"Israel" to replace Russia as EU gas supplier: What will this mean?

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The EU, "Israel" and Egypt have signed a new trade deal, with which "Tel Aviv" will become an alternative supplier of natural gas to Europe, aiding the seal the gap caused through the lack of Russian resources. The move, however, has the potential to ignite conflict on multiple fronts as "Israel" actively seeks to expand its exploitation of coastal Eastern Mediterranean resources.

According to a draft document, seen by Reuters news, the European Union Commission had proposed a deal to EU member States, on June 9, that would see them enter into a new trade agreement with both Cairo and "Tel Aviv". The function of this deal was said to be to facilitate the trade of Eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe, serving as a replacement to fill the gap left in the European market due to sanctions preventing the easy flow of Russian resources to the continent.

“This is a tremendous moment in which little Israel becomes a significant player,” "Israel’s" Energy Minister Karin Elharrar stated on Wednesday, after the deal was officially announced to have been signed. The signing of the deal came following a two-day visit to occupied Palestine by EU chief Ursula Von Der Leyen, placing pressure on the Zionist regime to now double down on its efforts to explore new gas fields in order to pick up export capacity. The way the deal is set to work is that "Tel Aviv" will use the resources off the coast of occupied Palestine and send the natural gas to Egypt, where it will be refined and transported to Europe.

Due to Egypt’s waning economy, the Arab nation has been seeking for some time to expand gas exports to the EU. Under the newly proposed deal, Cairo will play a key role in utilizing its Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure in an effort to become a gas supply hub. The Israeli regime on the other hand has declared its intention to double gas output over the next few years, initiating efforts to bring new gas fields online. This is, however, where things begin to become problematic for the settler colonial entity occupying Palestine.

Already "Israel" is under the threat that the Palestinian resistance in Gaza could attempt to strike Israeli gas extraction infrastructure in any future war, with Hamas having been accused of attempting to strike the oil and gas fields in May of 2021. Yet the biggest concern for the Israeli regime is that of the capacity of the Lebanese resistance to do the same, as it has much greater weapons capabilities than those of the Palestinian resistance.

Earlier this month the Lebanese State accused "Israel" of causing “a provocation and an aggressive action" in the disputed maritime zone between the Zionist entity and Lebanon. The provocation was caused by the entry of a floating gas extraction platform, belonging to the London-based Energean company, that began to operate in the area of the Karish gas field claimed by Lebanon to be in disputed territory. The claim to part of Karish field by Beirut is anchored in international law and fits into the argument for what is known as Line 29, the name for the maritime demarcation put forth by Lebanon during negotiations over the demarcation of its maritime borders. 

Following the provocation by the Israeli side, which claims that the Energean ship was operating in its “exclusive economic zone”, the Secretary General of Lebanese Hezbollah, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, issued a threat to the ship that if it did not withdraw the resistance had the capability of striking it. This was followed by a threat from "Israel's" military chief, Aviv Kochavi, who threatened Lebanon with a war in which “the attack force will be unimaginable – like nothing you have witnessed before,” stating that Lebanese civilians will be warned to leave their homes, insinuating that civilian areas will become targets. 

A visit by the pro-Israeli US negotiator, Amos Hochstein, earlier this week, came with reports emerging that Lebanon had backed down on its claim to Line 29 and instead was looking to sacrifice the oil and gas rich Karish field, for the Qana field that has no proven gas supplies. In a smug manner, US negotiator Hochstein delivered an interview to Al-Hurra news, in which he smirked at talk of the Karish field being handed to Lebanon in the negotiations, something that the US has always considered a “non-starter”. It is not confirmed however that Lebanon’s government has indeed compromised on the Karish field, which would certainly be a catastrophe for the Lebanese people as the field has the potential wealth to ease their economic crisis and help ease Lebanon’s energy crisis.

So what is going to happen next? Well, it is clear that both the United States and the EU are firmly behind the Israeli plan to start extracting gas from the Karish field later this year and would not simply allow Lebanon to negotiate its way to its rights to the field. Egypt itself also has great interests in seeing "Tel Aviv" exploit as much natural gas as possible, as do countless international companies invested in the oil and gas projects in the Israeli-occupied fields off the coast of Palestine and Lebanon. All of this is to say that negotiations are not a viable way forward to securing Lebanon’s potential ticket out of its economic mess. 

"Israel" is clearly agitating Russia with much of its actions and rhetoric since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, and has become extremely daring in its violations of Syria’s sovereignty as of late. Damascus is a close ally of Moscow and has just had its top airport, Damascus International, blown to pieces by unprovoked Israeli strikes that Russia has condemned. "Israel" has also pushed the envelope with the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, with its continued violations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, prompting the resistance to call for a day of rage this Friday. In addition to this, Israeli offensive actions against Iran have also prompted the Islamic republic to vow revenge for the killing of an IRGC member south of Tehran by Mossad operatives. 

The Zionist regime seems to have crossed red lines with Iran, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, any of which could respond to its provocations at any time. The truth is that there is no way to solve the problem with Israeli aggression in the region through dialogue or negotiations at this time, only through armed means. If any of these regional players are to prevent "Israel"’s aggression from continuing it is clear what is likely to take place, although there are always considerations as to how this is done on the side of the regional players. Although the forces of resistance could all respond on their own time and separately, the most effective method would be a coordinated attack and now this is more likely than ever.