Jan. 17, 2025 (EIRNS)—Opening today’s 85th consecutive weekly session of the International Peace Coalition (IPC), Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder, expressed guarded optimism about the Gaza ceasefire agreement, noting that the deal had already been agreed to last May. However, it took pressure from President-elect Donald Trump’s team to implement it; the Biden administration bears responsibility for the carnage that took place in the interim. Trump’s intervention shows a certain resolve, but a real settlement of the crisis requires the recognition of a Palestinian state, the comprehensive reconstruction of the destroyed areas, and the full implementation of Lyndon LaRouche’s proposed Oasis Plan for the region.
Ukraine Plus
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump could speak soon, but the British will try to disrupt it a Ukraine settlement, as we see with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s sudden visit to Ukraine. Starmer’s proposal for a “100-year partnership” with Ukraine is reminiscent of Hitler’s dream of a “Thousand-Year Reich,” which “didn’t go so well, as we all know.”
What will Trump formulate as the strategic posture of the United States? Will we see a continuation of the plan for a $1.2 trillion modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, after major setbacks in arms control negotiations? Geopolitics is a relic of the past that caused two world wars. Zepp-LaRouche emphasized that only by overcoming poverty, can we address the root cause of the migrant crisis, and solve such crises in a human way.
Col. (ret.) Larry Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of State, followed saying, “The empire—and I will refer to the United States of America as an empire—has gone badly astray.” He warned that the American empire is confronting a dangerous and chaotic situation of its own making. We have placed two billion people under our “very draconian sanctions.” Col. Wilkerson described how he and his fellow IPC collaborator, retired Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant Dennis Fritz, witnessed 20 to 30 Capitol Police officers in one of the Senate office buildings threatening to arrest members of Doctors Against Genocide, who were peacefully lobbying to stop the genocide in Gaza.
Of the announced ceasefire, he predicted that the Israelis would continue to brutally settle Gaza the way they have the West Bank. The Israel Defense Forces has significant problems: soldiers are not showing up for duty, and many veterans are seeking treatment for psychological trauma.
Scott Ritter, former UN weapons inspector, called the ceasefire a “holding action” while the Israelis regroup. Israel set out to eradicate Hamas, and failed. In this sense, the ceasefire is a defeat for Israel. But it is not a win for the Palestinian people, if a Palestinian state is not achieved. Whether you love or hate Donald Trump, he changed the dynamic. Israel had hoped that “Adelson’s widow’s $100 million investment in Donald Trump would pay dividends.” We don’t know what will happen after Jan. 20, he said, but “Netanyahu’s government is fatally injured.” When the hostages are released, the true scope of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s crimes will be exposed, causing his government to fall. Saudi Arabia will not normalize relations until there is a Palestinian state. Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir will pay a “fatal political cost” for the lies they told the Israeli people.
Zepp-LaRouche, responding on the topic of the ceasefire, said, “I can only share your concern,” adding that we should not rest on our laurels, and we must go with the Oasis Plan. Instead of building a ski resort in the desert, the Saudis should spend the money on water projects.
Steve Starr, former director of the University of Missouri Clinical Laboratory Science Program, offered a provocative comparison of the recent firestorms in Los Angeles with firestorms created when nuclear weapons are detonated. The key difference between a “line fire,” such as the Los Angeles fires, and a “mass fire” from a nuclear blast, is that there is no escape from the latter, which is accompanied by 400 mile per hour winds.
Prof. Haim Bresheeth, founder of the Jewish Network for Palestine, responded to Starr by saying that it was difficult to follow that sobering discussion of nuclear war, but we must remember that this is what Israel is planning for Iran. “We should be very wary about personalizing politics,” he said, because behind people like Netanyahu and Trump, there are states. Netanyahu’s departure will not make a radical change in Israel, which has its own “Deep State”: Zionism, which has inscribed on the body of Palestine a “terrifying narrative.”
The people who will replace Netanyahu are not better than him. “Zionism has produced a population in Israel which supported the war in Gaza by 97%,” Prof. Bresheeth said. The genocide did not start on October 8, 2023, but rather, when the UN partitioned Palestine on November 29, 1947. The Zionists started the war the following day. In 80 years, more than a quarter-million people have been killed. The first person to call this a genocide was Raz Segal, who, on Oct. 13, 2023, wrote an article for Jewish Currents titled “A Textbook Case of Genocide.” Hundreds of other Israelis have agreed, which gives Prof. Bresheeth hope for Israel.
Israel bombed Lebanon immediately after signing the ceasefire agreement, which is typically what they do. A ceasefire “is just a delay in the genocide.” We have to work “as if there is international law.” Not just eight Israelis, but hundreds of people in other nations who supported them should be in the dock for genocide. Secretary of State Antony Blinken should be there.
Discussion
The discussion period began with three organizing reports. IPC co-moderator Dennis Speed presented the special report just released by The LaRouche Organization on the efforts by Deep State operatives to block the confirmation of Trump appointees Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel. It is titled “The Liars’ Bureau.”
Jack Gilroy gave an activism report from Veterans For Peace and Merchants of Death, and former (and future) congressional candidate Jose Vega reported on his organizing activities. He was present, along with Col. Wilkerson and Dennis Fritz, to support the Doctors Against Genocide lobbying action in Washington, D.C.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche responded to a number of questions and comments. To a question about the coincidence of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the Trump inauguration, she said that it is something we should use, to steer Trump toward an ethical path. She said that “today, we are still on the road to dictatorship,” giving as an example the fact that in Germany it is forbidden to call what Israel is doing to Gaza a genocide. Everybody in the Global South can see that the West’s talk of “democracy” and “human rights” is a charade, and has become an object of ridicule. She mentioned a recent article in the Swiss newspaper Neue Züricher Zeitung, in which former Swiss President Ueli Maurer refers to the “Stasi 2.0” in Germany. Zepp-LaRouche observed that Tulsi Gabbard has abandoned her opposition to section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has evolved to the point that anyone talking to foreigners can become a target of surveillance.
She concluded by saying that we are in the middle of change that is as significant as Europe’s transition from the Middle Ages to the Golden Renaissance. Having a better culture will determine how we act.
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