US President Donald Trump’s latest manoeuvres show signs of his learning from Israel, as the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro resembled the kidnapping of war criminal Adolf Eichmann, and the Greenland controversy resembled the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Though Eichmann’s crimes occurred during World War II, when he first helped force German Jews to migrate, and then took part in formulating and executing the Final Solution, which attempted to eliminate all European Jews, Israel wanted to try him. Mossad was tasked with getting him from Argentina, where he had fled. It did so in 1961, first keeping him in a safe house, and then flying him to Israel for trial by the Supreme Court. He was found guilty, and hanged.
So far, Maduro has not been tried, not hanged, and he is not German. But he too is from a Latin American country, and he has been forcibly kidnapped. He was not taken by a Mossad team, but by a US special operations squad, and flown out by US Air Force planes, not an El Al airliner (as Eichmann was).
Ultimately, though, Israel’s interest will not be served if there is a resumption of the Cold War, for it is a small country, and like other small countries, risks being obliterated by a war. And Trump should remember that even a big country could be obliterated
Of course, Eichmann was wanted by Israel for his crimes against Jews, and it is difficult to compare his guilt with that of Maduro, no matter how much damage he might have caused. After all, the crimes Maduro is accused of only occurred because demand for drugs existed, while Jews played no role in attracting the Final Solution. However, the disregard for national sovereignty is common.
Actually, at that stage in its history, Israel showed more regard for Argentine sovereignty than the USA showed for Venezuela’s. This is apart from the difference between someone who was a private citizen, and one who was the sitting President.
Israel and Mossad have a policy of ignoring national sovereignty when it comes to carrying out its mission. That blurs the distinction between justice and revenge. The move against Eichmann was based on revenge. Israel knew that Eichmann was guilty. However, he was still given a trial, allowed to mount a defence.
However, there is the killing by Mossad of the perpetrators of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacres, the Black September group, in which 11 Israeli team members were killed, committed in France, Italy. Greece, Cyprus and Lebanon, with about a dozen killed and another dozen probably killed by other Palestinian factions, but with Mossad accused. The Black September terrorists were never given the semblance of a trial. Mossad claims the motive was not revenge, but to send a message to all Palestinians not to repeat a 1972-style massacre.
That probably happened, because there were no more such largescale events until Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023.
The USA and Israel share a feeling of impunity of which the latest example is the refusal of both countries to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over its citizens. The ICC is an international court with jurisdiction to try for war crimes, and is permanent. It is a formlisation of the ad hoc Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, which were called into being to try for war crimes the leaderships of Germany and Japan. Those Tribunals have been accused of dispensing ‘victor’s justice’, especially since no judicial notice has ever been taken of war crimes by the Allies, such as the bombing of Dresden or the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
As one of the world’s most active militaries, the USA would like to avoid its officers and enlisted men being prosecuted for war crimes in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran and Venezuela. It is not necessary that there be a conviction, or even a trial. The knowledge that somone may file a complaint is a deterrent sufficient to make it possible that orders are questioned. No government wants that. When the President says, “Kidnap that other President” he does not want to hear “Is it legal?”, just “Yes, sir!” and a snappy salute.
Israel is more recently concerned about cases that may be filed relative to its occupation of Palestine earlier, and now to the war crimes which have been committed in Gaza. Impunity is thus shown as a fear of accountability, which in turn is not an admission of guilt, but is an admission that some actions may be so construed as a crime. Bombing an enemy ammo dump would not attract a charge of a war crime, but bombing a hospital would. The pilot may have a defence, and his commanding officer may try to show that he issued no order which could be construed as an instruction to commit a war crime.
This sense of impunity may be traced to the numerous crimes committed against the original inhabitants of the USA as well as those of Israel, both white settlers from Europe. The Americans dispossessed the Native Americans, the Israelis dispossessed the Palestinians. And just as the Americans confined the Native Americans to reservations, so too Israel is trying to confine Palestinians to the Occupied Territories.
It is probably this impulse which led to Trump’s loud claims to the annexation of Greenland. Like the snatching of America from the Native Americans, he proposed to snatch Greenland from Denmark. Greenland is a self-governing territory, much as the Gaza Strip was. However, that has not stopped the USA in the past. Its takeover of Hawaii displaced a native monarch. The last time it took Inuits under control was when it bought Alaska from the UK.
Greenland has three points of interest for the USA. First, it is supposed to have many of the minerals needed in the modern world, like rare-earth elements. Second, with global warming and the resultant shrinking of the Arctic ice-cap, it will be an important point in the expected shipping revolution expected to occur as large areas of coastline suddenly become navigable all year round.
Third, it is the start of the GIUK gap, which was one of the many worries NATO wargamers had about the USSR invading Western Europe. This is the area between Greenland, Iceland and the the UK, through which Soviet submarines operating from their Kola Peninsula bases could interdict shipping headed towards Europe from the USA.
Of course, Rump might huff and puff, but if there was indeed a European war with Russia replacing the USSR, the USA would probably have no choice but to supply Europe. Is the USA going to propose a takeover of Iceland and even the UK? Trump has already revived the idea of annexing Canada, so why should he strain at the idea of incorporating the countries of the GIUK?
His expressed readiness to make the Gaza Peace Council a substitute for the UN is reminiscent of nothing more than the alliance system in place before the 34-year Peloponnesian War between the Athens-led Delian League and the Sparta-led Peloponnesian League. The two leagues had replaced the old system where disputes were settled at Delphi, where the Oracle was common to all Greeks, and which was neutral ground. The UNO was similar when it was converted from the World War II anti-Fascist alliance into an organization of states.
It played two main roles. It mediated the struggles of the Cold War. It provided a mechanism for decolonization, as newly independent colonies joined it. It did so by not taking sides, just as the Oracle of Delphi would not. The most powerful Greek city-states needed their own Leagues, which only allies would join. Trump wants to convert the Gaza Peace Council into a replacement for the UNthe European powers.
It could be that this will provide impetus to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which could develop into a rival body. Rendering the UN surplus should let Israel off the hook. None of the ritual condemnatory resolutions would be passed. The desires of Israel are being served by the Peace Council.
Ultimately, though, Israel’s interest will not be served if there is a resumption of the Cold War, for it is a small country, and like other small countries, risks being obliterated by a war. And Trump should remember that even a big country could be obliterated.
