VSampus in fever, stands, incandescent social networks, rise of anti-Semitism… Thinking about the war in Gaza is a challenge in the ambient hubbub. Legitimate emotions and prejudices limit consideration of the complexity of this tragedy. After the immense emotion and fear aroused by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military operation reversed the perspective. These feelings are now directed towards the tortured Palestinian civilians. Israeli solitude is growing.
This reversal is accompanied by distortions of view between the outside world and Israel. From the outside, there is a powerful focus on Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister bears a heavy responsibility for the crisis hitting his country, both security, moral and identity. He organized the assault against the counter-powers. It allowed the trivialization of xenophobic speech in public debate. By pure calculation, he allied himself with the representatives of violent Jewish supremacism. But this rise of national religious tribalism also corresponds to a fragmentation of Israeli society.
Likewise, Mr. Netanyahu must answer for the disaster of October 7. Only a commission of inquiry will be able to bring to light the alerts not taken into account, the analyzes ignored. But we know that “Bibi” had favored the breakup of the Palestinian political scene, making tacit agreements with Hamas in Gaza. Again, this responsibility is shared with the Israeli top brass and elites. An entire country was gripped by technological dizziness, convinced of its definitive superiority over the Palestinian armed factions.
Today, by focusing on Mr. Netanyahu, whose loss of credibility in public opinion is spectacular, Western experts are missing out on a form of Israeli consensus, in mourning and anger. We must put an end to Hamas, they say over and over again. Only this perspective cements society today. It is in this logic that the war cabinet – and not Mr. Netanyahu alone – makes operational decisions.
Lost spirits
This leads to the second distortion of view: that of urgency. For the whole world today – outside the United States – the priority is to put an end to the carnage committed by the army in Gaza. For Israel, the slogan “Destroy Hamas” covers everything. He confuses legitimate military objectives and the satisfaction of a vengeful impulse, after the trauma of October 7. While certain misguided minds, in the West, in the Global South or in the Middle East, rationalize these crimes of Hamas by placing them in a supposed ” resistance ” Palestinian, the Israelis feel they have no choice. To restore the security and deterrence of the country, they must remove the tumor, even if the Palestinian body dies.
You have 55% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.