No one should be surprised Israel is helping ISIS. It’s been doing it for years

Syria, Yemen and now Gaza – Israel has frequently assisted terrorist group

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that Israel is funding and arming ‘criminal gangs’ in Gaza. He has not admitted that the gangs are affiliated to ISIS/Daesh and are the same gangs that have been attacking Palestinians, stealing aid and yet still operating freely under the eyes of Israeli troops, but that has been well established, if largely ignored by the UK’s government and media – and admitted by former deputy Israeli PM Avigdor Lieberman last week.

But it should surprise no one that Israel is doing this – it has been doing so for years.

In 2017, the Israeli government admitted – in the Israeli media, again ignored by UK ‘mainstream’ outlets – that it had been treating wounded ISIS fighters so they could return to fight in Syria against the Assad government. Then-International Development Secretary Priti Patel had tried to divert UK aid to Israel so it could do more of this, even visiting some of the field hospitals where the ISIS fighters were treated – and was ultimately forced to resign from the Theresa May government for doing it and for holding secret, off-book meetings with Israeli ministers and high-ranking military officials.

Israel maintained a strict ‘non-interventionist’ policy against ISIS in Yemen and almost everywhere else:

But in concert with its US backers, Israel did more than simply not intervene in Yemen, as US journalist Ryan Grim has pointed out:

Once its aid for ISIS fighters in Syria had achieved the aim of toppling the Assad government, only then did Israel attack ISIS in Syria, bombing the new ISIS-tied government’s arms depots and ports as well as civilian areas, then invading large areas of Syria – threatening the Lebanese border – on the pretext that it needs a buffer-zone against the extremist government (which it helped install and which has said it wants normalisation with Israel). It continues to attack the new, ISIS regime in Syria and the civilians suffering under it, despite that regime’s not-so-strange willingness to get into bed with the colonial occupation.

And now in Gaza, Israel is not only arming but clothing and conducting operations with ISIS-linked gangs:

Netanyahu, to provide an excuse for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, has described militia groups resisting Israel’s occupation as ‘the same as ISIS’. Israel’s agents in the US have used ISIS as a ‘bogeyman’ to smear and attack anti-genocide politicians:

But Netanyahu is perfectly happy to not just work with, but actively fund and equip actual ISIS groups in Gaza, also for the furtherance of Israel’s genocide of Palestinian civilians and its theft of their land.

Given his and the terror state of Israel’s track record this should horrify any right-thinking or even just humane person. But it should surprise no one who’s paying attention.

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