In his memoirs Bibi. My Story published in 2022, Benjamin Netanyahu announced his decision not to launch a general assault against Hamas in Gaza. The reason given is that it could cause hundreds or thousands of Israeli and Palestinian casualties; a measured response therefore seemed preferable to him. This was the case in 2012, 2014 and 2021.
After the incidents of October 7, 2023 and the assassination of hundreds of Israeli civilians, such a consideration no longer holds true. Israel will not be able to hold back, especially since Israeli retaliation in Gaza will also aim to dissuade Lebanese Hezbollah from launching into the war.
Hamas
Hamas is an organization which advocates the destruction of the State of Israel and whose leaders identify with the Muslim Brotherhood movement. When Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, Hamas imposed its authority on the Gazan population and glorified suicide killings. He is pushed to radicalism by Iran, which arms him with deadly missiles which are launched indiscriminately at civilian populations.
By unleashing a massacre of unprecedented scale, Hamas wanted to put Palestine back on the agenda and torpedo the peace process being finalized between Israel and Arabia. Much like the Abraham Accords restoring relations between Israel and certain Sunni countries, the peace process puts the final agreement with the Palestinians second. What’s more, the head of the Palestinian Authority is aware of the ongoing negotiations and completely ignores Hamas, which is Fatah’s sworn enemy.
By triggering an unprecedented massacre, Hamas hopes for a larger Israeli reaction in order to oil anti-Israeli propaganda with cleverly edited video clips that seek to ignite the Arab streets.
An imaginary blockade
The media widely reported on Israel’s blockade of Gaza while failing to mention that Gaza also shares a border with Egypt! Food enters freely. Agricultural crops left behind by the Israelis were destroyed or neglected. But it is obvious that the construction materials sent there are primarily used for the manufacture of weapons and underground tunnels. Hamas benefits from financial aid from Qatar and military aid from Iran. It is unclear what kind of support was obtained after Hamas leaders’ numerous visits to Turkey and Russia.
No one understands the deficiency of Israeli intelligence – although recognized as effective – and of the army which took time to react. In the current circumstances, Israeli analysts ruled out the possibility of such an attack at this time.
The Israeli government – which includes ministers new to political matters – and the army will have to answer for this disaster. Will Israel’s major concern to avoid collateral damage among Gazans continue to prevail in the present circumstances?
On the one hand, the current conflict highlights that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is still blocked. It will be for a long time as long as the teaching of systematized hatred which still predominates in the media and Palestinian institutions continues.
On the other hand, it emphasizes that Israel’s cramped borders must be defended in a much more hermetic manner; that any territorial concession constitutes an existential danger for Israel and that slogans for the destruction of Israel are not mere rhetoric.
Iran’s role
Many Arab media outlets show jubilant crowds in their country. Iranian leaders congratulate those in Hamas who, like them, want the destruction of Israel. The Lebanese Hezbollah affiliated with them has a number of missiles capable of paralyzing the State of Israel for a time and its approach hardly seems to take into consideration the material and human damage that the Lebanese people would incur in return.
Many Western countries began to rearm after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; the specter of a similar fate obsesses them. The attack incurred by Israel highlights the other specter of terrorism in their own territory.
The illusions of peace that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall are fading. The terrorism of al-Qaeda and Hamas adds a dimension of disenchantment. The time has come for rigorous measures accompanied by an appeal to common sense.