Israel War to Ignite Terror, Threaten Global Economy and possibly Spark World War III, Trends Institute Warns

CAIRO, 14 January 2009 - Israel's invasion of Gaza sets up the United States and any other nation supporting Israel as terror targets, predicts Gerald Celente.  The Trends Research Institute Director also warns that should Israel continue the invasion, or take the war beyond Gaza, the world risks both a 1973-style oil shock and global conflict.  

"Regardless of whose side you take, what you believe in, who did what to whom and when ... this is just the latest chapter of 'Crusades 2000'," said Celente, who coined the term in 1993 and has written about it extensively.  Yet, unlike preceding Crusades confined to the Holy Land, the trend seer says the current violence will spread globally. (See "Crusades 2000," Trends Journal, Fall 1993; Trends 2000 Warner Books 1997; "Crusades 2000," Trends Journal, Spring 2006.) 

 Armed and Dangerous

World news sources report a Middle East up-in-arms and seething at the lopsided Israeli massacre that has left over 1,000 Palestinians dead, thousands wounded, and Gaza in ruins.  In comparison, three Israeli civilians and less than a dozen Jewish soldiers have been killed; scant damage has been inflicted on Israel.

The incessant US media and government message focuses on Israel's "right to defend itself" while minimizing or ignoring the long sequence of Israeli provocations leading up to its invasion while also failing to cite the real tally from the preceding mutual hostilities.  In the months prior to Israel's December 27^th attack, homemade Hamas projectiles fired into Israel killed no one. (Over the past several years prior to the invasion, 13 Israelis were killed by rocket fire. Between 2005 and 2007 alone, the Israeli Defense Force killed 1,290 Palestinians in Gaza, including 222 children.)

Also largely absent from United States war coverage are the contributing factors Palestinians claim precipitated their primitive Qassam rocket launches into Israel.  Chief among them, Israel's 18-month starvation blockade of 1.5 million impoverished Palestinians squeezed into densely populated Gaza (described by the Vatican as "a big concentration camp") and Israel's pre-invasion assassination of six Palestinian officials.

According to the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations, the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch and other government and NGOs, Israel's response has been both disproportionate and illegal. Among the condemnations, Israel's military has been accused of firing white phosphorus artillery packed shells on civilians.  The UN special envoy for human rights accused the Israeli army of "... committing a shocking series of atrocities by using modern weaponry against a defenseless population - attacking a population that has been enduring a severe blockade for many months."

For its part, since the onset of hostilities, the United States had prevented approval of a UN Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire.  And when the United Nations Security Council voted for a "durable and fully respected" cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, "leading to the full withdrawal" of Israel's forces from the Palestinian territory, the US abstained from voting.  (The New York Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "placed a phone call to President Bush" and that "Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice had been forced to abstain" from the UN resolution.)

"Major trends are brewing that if not quickly corrected or stanched, will lead to disaster," Celente forecasts, citing fears among Israel's neighbors that they could be the next victims.

"Throughout 2008, reports had been circulating that Israel was planning a military strike against Iran's major nuclear complex at Natanz, and The New York Times all but confirmed it on January 11^th," Celente said.  "While President Bush has made scores of disastrous foreign policy decisions during his reign, he should be congratulated for turning down Israel's request for specialized bunker-busting bombs needed to take out the nuclear facility." 

An attack on Iran by either Israel or the US will spark the onset of World War III, predicts Celente. 

Beyond escalating economic dangers, Washington has placed itself in terror's bulls-eye Celente said, pointing to last weeks US Senate and House passage offering "unwavering commitment" for Israel.   "Today, we reaffirm that Israel, like any nation, has a right to self-defense when under attack," said House speaker Nancy Pelosi. "The rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, which were increasing in frequency and range, constituted an unacceptable security threat to which Israel had a responsibility to respond."

Should Washington continue its "unwavering commitment" to Israel while taking direct measures to destroy Palestinians, Americans should also be aware that those left standing will seek revenge, Celente said.   "News reports of US supplied ships bringing munitions to Israel to be used against Palestinians, and Israel's claims that the UN school they shelled killing some 50 civilians was the fault of a US-supplied weapon malfunction will not be forgotten by those seeking revenge," said Celente.

Trendpost: Stay abreast of ongoing Middle East developments.  Assess them by weighing the facts and gleaning the truth lurking behind the propaganda smokescreen.   Should an oil embargo ensue, product scarcities will cause frenzy buying of food and fuel.   Gold prices will spike, the dollar will crash and global panic will most likely break out. 

Reporting from Cairo, Egypt: John Anthony West,  Executive Editor, the Trends Journal.

Publisher's Note: To make accurate trend forecasts, we do our utmost to seek facts that are generally accepted as truth. The more reliable the data, the more accurate the forecasts.  The purpose of a trend forecast is to provide guidance on what to expect and how to plan for what may transpire.  We do not pass judgment on what is right or wrong, good or bad, what we want or hope ... it's just "what is."

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