De Facto Annexation, from Jabotinsky to Netanyahu

On September 25, the Zionist newspaper “The Jerusalem Post” published an article on the Zionist entity’s establishment of a so-called “Greater Israel,” which has seemingly faced enough backlash to be deleted a few days later.

Indeed, the topic of “The Greater Israel” is never new, but the timing is different. On September 30, the Zionist entity gave itself another green light to launch an overnight ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Accordingly, the expansionist motives tackled in the aforementioned article were deemed a harbinger of a larger-scale war in the Middle East.

Amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza and intensifying airstrikes on Lebanon, along with frequent attacks on Syria, Vladimir Jabotinsky’s doctrine seems more ominous than ever.

Revisionist Zionism 

Ze’ev or Vladimir Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist movement in 1925 in protest against Britain’s partition of Palestine as well as against the Zionist leaders who abided by the decision, including David Ben-Gurion. In a nutshell, Revisionist Zionism aspired for the annexation of more lands for the creation of “Greater Israel.”

Before founding the movement, Jabotinsky published his essay “The Iron Wall,” which dismissed any possibility of reaching an agreement with the Arab natives of Palestine while insisting on the use of force to achieve expansionist goals.

“A voluntary agreement is unattainable. And so those who regard an accord with the Arabs as an indispensable condition of Zionism must admit to themselves today that this condition cannot be attained and hence that we must give up Zionism. We must either suspend our settlement efforts or continue them without paying attention to the mood of the natives. Settlement can thus develop under the protection of a force that is not dependent on the local population, behind an iron wall, which they will be powerless to break down.”

Aiming to implement his vision on the ground, Jabotinsky significantly contributed to the formation of Haganah, a terrorist paramilitary organisation that committed countless massacres against the Palestinians, including the carnage in Tantura. This organisation is regarded as a cornerstone of the modern IDF.

Additionally, a paramilitary branch of Haganah called the Irgun, another terrorist group notably known for the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948, resulted in the martyrdom of over 107 Palestinians, including women and children.

At least 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes and land in 1948, a tragedy they refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe, which was also the start of decades-long ethnic cleansing.

After Palestine’s occupation, the Irgun formed the Herut party with Menachem Begin as its head. In 1973, Begin and Ariel Sharon (the architect of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon) founded the Likud coalition, mostly dominated by Revisionist Herut followers.

From Jabotinsky to Netanyahu

On October 7, 2023, the Zionist occupation began an unprecedented attack on the Gaza Strip, committing countless war crimes, notably the indiscriminate targeting of unarmed civilians and public infrastructure.

According to the recent update from the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), 66% of buildings across the Gaza Strip are damaged, that is, 163,778 structures in total. This includes 52,564 structures that have been destroyed, 18,913 severely damaged, 35,591 possibly damaged, and 56,710 moderately affected.

Official reports indicate a toll of martyrs reaching at least 41,870 and 97,166 injured. However, these figures do not encompass those buried under the rubble.

In the West Bank, the Zionist occupation forces and armed settlers have caused the martyrdom of over 741 since October 7.

Based on statistics released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Zionist occupation authorities have “destroyed, demolished, confiscated, or forced the demolition” of 1,478 structures in the West Bank since October 7, displacing more than 4,450 Palestinians, including about 1,875 children.

Moreover, Jenin’s mayor said that over 70% of his city’s critical infrastructure has been destroyed.

In Lebanon, the toll of martyrs from the Zionist strikes has reached 2,036, with 9,662 wounded since Oct. 8, 2023.

The number of officially registered displaced people sheltering at government centres has amounted to 172,100, spread across 931 facilities nationwide. However, in addition to those who have sought refuge with relatives or moved independently, the number would exceed 1.2 million, according to the Lebanese government.

In retrospect, the trajectory of events from Vladimir Jabotinsky to Benjamin Netanyahu reveals a clear pattern, making future developments eerily predictable. It is a single, ethnic-cleansing-driven ideology that has been allowed to operate with impunity, enabling the commission of some of the most heinous war crimes in modern history.