In wars, we often look for the tipping point, the event which modifies the balance and the trajectory of the conflict to take it either towards hardening or towards an end. Monday April 1, seven employees of the powerful American NGO World Central Kitchen, including internationals, were killed in their cars by drone fire, while they were on a humanitarian mission coordinated with the Israeli army.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the responsibility of his army but not the intentionality. For its part, the Israeli army recognizes a “serious error”, according to the conclusions of the investigation that Radio France was able to consult, and announced, Friday April 5, the dismissal of two officers.
It is still early to know if this is a turning point in the war. But at a minimum, this event shows the true face of the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, believes the founder of World Central Kitchen, José Andrés, on the X network.Aid workers and civilians should never pay the consequences of wardeplores the leader and humanitarian, it is a basic principle of humanity (…) You cannot destroy all the buildings, you cannot destroy all the hospitals, all the schools, you cannot target humanitarians, you cannot target the children. You can’t fight against what is the basis of humanity.”
“It no longer looks like a war on terrorism, it looks like a war on humanity.”
José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen
Thursday April 4, American President Joe Biden asked Benjamin Netanyahu to do more on the humanitarian aspect, under penalty of revising his policy of support in the military operation. At the same time, the war cabinet authorized access to the port of Ashdod and the opening of the Erez crossing point to the north of the enclave.
Al-Chifa hospital devastated
This tragedy is not the only event which shocked or worried public opinion. On April 1, the Israeli army withdrew from al-Chifa hospital, leaving behind a wreck of buildings that appeared to have been hit by a tsunami. That day, it is suspected of having directly targeted Iran: seven revolutionary guards died in a strike which hit the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus. The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raïssi, promises that there will be a response.
“On the international level it is as if it was the territory of the country in question which was attackedestimates on France Inter Thierry Coville, researcher at IRIS, specialist in Iran. Iran’s strategy, since the start of the conflict in Gaza, has been to act with the members of the axis of resistance, therefore its allies in Syria, Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen, but the idea is always not to go too far to avoid a direct conflict with Israel and undoubtedly with the United States.”
In this context, Israel temporarily suspended the leave of these soldiers. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his intention to suspend Qatari Al Jazeera television in Israel after the passing of a law allowing the broadcasting of certain foreign media.
The home front
This is the other tipping point, but this time within Israeli society. Sunday March 31, a human tide poured onto the main road which passes below the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem. These demonstrators are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. For the first time, the slogan brings together the left and certain families of hostages. “There was this moment of astonishment, and now we are in a phase of great frustrationjudge on France Culture sociologist Sylvaine Bulle, to the extent that the government, and Bibi at its head, did not bring back the hostages and did not “eradicate” Hamas. And the war lasts: we are stuck.
“We are in what I call “perpetual war”, desired by Bibi, which also weighs on local finances.”
Sylvaine Bulle, sociologist
For Sylvaine Bulle, “that’s also what the protest movement is saying, that is: we want elections, we want to reform the Israeli political system, we want to talk about the cost of the war, which is becoming quite unbearable, especially since a a certain number do not participate in the national war effort.”
Where are the main players?
During these six months, Radio France has sought, through this podcast, to give you the keys to understanding this new war in the Middle East. For this progress update, with the specialists from Radio France, let’s look at where the main players are.
The Houthis
At the end of March, Éric Biegala, Army specialist for the international editorial staff of Radio France, boarded the frigate Languedoc. This vessel spent seven months in the Red Sea to counter attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on merchant ships. This war has fueled the ambitions of the Houthis, according to the French intelligence services that Eric Biegala also consulted. “Intelligence in France still looks quite precisely at everything that the Houthis implement, and that’s not nothing, explains Eric Biegala. There are still dozens, hundreds of rocket missiles, armed drones, etc., which are precise. Military intelligence considers that it is a proto army, or a proto State, extremely well structured, particularly in terms of arms production and long-distance weapons. That Iran is basically behind it, yes, but currently not really, and the Houthis are taking advantage of this to exist more locally. They are not yet recognized as a state, and this is the opportunity to exist tactically and strategically. If they want to assert a state structure, this is the opportunity to exist. This war allows us to unite minds.”
Hezbollah
In this war, there is the distant Houthi front and the northern front of Hezbollah. After six months of war, the exchanges of fire remain of medium intensity. We feared a conflagration, it has not yet happened, and this can be explained according to Christian Chesnot, specialist in the region for the international editorial staff: “Hezbollah is calculating its actions because first Hezbollah was surprised by the attack, as was Iran. And very quickly, we saw Sheikh Nasrallah say : ‘Look, obviously I support the Palestinians but we are not in the same trench and Gaza is a solidarity front’.”
