A demon has returned, and the world knows no peace. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who ignited the war against Iran visited the US again on 27 July, to attend the funeral of "Jewish faction" politician Graham, and he will meet Trump at the White House the following day.
"War demon" Netanyahu met Trump on 28 July, pushing to escalate strikes on Iran.
Netanyahu has not even arrived, yet the killing intent is already on display. American media report that he plans to hand Trump a "latest top-secret report" on Iran's nuclear weapons development. The report includes details on how Tehran is accelerating its nuclear program, and Netanyahu will use it to try to persuade Trump to escalate the campaign against Iran.
Before he set off, the newly appointed head of Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, Gofman, had already secretly visited Washington. Gofman briefed American officials on the locations where Iran is storing enriched uranium and developing nuclear weapons, and he urged the US military to launch a massive bombing campaign. The Middle East will be plunged into bloodshed and chaos will engulf the world, should Trump be talked into it by this "demon" once again.
Hawkish Fangs Before Departure
Strikes against Iran have paused these past two days. War clouds have eased somewhat. But Netanyahu's US visit brings the shadow of war right back. Before he departed for Washington, he already showed his hawkish fangs.
He declared that the war will only end once Iran's regime collapses or is forced to abandon its nuclear program. In other words, he wants the US to fight this war to the finish. He will not rest until both goals are achieved.
This time, he is using the funeral as cover to visit the White House again and see Trump. His goal is to convince Trump that "there must be no ceasefire under any circumstances." Given how much is at stake, he came prepared, not with empty words.
According to sources on the Israeli side cited by American media, he intends to hand Trump the "latest top-secret intelligence" on Iran's military and nuclear program. This includes how Iran is speeding up nuclear weapons development, a threat he will argue endangers both the Middle East and the United States.
Armed with these "shocking facts," he intends to talk Trump into escalating military action. He will warn Trump not to be deceived by Iran again, and not to fall for the idea that the issue can be resolved at the negotiating table.
Leaks on Kuh-e Sang
He has also leaked word through pro-Israel American media that Iran has restarted nuclear weapons development in the Kuh-e Sang region within its territory. Centrifuges used for uranium enrichment have already been relocated there, he claims.
He further asserts that Supreme Leader Mojtaba has an even stronger desire to develop nuclear weapons than his father did. The purpose of bringing this "latest intelligence" is to use fear to drive Trump not to stop, but to keep fighting, and fight even harder.
Netanyahu's "push for war" visit is extremely important for Israel. That is why he had already sent Israel's spy chief ahead as an "advance party" weeks earlier, to pitch this "nuclear crisis theory" to senior officials in Washington.
Citing officials familiar with the matter, American media report that the newly appointed head of Mossad, Gofman, secretly traveled to Washington in mid-July. He briefed a group of officials, including CIA Director Ratcliffe, on intelligence about nuclear development taking place deep underground in the Kuh-e Sang mountain. He also disclosed the latest quantities of uranium material and Iran's recent political and economic situation.
Mossad's new chief Gofman secretly urged Washington to expand bombing of Iran.
The Underground Target
Kuh-e Sang is located in central Iran, near the Natanz nuclear facility. Israeli intelligence indicates that Iran relocated thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges there late last year. The site was installed deep underground where a hardened outer shell protects it.
This means the US and Israel would need to deploy multiple heavy bombers to have any chance of destroying it. Gofman's secret meetings with Washington officials this time were specifically aimed at pushing this massive airstrike plan.
Gofman came close to succeeding. Trump had reportedly been preparing to deploy heavy bombers for the first time to strike Iran's nuclear facilities at Kuh-e Sang, and Israel had already gone on alert.
However, a White House war-situation meeting last Friday led Trump to pause the operation. The reason was that US missile-interceptor stockpiles had dropped sharply. If Iran were to widen its retaliatory strikes, US military bases and Gulf allies would face enormous risk, so Trump was forced to hold back.
Netanyahu, of course, will not give up so easily. On this visit, he will keep pulling out every trick to convince Trump to launch a full-scale offensive. He is confident because his last trip to the White House successfully persuaded the US to strike Iran.
On February 11 this year, Netanyahu arrived in the US with an "Iran attack master plan." He pitched hard to Trump and senior officials that if the US and Israel joined forces in a lightning strike to "decapitate" Iran's supreme leader, the regime would inevitably collapse and be replaced by a pro-American government, thereby completing the mission against Iran.
Trump was captivated by the idea. He believed he could win a historic victory in one stroke, and he decided to go to war. But the course of the war did not unfold as planned. Netanyahu's "master plan" came to nothing, leaving Trump trapped in a dilemma where fighting on meant disaster and stopping also meant disaster, a bind he could not escape.
A World on Edge Again
Netanyahu will not let any opportunity slip by. This visit to the US is another repeat performance, secretly scheming to push the war toward escalation. Whether Trump, having been fooled once, has grown wiser and won't be easily talked into it again remains to be seen.
