Megiddo — a quiet hill in the north of biblical Palestine. Quiet, that is, until its strategic value came to light. Overlooking the Jezreel Valley, it soon became the site of battles throughout history — first earthly, then apocalyptic.
In the Book of Revelations, John the Evangelist depicted it as the scene of the final battle between forces of good and evil, between Christ and the forces of darkness. The Battle of Megiddo, or Armageddon, is the ultimate war, the turning point that signals the end of the world.
Are we there? Is the use of nuclear weapons imminent? Rarely since Hiroshima and Nagasaki have we come so close to such a possibility. The hubris of the Israeli prime minister and his unwavering belief that Israel serves as nothing less than a giant American aircraft carrier in the heart of the Middle East gives him license to disregard international law with utter contempt.
While he sends fighter jets toward Iran, he continues the massacre of Palestinians, who still die by the dozens each day, either from hunger or shot at point-blank range while waiting in food aid lines. And yet, this war no longer has any reason to go on.
Exhausted, Gaza no longer poses the threat Israel claimed to defend itself against since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Netanyahu, perhaps, was searching for a future. A strange Armageddon now unfolds between two evils.
There is little desire to choose a side between Israel, which presents itself as the guardian of Western interests while waging dirty wars, and Iran, which plays the role of the empire by arming and manipulating ideological militias — cancers of the very countries they sprang from.
One might find relief in Israel weakening this many-tentacled menace purely for its own interest. But there is also reason to worry: a victorious Israel over Iran could become, with its unrestrained mentality, emboldened and shielded from consequence, the policeman of the new Middle East. Some will argue that it won’t be any worse than Iran or Syria.
But that only means we’ll never have anything better. It, above all, means that nuclear weapons have now become the sole criterion for deterrence and dominance, and that there is no longer any hope for global disarmament.
Just look at Kim Jong-un, playing the nouveau riche on digital platforms, reminding the world of his moonlike face — suddenly accessible and smiling — offering his services and extending a hand toward new alliances.
Meanwhile, Lebanon — small in size, yet a founding member of the U.N. and a rare example of pluralism in a region marked by rigidity and uniformity — harbors no illusions about its future autonomy. In fact, for the Lebanese, “future” is a word too vast to believe in anymore.
Still at odds with their past, they have honed the gift of living in the moment, savoring the finest things life brings. For once so far, spared from the major events unfolding around them, now that Hezbollah seems out of play, they turn up the bass and watch in their sky the missile salvos crossing like shooting stars. The Israel-Iran war isn’t even a topic of debate.
“Let the troublemakers tear each other apart,” they say. Some witty folks are already snagging tables in pubs with a “missiles view.”
“We’ve lost our minds” under our skies. Literally in the eye of the storm, and on the front lines of WW3, we welcome the end of the world dancing, high on adrenaline.
Fingers crossed that the experts are right and that, if it happens, the nuclear fallout drifts further south of our shores. If not, all we can do is breathe out.
This article was originally published in French in L’Orient-Le Jour. It was translated by Joelle El-Khoury.