“There is a grammar of war between Israel and Hezbollah. We are really in the process of calibration.”
Christian Chesnot, journalist in the international editorial team of Radio France
“We morally supportcontinues the journalist. We can even send weapons, but we are not going to fight and open a second front for Gaza. That’s the line. And this line is still valid today, because even if there are very serious incidents between Israel and Hezbollah, it has not degenerated. Nasrallah is not at all a volatile or adventurous person, he is a calculator, he is a chess player. And there, we have known for a long time that there are red lines. There are rules of the game. There is a grammar of war between Israel and Hezbollah. We are really in the process of calibration. A choreography in quotes, but we are not in front of a character who is going to embark on a kind of adventure by launching these troops to attack Israel, not at all. Because he knows that Hezbollah does not have the means and Lebanon does not have the means to support a new war.”
The occupied West Bank
As always at the start of the war, people wondered if the occupied West Bank would go up in flames. This reflex has been less true since the second Intifadah which brought an entire generation to its knees. The revolt was also fueled by the violence of Israeli military operations in the most sensitive sectors. Security pressure political immobility, the occupied West Bank seems to have settled into a form of fatalism analyzes Alice Froussard who covers this sector for Radio France. “They’ve sort of gotten a little used to this state of warexplains the journalist. At the same time this war which is being played out in Gaza, this war which is also being played out in Jerusalem particularly during this period of Ramadan, and then this summer of “ordinary” war which is taking place in the refugee camps of the West Bank and in all the cities Palestinians (…) As if people were saying to themselves what’s the point? Especially when they see that the war continues, that the raids are accelerating, that the bombings in Gaza continue despite this UN resolution which called for a ceasefire which still does not take place.”
“Life is not returning to normal, but it’s as if people are almost less involved in the occupied West Bank.”
Alice Froussard, correspondent for Radio France
Israel
For Israel, this war feels like a step backwards. The government is increasingly isolated, even though it had made the normalization of its relations in the region a central tool to end the conflict without going through the creation of a Palestinian state. Was Israel bunkered during this war? It has transformed according to Thibault Lefevre, the Radio France correspondent in Jerusalem. “Israel does not respect international law. Israel, gradually under the leadership of its most right-wing government in the country’s history, is breaking with its traditional allies. Benjamin Netanyahu is a permanent provocation against the Americans who nevertheless supply his army with weapons and give him the means to continue his war. So Israel is cutting itself off from its traditional allies, provoking them in a world where international law has no longer been respected by many countries for around twenty years. Benyamin Netanyahu has an image of a strong man, who evolves in a world of post-truth, of alternative facts, where the words of those we consider to be elites are constantly questioned: the media, researchers, scientists. So Benymin Netanyahu is making Israel evolve in this world.”
“Israel is not isolated, but we are on a real break in the logic of alliance.”
Thibault Lefevre, permanent correspondent of Radio France in Jerusalem
After six months of war, the region is profoundly transformed. The level of hatred is unprecedented. Gaza is unrecognizable. It’s a part of the history of each person who lived in the region that has disappeared, tells us Frédéric Métézeau, former correspondent in Jerusalem, and author of this podcast. “VSIt’s something quite dizzying to imagine that a place we once knew is no longerhe says. First the deaths: there are already more than 30,000. Personally, I was very affected by the death of my fixer. The fixer is the local journalist who helped me in my reporting to find appointments and who translated. Then imagine that these buildings, that the places no longer exist… Everything is on the ground (…) And then this war, I believe, is also the end of a way of life. It is not at all a question of idealizing what Gaza was before. It was truly an open-air prison since Gaza is surrounded by Israel and Egypt. But the Gazans had a way of life, they had a sense of humor. In Gaza, we like to eat well, we like the beach, we like fishing. In Gaza, there are archaeological sites, and I don’t even know if they still exist. I have very fond memories of going to report in the small Catholic community in Gaza. These people live hidden, besieged in the church. What will remain of all this? It’s something difficult to imagine and I don’t even know if I would want to return to Gaza.”
In this episode: Thibault Lefevre, Alice Froussard, Eric Biegala, Christian Chesnot, Frederic Métézeau
Director: Cherif Bitelmalji, Pauline Pennanec’h, Etienne Monin