Our advice if someone is bullying you is to choose to defend yourself by counter attacking. Your response must be quick (intervene as soon as possible after the aggression), surgical (to cause as little damage as possible) and effective (to make the aggressor unable to attack you again). Be careful, if you wait too long before retaliating, if your retort is exaggerated (too much damage) or ineffective, then the roles change. That is, your aggressor becomes the victim, and you become a criminal, the one who must be stopped.
Netanyahu's big success is consecrating Hamas as a 'resistance movement'
On October 7, 2023, Western public opinion considered Hamas a terrorist movement and that the attack on Israel was monstrous. The West has also agreed that Israel has the right to retaliate and eliminate Hamas. As a result, Israel decided to launch a military operation aimed at eliminating Hamas. An action considered perfectly legitimate and justified by the West. But people in the West expected a war like the one that neutralized ISIS-Daesh (in Syria and Iraq, 2017-2018). Or, if we refer to France, how the French army conducted the anti-terrorist operations in the Sahel. Error. The response model chosen by Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership (and, automatically, by the Israeli people, because Israel is still a democratic state) was the 'Russian' model (applied in Chechnya, Syria, today in Ukraine). Why? Simply because Netanyahu is a dictator-in-the-making with Putin as his role model/teacher/guru. And most Israelis follow him, unfortunately.
Israel's response: siege and aerial bombardment
Firstly, Israel has 'closed' Gaza - a siege like in the Middle Ages - zero electricity, water, food, medicine, supplies. And who suffered most from the siege? You guessed it: the civilian population, especially children and vulnerable people. As for Hamas? Of course, the siege did not affect Hamas, as the networks specifically developed by their supporters (Iran, Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthis) as well as smugglers of all colours got them everything they wanted. Almost immediately came the aerial bombardments, more and more intense, more destructive, more deadly. On December 21, 2023, CNN published an analysis of these bombings on its website - a nightmare. We'll give you some numbers here: over 500 one-ton bombs, frequently used. Each is 4 (four) times more powerful than the most powerful bomb the US dropped against ISIS in Mosul, Iraq in 2018. Over 300 meters is the area where such a bomb can kill or at least injure. These could have been very effective against an army barricaded behind concrete fortifications, holding armoured vehicles, tanks, barracks. The result - null. Hamas is not such an army. They only have rifles, machine guns and other such weapons. Their heaviest weaponry can be transported in a small car, a jeep at most. Most of their rockets are handcrafted, as are the launch pads. They have neither concrete fortifications nor barracks or anything similar. The result of the bombings: a Civilian infrastructure - it is true, used from time to time by Hamas, but which remains, nevertheless, Civilian - which was destroyed, almost wiped off the face of the earth. The Hamas tunnels could have been a legitimate target for an aerial bombardment. Unfortunately, Israel has not even attempted to claim the destruction of even a single tunnel by this method.
Israel's response - the ground attack
In late October 2023, Israel finally launches the ground attack, the only military operation capable of effectively bringing Hamas to its knees. For the moment, the result is rather 'lukewarm'. On January 3, 2024, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) states: 'Israeli airstrikes have degraded several Hamas units and significantly weakened others, rendering them unable to fight effectively, mainly in the North of the Gaza Strip. But today, Hamas troops are neither defeated nor destroyed.' Furthermore, as the Israeli army has begun to withdraw some of its forces, ISW believes that Hamas will quickly rebuild the military capabilities that Israel has managed to destroy. On January 8, ISW reiterated: ‘We warn that it is very likely that the third phase of Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, as announced, will allow Hamas to reconstitute itself militarily.’ Instead, against the former hostages, who managed to escape by their own efforts, the Israeli army managed to ‘score the maximum’ - as happened on December 15, when three hostages were killed, although they presented themselves to the soldiers naked until at the waist, with arms upraised and a white flag. Based on this case, the Israeli military has shown maximum effectiveness in killing Civilians in Gaza.
Flash info
Here in the West, experts, analysts, and politicians have repeatedly told us that Hamas is a 'terrorist movement'. But, also here in the West, I have known so many times how a 'terrorist movement' is fought: special forces, ground attacks with highly professional infantry units, observation drones, some armour, and some very well targeted airstrikes,' surgical'. The Sahel, the neutralization of ISIS – DAESH by France, we already know them. Unfortunately, because of the war in Ukraine, we also became well acquainted with what happens in a 'real' war. As a result, we see that Netanyahu/Israel is waging the same kind of war in Gaza as Putin is waging in Ukraine. And the press releases and statements of the Israeli army are like two drops of water to those of the Russian Ministry of Defence. But also, that Netanyahu/Israel do not really want to say what future they have in store for the Strip, just like Putin does with Ukraine. Especially since Netanyahu is not as cunning as Putin. At least Putin claims they want to negotiate. But Netanyahu/Israel responds to calls for a ceasefire/humanitarian ceasefire with a tender 'Go to hell and ask him to cease fire'. The logical and natural follow-up is a series of three ideas that gradually make their way into the minds of people in the West, namely: Palestinians are like Ukrainians, Gaza is Ukraine, and Hamas defends its country like the Ukrainian army.
Is anti-Semitism recurrent? Yes but...
What is Netanyahu's response to the growing concern in the West about this over-the-top response – which is extremely destructive, often leading to the killing of innocent people – by Israel? He argues vehemently that we are increasingly anti-Semitic. Blah, blah, blah. To die of laughter and more no. I mean, we give an arsonist, not a 5 Liter jerrycan, but a whole tank of diesel/gasoline and then wonder why there are so many fires everywhere? So, broadly speaking, the blame for the advance of anti-Semitism in the West rests with Netanyahu and Israel for the way it is fighting Hamas in Gaza. Under these conditions, a question arises: how far can anti-Semitism advance in the world? We have to say it loud and clear: the West, the Western world, felt that they bore an enormous guilt towards the Jews, because they allowed the Holocaust during the Second World War. To atone for this guilt, the West has consistently supported Israel since 1947 and even before. All the while, they turned a blind eye to the tragedy of the Palestinian people for decades and decades. And they also chose to treat all Palestinian groups—for example, Yasser Arafat's PLO in the 1970s and 1980s—as terrorists. But today, the West, the 'Western' world, finds that it has been betrayed twice by Netanyahu and Israel. The West was first betrayed when Netanyahu chose to ally with Putin in the war in Ukraine. The second time was when he chose how to respond to the Hamas attack on October 7. And these repeated betrayals force the West to ask questions. And one of those questions is: 'Hamas? What is Hamas? Are its fighters terrorists or a resistance movement?' What answer can be given to this question, when we look at the way the Israeli army was fighting in Gaza with Hamas? Increasingly, the balance will tip toward an answer like: Hamas is a resistance movement. And Netanyahu and Israel can only congratulate themselves for their 'success'. Good for them!
Teaser for an article to come
Increasingly, the world doubts that our attitude towards Israel is the most appropriate. We are afraid that, because of this war, a radical change on the part of the West will be imposed.
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