Just as we should have had a UN Security Council Resolution for NATO forces to operate for 78 days in Kosovo, protecting Kosovars from Serbian ethnic cleansing of more than 12,000 Albanians, we need a UN Security Council Resolution to force Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Force back into Israel. More than 29,600 dead Palestinians non-combatants are enough. Besides protecting non-combatants as we did in Kosovo, we’ll be stopping the spread of war into Egypt’s Sinai. 

Kosovo, a region with a dominantly ethnic Albanian population located in the southern part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was an autonomous province within Serbia, the dominant political entity within Yugoslavia. By the early 1990’s Serbian leader Slobodan Milosovec rose to power by pursuing policies that led to the marginalization and repression of the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo, which caused emergence of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). To secure more rights for Kosovo Albanians through armed resistance, the KLA’s guerrilla warfare against Serbian security forces fed a growing cycle of violence and reprisal. By 1998 there had been substantial human rights violations and atrocities against Albanians. Diplomatic efforts and negotiations failed, causing NATO to launch Operation Allied Force in March 1999. The objective was to protect ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and end the violence. The operation involved a sustained air campaign targeting Serbian military installations, infrastructure and command centers, to degrade Serbia’s combat capability and force Milosovec to negotiate a settlement.

The United States deployed substantial military force to Kosovo. It consisted of ground troops, naval assets, and air power. U.S. ground forces were deployed as part of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR). These U.S.Army troops were responsible for maintaining security and stability in the region, and returning displaced Albanians to their homes. The U.S. Navy provided logistical support and conducted an arms embargo. The U.S. Air Force played the pivotal role with significant numbers of bombers, fighter jets, and surveillance aircraft. The use of precision-guided munitions and advanced surveillance proved effective in achieving NATO objectives. However, the operation showed the limits of air power alone in resolving complex conflicts and underlined the need for comprehensive strategies that combine military, diplomatic, and humanitarian efforts. There needs to be clear objectives, robust planning, and international cooperation to achieve success. 

There were significant challenges rebuilding Kosovo, with the United Nations assuming control over the region, overseeing efforts to rebuild the infrastructure, establish democratic institutions, and foster inter-ethnic reconciliation.

The biggest criticism of Operation Allied Force was Russia’s argument by Putin that NATO’s intervention violated international law, by being conducted without explicit authorization from the United Nations Security Council. Putin later used that Kosovo action as his precedent for sending his own forces into the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

The U.S. under President Biden still has the capability to secure an authorization from the UN Security Council and have a robust NATO force, assisted by Russian Forces, establish a protective ring around the Palestinians in Southern Gaza as the first phase of rebuilding Palestine under the auspices of the United Nations. This NATO-Russia approach offers a gradual way out of the ongoing confrontation between NATO, seen by Russia as offensively-minded, and a Russia that has failed in its past attempt to work with NATO. Importantly, this would be the first post-Cold War step in the functional evolution of a robust peacekeeping capability for the United Nations. 

Just as it pained the hearts of Americans, especially Serbian Americans, to have U.S forces kill Serbs in order to rein in a monster like Milosovec, our hearts will ache for the deaths of Israelis and Israeli Americans, unwilling or unable to end the wasteful squalor of a racist crook like Netanyahu.