The Israeli response was inevitable. No country in the world would sit back and watch as rockets rain down on civilian targets, and certainly not on the country’s capital city. Israel has had no choice but to retaliate and deal a crushing blow upon those who are threatening its safety.
This is how we have acted – and rightfully so. We can hold endless discussions in TV studios about the targets in Gaza we’ve chosen to attack. Was it necessary to demolish high-rise buildings and destroy buildings that housed international media agencies in Gaza? Was the briefing given by the IDF Spokesman’s Office about the upcoming entry of Israeli ground forces into Gaza that didn’t take place in the end acceptable according to the rules of the game in such situations?
Some people said that Israel failed to display the proper sensitivity in this case, but I happen to agree with others who believe that when an entire urban compound has been turned into a base for cruel and violent activity, then no holds are barred, no moral restrictions remain in place and there’s no choice but to hit back with full force.
At a time when millions of citizens just want to live in safety and not to be targets of rocket fire, our country’s leaders must be willing to make decisions. This is not a time to be holding symposia.
According to data published in the last few days, the IDF has taken all possible precautions and tried to reduce to a minimum the collateral damage caused by the engagement of our sophisticated air force. Innocent people have unfortunately become casualties of this war, and I share the grief and distress caused to the people of Gaza. There are times when this is the inevitable consequence.
Now that this round of warfare on both sides is winding down, we have to assess the balance of the outcome.
I will say from the outset: The State of Israel knows exactly what needs to be done in order to overthrow the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip and to alter the balance of force that will bring about a new, different reality. That will offer a completely new horizon and different chance of a better life for the people of Israel and the 2.5 million Gazans who are living in distress and pain, and suffering so much bloodshed at the hands of the Hamas regime.
The only way to bring about change is for the IDF to enter the Gaza Strip with all of the forces at its disposal: infantry, the armored corps, and special elite units, and using precision weapons, drones, fighter jets and of course the Iron Dome (the construction of which I ordered as prime minister, with the aid and support of then defense minister Amir Peretz). There is no other way.
We are not prepared to carry out such a step, since it would incur too heavy a price in the number of casualties among our soldiers, as well as among the residents of Gaza. The result of such a measure would be so devastating that we would not be prepared for it. We are not ready for such a move, and at the end of the day we do not want to carry out such an act. In fact, in 2009, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he would overthrow the Hamas regime, this was only a show that was designed to influence the outcome of the forthcoming election.
Netanyahu knows that he is not ready, and he’s not prepared to lead such a complex and charged decision for which we would pay an unbearable price. Similarly, the words he said this week – about dealing Hamas a lethal blow – are nothing more than a well-staged theatrical performance.
WE ARE JUDGING the results of this campaign by the number of buildings, tunnels and bunkers that have been demolished, and by the number of casualties on the Palestinian side. They view this phase as another round in which we’ve failed to stop them from shooting rockets over the border into Israel.
While Israel’s roads are empty of cars, not because of a COVID-19 lockdown, but because of Muhammad Deif’s threats of blowing up Tel Aviv; while Israeli citizens are running for cover in bomb shelters not only in Sderot, but also in central Israel; and while hundreds of young Israeli Arabs are clashing with their Jewish neighbors in what appears to be an unprecedented rift in Israeli society, Hamas is celebrating a tremendous achievement, the implications of which are so much more extensive than the numbers might lead us to believe.
This is another step in the expanding internal rift in Israeli society and the loss of ability of the country which Hamas hates so much to dictate the agenda of the region. When the current round of violence dissipates, all of us will need to admit that the way things were will remain the same.
There are two winners in this confrontation: Hamas, which has instilled a dimension of fear and insecurity among many Israelis; and Bibi Netanyahu, who knew from the first moment that Hamas would not collapse, but wanted the confrontation since it would change his own personal agenda.
For Bibi, the greatest achievement of this violent episode is that the Balfour Fortress did not fall. And as his wife said once, everything else can burn.
But not everything else has burned; only the thousands of rockets that have flown over Israelis’ homes in southern Israel, the center, the coastal area and the outskirts of Jerusalem. The house where the Netanyahu family wants to continue living forever has remained in their hands.
The next expected move is the renewal of Netanyahu’s affair with Hamas, an event that has been taking place regularly for more than 12 years. Israel will continue to line the terrorist organization’s coffers with millions of dollars each month that come from Qatar and perhaps also from other Muslim countries. It is Israel, however, that is performing as the banker paying Hamas leaders with the clear knowledge that this money will be used to bolster the terrorist organization’s military force, to repair the rubble created during the current round and to prepare for the next round of confrontation.
We could, however, follow a different path. We could bypass Hamas and find a direct route to the residents of the Gaza Strip. They are victims of this war who have no chance of living a different life, unless they can distance themselves from the murderers who are in control of their lives. We must stop the civil siege on the Gaza Strip and allow its residents to build civil infrastructure that is essential for achieving an improved quality of life.
It’s impossible for millions of people to live under such terrible conditions, where they have electricity for only four to five hours a day, water is limited, and the transportation of goods is entirely controlled by the Israeli authorities, making the chances for economic rehabilitation almost non-existent.
We must look at the Gaza Strip differently – not only as an existing danger, but also as a possibility for change. But for this to happen, the State of Israel must have a leader who has the courage not just to send in planes with accurate bombs, but also packages of COVID-19 vaccines and products that can improve Gazans’ quality of life, and to build a deep-water port that would enable Gaza to develop a commercial relationship with the international community. The claim that altering this approach would expose us to a security threat belittles our power and our military capabilities that are obviously superior to theirs.
The time has come to change direction and prevent the next round of rocket fire that might reach northern Israel, too.
It’s now clear to everyone that the current wave of terrorist activity was the inevitable result of the common interest of, first and foremost, Hamas, and also the prime minister, who lit a fire in Jerusalem that has continued on to burn down the human and moral fiber of Israeli society.