The moment chosen by Hamas to unleash barbarity on Israel is not lacking in symbolism. On October 7, thousands of missiles darkened the country’s skies. By air, land and sea, Palestinian fighters have stormed neighboring towns in the Gaza Strip. Israelis were killed at point blank range, kidnapped by the hundreds, like a mother and her two little girls aged 3 and 5, like a Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair. This is a total failure of the Israeli surveillance and intelligence apparatus.
To the nearest day, it was the 50e anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a pivotal moment in the history of the Middle East conflict, during which Israel repelled the military forces of Arab countries who called for its annihilation. Hamas, a terrorist group born in 1987, still preaches in the direction of extermination, just like Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, its objective allies. The Islamist group rules with an iron fist over the Gaza Strip, a territory of 360 km2 (the equivalent of the City of Montreal), where more than two million Palestinians are crowded.
In Montreal and elsewhere in the world, the citizens who demonstrated over the weekend for free Palestine should be ashamed. They welcomed a terrorist act on the part of a group whose aim is the establishment of an Islamic republic in place of the democratic State of Israel. It is the most perverse and violent diversion that can be made of the two-state solution on which the Oslo Accords in 1993 were based. However improbable it may be in the face of the inexorable rise of extremism On both sides, the two-state solution still remains the best guarantee of peace in the Middle East.
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From 2007, Israel wanted to contain Hamas by imposing a severe blockade, with the support of Egypt, to prevent its supply of weapons and limit suicide attacks on Israeli soil. By depriving Gazans of basic amenities and prospects, Israel has given Hamas oxygen. The provocations of the Jewish settlers, who are brazenly encroaching on the Palestinian territories, as well as the radicalization of the coalition government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made bed with far-right Orthodox parties, complete this sinister portrait.
This outrageous government, rejected by millions of Israelis because of the threats it poses to the rule of law and democratic institutions, is at risk of rallying the population of Gaza behind Hamas by bombing the region indiscriminately.
Here we are, three days after the worst attack on Israeli soil in half a century. The Gaza Strip is under aerial bombardment and a complete siege preventing the delivery of water, food, electricity and fuel. The conflict left 700 dead and 2,400 injured among Israelis, and 560 dead and 2,900 injured on the Palestinian side. The Middle East will once again be held hostage by its extremes.
Prime Minister Netanyahu declared a state of war, calling it a “long and difficult” conflict. He is already judged harshly by the left-wing daily Ha’Aretz. By establishing “a government of annexation and dispossession,” appointing far-right supremacists to key positions, and adopting a foreign policy that denies the existence and rights of Palestinians, he bears primary responsibility for this war, judge Ha’Aretz.
Led by the United States, Western countries have expressed their unwavering support for Israel and its right to defend the integrity of its territory against terrorist attacks. This legitimate support does not exempt the Jewish State from carrying out a measured response, making it possible to contain Hamas without setting the region ablaze. A democratic state cannot respond to the assassination of civilians, women and children with the same ruthless method without losing its credibility and weakening its international support.
Hamas justified its sneak attack by the deterioration of cohabitation on the Esplanade des Mosques in Jerusalem, the third holiest site for Muslims. Recently, Israeli authorities have allowed Jews to pray near the Al-Aqsa mosque, built on the ruins of the Jerusalem temple. The Temple Mount is the first holiest site in Judaism.
The entanglement of religious symbolism in such a restricted space has always inflamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This time, we must also consider the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel in the equation. Faced with a common enemy, Iran, they are seriously considering the normalization of their relations, in the wake of the Abraham Accords.
Thus, Hamas’ attack could reflect its loss of influence among Arab countries rather than its rise in power. Containing the terrorist abyss without compromising the prospects for peace is the challenge for the Netanyahu government. This is a challenge that he cannot meet by remaining a prisoner of his extreme right.