expand its grip on them.

With war looming ever larger, the reaction was no different across the Middle East - with  protests taking on an added fervor and meaning.

BAHRAIN

In Bahrain, which normalized relations with Israel as part of the U.S.-backed Abraham Accords in 2020, some 2,000 worshippers at the Duraz mosque chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” at Friday prayers.

Around 1,000 people joined a march afterwards, shouting anti-Israel slogans including “No to normalization!”

“We want normalization to end and the Israeli ambassador expelled,” said marcher holding her baby in her arms told the international news agencies

IRAQ

In Baghdad, thousands of people, including sympathizers of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a coalition of armed factions close to Israel’s arch-foe Iran, also took to the streets, marching towards the U.S. embassy.

“We support the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupier,” Ali Hussein, a 45-year-old taxi driver, told AFP.

LEBANON

In Lebanon, dozens of Hezbollah supporters and others protested in a southern Beirut suburb calling for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza and to support Palestinians there.

“We salute the heroes of Gaza, the people of Gaza, the elderly, men, women and children,” said Hezbollah legislator Ali Ammar. 

Protesters waved Hezbollah, Lebanese, and Palestinian flags and burned an American flag.

MOROCCO

In Morocco, protesters holding banners and chanting slogans in support of Palestinians demonstrated outside a mosque after prayers in Salé, Morocco.

Participant Lahcen Farhi said he hoped the peaceful gathering would help the people of Gaza.

“At least we want the medicines to reach them, or … to stop the war,” he said, adding that expressions of support for Palestinians should be held “without violence and within the framework of the law.”

TUNISIA

In Tunisia, thousands gathered outside the French embassy to protest Western support for Israel, AFP correspondents reported.

“The French and the Americans are partners in the attack” against Palestinians, they chanted.

Some expressed support for Hamas, shouting “Dear (Izz ad-Din) al-Qassam (Brigades), destroy Tel Aviv,” in reference to the Islamist terror organization’s military branch.

A similar protest was held outside the US embassy in the capital’s northern suburbs, where demonstrators burnt a US flag.

TURKEY

In Istanbul, protesters affiliated with Islamic groups waved Turkish and Palestinian flags, held up placards and chanted slogans denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“Stop the genocide!” and “Murderer Israel get out of Palestine” some of the placards read. About a dozen men wearing red-stained doctors’ coats carried dolls depicting dead babies to protest the hospital blast, while some of the protesters set fire to an effigy of Netanyahu and an Israeli flag.

YEMEN

In Yemen, thousands demonstrated across the divided, war-torn country in support of Palestinians. 

Large protests took place in the capital Sanaa, which is governed by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, but also in the south where a secessionist group called the Southern Transitional Council has control.

In Sanaa, thousands waved Palestinian flags, chanting: “With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you… oh Palestinians.”

SOUTH EAST ASIA

It was no different in other parts of Asia. 

In INDONESIA, home to the largest population of Muslims in the world, demonstrators marched from several mosques to the heavily guarded US Embassy in Jakarta to denounce American support for Israel.

Protesters who marched to the US Embassy halted traffic along the way as they chanted “God is great,” and “Save Palestinians.”  Some burned portraits of US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

And in MALAYSIA, hundreds clad in white with black-and-white Palestinian chequered keffiyeh participated in a march protest near Masjid Tabung Haji on Jalan Tun Razak to condemn the lethal attack on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

As they marched towards the embassy building, the participants continued to chant "Bebas Palestine," "Allahuakbar" and "Hancur Israel." Among notable leaders who joined the march was 98-year-old former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

"They (Israel) broke international law and attacked a hospital." said Mahathir who demanded that Israel should be categorised as a terrorist group for the attack on the hospital in Gaza.

"When Israel committed atrocities, they supported it. That is why we cannot accept the United States, Britain, and Europe as human rights defenders because they don't act like they are civilised," he said, as quoted in the Free Malaysia Today report.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who was in Saudi Arabia on a working trip said 'Malaysia just wants to defend Muslims, not to be a hero'.

“This is not a matter of ethnicity, religion or the Arab world. It is a Palestinian issue… an issue of seizing the rights of the people, their land, their property, and even their dignity," Malaysiakini reported Anwar as saying. - Written by Stan Lee, Politics Now!

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