Otherwise, the Middle East will descend into chaos once more, and the whole world will suffer at the hands of this "demon."
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Hong Kong's exiled 'resistance fighters' from 2019 still haven't come to terms with a bitter truth. The Western governments that once hailed them as "heroes" have largely "flipped the pig's belly", now treating them as harbingers of plague.
Former Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai traveled to the UK on his BNO passport last week to visit his wife and children, shortly after his release from prison. On arrival, border officers detained him for questioning. He was eventually let through, but authorities granted him only a 7-day temporary immigration bail, after which he may be deported back to Hong Kong.
Exactly what is going on inside the Home Office is anyone's guess. What is plain to see is the pig's belly flipped inside out, exposing its true intent to keep him out.
This is not the first such case, either. When fugitive Chloe Cheung applied for permanent residency in the UK, authorities threw up considerable obstacles and nearly rejected her outright. Only after "hawkish" politicians intervened was her application grudgingly approved, but not before the government's contempt was laid bare.
The circumstances of Wu Chi-wai's detention are decidedly strange. Before setting off, he had already met with officials at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong and was told he could enter on his BNO passport, then apply for temporary leave to remain once inside the country.
Wu Chi-wai's detention looks less like a border officer's error, more like a Home Office decision.
Many Hong Kong BNO holders have entered the UK this way before without incident. Yet Wu was held by border officers for several hours, facing possible immediate deportation. He was finally granted "bail" to stay for seven days, and what happens after that remains unknown.
Hong Kong diaspora groups and so-called "human rights organizations" in the UK sensed a shared fate. Naturally they were "deeply concerned," demanding the Home Office explain this "administrative error." The response was thoroughly bureaucratic: a standard line about not commenting on individual cases. It answered nothing and only deepened the mystery.
These groups still insist it was merely a border officer's mistake, not government policy. Simon Cheng, the "fugitive" who founded Hongkongers in Britain, suggested Wu's detention might stem from frontline staff misjudging the situation. Alternatively, he pointed to an erroneous alert triggered by the immigration system.
Whether that is really the case is doubtful, for two reasons.
First, Wu Chi-wai is a well-known figure in Hong Kong political circles, and his recent release from prison made headlines. Even if frontline border staff did not recognize him, they would surely have reported up the chain for instructions, suggesting the decision to deny him entry came from higher up in the Home Office.
Second, the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong must have been in contact with the Home Office beforehand. The Home Office would have had some understanding of who Wu is, and would not simply have treated him as an ordinary entrant with a criminal record, oblivious to the political considerations at play.
How the UK government treats these "troublemakers" can be glimpsed in its handling of fugitive Chloe Cheung's permanent residency application.
Cheung and her family submitted applications together this past May. Her family members were all approved, but the Home Office demanded she provide additional information about her "offence" in Hong Kong, including court documents related to her case, for a "full assessment."
Chloe Cheung's stalled residency bid shows the UK "flipping the pig's belly" on Hong Kong rioters.
This is a rather odd approach. Cheung is a wanted "national security fugitive" from Hong Kong, and the nature of her alleged offence is already crystal clear, so there should be no need for "additional information." She has, moreover, kept a fairly high profile in the UK, so security services would certainly know which side she is on.
She also works for the US-based political organization Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, whose chairman is James B. Cunningham, former US Consul-General to Hong Kong. That is hardly an innocuous background, and one British security services would likely have already flagged.
The reasonable explanation for the Home Office's obstruction is that the UK government does not want to grant permanent residency to politically complicated "anti-China, destabilize-Hong-Kong" figures, for fear of the trouble it might invite.
The political strategists behind Cheung, however, advised her to leak the story to British media first. Put the case in the public eye, so "hawkish" politicians could then pile pressure on the government.
The first to charge out this time was Lord Alton, a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), notorious for its role in the Jimmy Lai case. Lord Alton wrote to the Home Office in his capacity as a member of the House of Lords, sharply criticizing the department for treating "speaking up for democracy" as a "crime."
The tactic worked: shortly afterward, the Home Office granted Cheung permanent residency.
With political backers to lean on, Cheung had succeeded in forcing the UK government's hand. But many nameless rioters seeking political asylum, without such connections, have waited years without approval. They remain stuck in grim asylum accommodation, scraping by on paltry allowances. Unable to work or study, many suffer from depression, their situation nothing short of miserable.
The UK government's policy is plain: refuse to let these troublemakers integrate into British society, leave them to fend for themselves, and hope they give up and go away. In recent years, as the Labour government competes with the anti-immigration Reform Party, its stance toward Hong Kong asylum seekers has only hardened. The chances of approval are growing slimmer by the day.
The pattern is unmistakable: Wu Chi-wai's recent moves to leak information to foreign media follow Chloe Cheung's playbook. An attempt to pressure the Home Office into letting him stay. But whatever the outcome in his case, the UK government's flipped attitude toward "resistance fighters," now treating them as a plague to be avoided, is not going to change.
Lai Ting-yiu
