Israel talk with Maischberger
Masala: “There will be terrible images”
By Marko Schlichting
October 18, 2023, 7:33 a.m
If the Israeli army invades the Gaza Strip, political scientist Carlo Masala does not rule out a conflagration in the region. In the ARD talk show Maischberger, the military expert explains what a ground offensive could look like.
In the war against the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, Israel has been threatening to deploy ground troops in the Gaza Strip for days. The death toll on both sides is already rising and concern is growing worldwide. How things could continue in the Middle East is also the topic of the ARD talk show Maischberger, in which the political scientist Carlo Masala from the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich and the doctor and author Gil Yaron analyze the situation on Tuesday evening.
With its attack, Hamas tried to make entire areas of Israel free of Jews, says Yaron bei Maischberger. Germany could help “so that Jewish life can flourish again in these areas.” This can also be understood under the term “reason of state”. He is trying to help in his current role, says Yaron, who is also head of the North Rhine-Westphalia state office for business, science, education, youth and culture in Israel. Just a few days ago he was in Israel to bring his eleven-year-old son to Germany.
According to Yaron, there may be several reasons why Israel has not yet begun its planned ground offensive. It is possible that they hope to free as many of the up to 200 hostages who are still in Hamas’s hands beforehand, said Yaron. In addition, the invasion of the Gaza Strip is a “highly complex military undertaking.”
“Create optimal conditions”
Israel has already completed an incredible feat of strength: “In just a few days they have drafted in 400,000 people who yesterday were bakers, bus drivers and doctors. They have to be trained. The Israelis have to study deployment plans, they have to create the optimal conditions, “That as few of their own soldiers and Palestinian civilians as possible die,” says Yaron. They would also have to give civilians in the Gaza Strip time to clear corridors. “The Israelis won’t just march their soldiers in there and turn them into moving targets. They will bomb these corridors briefly and small to make the danger to the soldiers as small as possible.”
“Hamas must disappear as an organization that attacks Israel and politically rules the Gaza Strip,” says military expert Masala. This would require an Israeli ground offensive. However, the nature of this offensive is completely unclear. This would allow Israel to march on Gaza City and fight for individual houses. Another possibility is that the ground offensive comes from below, with Israel destroying Hamas’ extensive tunnel system.
“But if the goal is to destroy Hamas, then there is no alternative to Israeli soldiers entering the Gaza Strip,” says Masala. That is why Israel asked Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City towards the Egyptian border, but Hamas terrorists prevented this. “If Hamas stops the refugees and there is a ground offensive, then civilians will die, as sad as that sounds. There will be terrible pictures, and one can only hope that support for Israel will not fail as a result,” says Masala.
“We are not yet facing a conflagration”
The Middle East is not yet facing a conflagration, Masala continues, “but we can’t rule it out.” At the moment, the deterrence that the United States is practicing by sending two aircraft carrier groups is working. These are a signal to Hezbollah, Iran and other less relevant groups not to interfere. However, the danger that Hezbollah will try to force the Israelis into a two-front war cannot be ruled out.
Yaron feels the same way. “The threats from Hezbollah and Iran are very concrete.” In the last few days there have been numerous border violations in northern Israel, to which Hezbollah has claimed responsibility. “Hezbollah is making a huge impact here. But I think that in Israel too, the willingness to continue to tolerate the danger in the north has become much smaller than it was before Hamas’ terrorist acts began.”
However, not only people there are threatened by the war in Israel, but also Jews all over the world. The Israeli Foreign Ministry warned Israelis not to take to the streets wearing a yarmulke. This also applies to Jews who live in Germany. “How things are with the Jewish community in a state is always an indicator of how safe that state is and how willing it is to tolerate minorities. And if Jews no longer feel safe here, then that says something about it democracy in Germany,” said Yaron.