While voicing concern for the people of Gaza has been conspicuously delinked from the scale and intensity of the activities of Hamas and its accomplices, in the light of Israel’s poor preparedness for surprises, failure in policy and deployment of defensive forces compounded by lack of relevant intel, its conception and hold over Gaza appear to have collapsed.
When Israel was deliberating over increasing permitted labourers from Gaza in its territory and claimed that Hamas is deterred by Israel given its presumed hold over it, thousands of Hamas fighters prepared for the October 7 surprise attack in silence and secrecy for months.
However, the devastating commemoration of October 7, when Hamas launched an attack and Israel declared war, appears to have fallen dim on the conscience of the world; but besides the massive humanitarian crisis that seems to have no end in sight, questions loom large about the political price of this situation that Israel will have to pay.
Experts believe that while the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) concentrated forces in the south, the possibility of a multi-arena war which will include the West Bank, East Jerusalem and even Hezbollah and extremist elements among Israeli Arabs is not out of the question, especially when Hezbollah is biding its time.
Haaretz senior columnist Anshel Pfeffer, who was among the first journalists to be embedded with forces in the Israeli army’s ground operation in Gaza, spoke of the “many convenient but very inaccurate comparisons” between the Israel-Gaza situation and the Russia-Ukraine war. Israel operates differently in Gaza, in the sense that IDF soldiers swung in more motivated than ever after October 7.
“Many of them know people who were killed, who were taken hostage, or wounded. Some of them are from families which have been forced to leave their homes because of the war. It’s very personal for everybody. There’s no question about it,” he said.
Acknowledging that on-ground soldiers are “very focused on their mission,” Pfeffer pointed out that “when you go up the IDF hierarchy to the top, there is a growing sense of frustration that there is no clear strategic idea of the next stage” after Israel destroys Hamas’ military capabilities and topples the regime.
“There is no real guidance or strategic idea of any kind coming over from this government, because this government is dysfunctional and has too many radical, far-right elements in it that refuse to even contemplate some type of Palestinian control of Gaza. And that is both frustrating for the generals planning this war, and also very damaging to Israel,” Pfeffer said.
On the other hand, with respect to the mighty US, the stand of which is crucial in the compounding situation in the Israel region, “There does not appear to be a clear endgame from the Biden administration,” said Trita Parsi of Quincy Institute, a think tank promoting diplomacy.
“When it comes to this strategic image, it’s very difficult to be able to discern a clear strategy that actually would have the desired results,” he added.
However, Haaretz finds itself at the receiving end as Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi proposed to act against the daily by ending publication of government notices in it.
He said that Haaretz is “sabotaging Israel in wartime” and was an “inflammatory mouthpiece for Israel’s enemies.”
This proposal was submitted without the due process of being vetted by the ministry’s legal adviser, and it seeks to immediately halt all payments to Haaretz from state entities in his purview.
In response, Amos Schocken, CEO of Haaretz said: “If the government wants to close Haaretz, that’s the time to read Haaretz.”
(Kavya Dubey may be reached at [email protected])
–Ajit Weekly News
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