Israel is waging war against Hamas now but a political reckoning still awaits Netanyahu

Editor’s note: The following column was originally published. city ​​journal.

Israelis call this “our 9/11.”

As Americans, especially New Yorkers, know all too well, the similarities are chilling. But the Israelis’ misery is proportionately even greater than that of the Americans. Adjusting for population, the 700 Israelis killed (current estimate) equals 21,000 American deaths. And now the conflict between Israel and Hamas risks escalating.

Two days after about 1,000 Hamas militants attacked 22 locations in Israel in the deadliest surprise attack since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israeli forces are still retaking Israeli enclaves, securing borders and attacking about 200 ~Struggles to eliminate 300 extremist infiltrators and end the war. Launch a rocket attack to stop the massacre.

Israel engages Hamas after surprise attack, kills around 900 Israelis

Horror unfolded by the hour on Sunday, with Israel’s death toll reaching more than 700 people, around 2,400 injured, and an estimated 130 people kidnapped, including children and disabled people.

The biggest confirmed killing scene so far was a music festival, where about 260 young Israelis were massacred during a drunken party. The US State Department announced hours earlier that at least nine Americans had been killed. Almost as shockingly, much of the footage of Israeli hostages being taken across the desert to Gaza and of Israeli security facilities being attacked has been captured by the Israeli government, which usually prides itself on its ability to shape the narrative. Instead, it was from Hamas.

Israel appears to be on the very defensive militarily and politically. Even as the conflict intensifies, families of those killed, injured, and abducted, and millions of Israelis whose lives have been destroyed and trust in their government shattered by Hamas raids. Since then, questions and criticism have begun pouring in.

Sumadar Perry, a veteran Arab affairs correspondent for Israel’s largest daily, Yediot Aharonot, said, “Days after Israeli civilians near the border are killed or abducted, families still receive no response from Israeli representatives.” “I haven’t received any calls or visits,” he said. “This is unprecedented.”

Much of the criticism is now directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with one of Israel’s leading liberal newspapers, Haaretz, accusing him of being “fully responsible” for the failure.

Blinken deletes social media post calling for ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Hamas

As the shock of Israel’s colossal intelligence and security failures wears off, criticism of his leadership will no doubt increase. As Perry reported, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel told Prime Minister Netanyahu 10 days ago that something “big” and “alarming” was happening in Gaza and that he should consider moving Israeli troops. Criticism may also increase due to initial reports that the government issued a warning. From northern Israel and the West Bank to the Gaza border, conflicts between settlers and Palestinians are escalating.

But for now, many Israelis rely on Netanyahu to rally the Israel Defense Forces, protect security and punish Hamas and other war crimes targeting civilians. After Hamas rockets struck Israel early Saturday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately declared Israel to be at war and vowed that the enemy would “pay an unknown price.” He also ordered Gazans to leave areas occupied by Hamas. It is unclear where they will go, as Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, has bases throughout the populated area. Additionally, Gaza’s borders are closed on all sides by Israel, Egypt, and the sea.

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s defense minister ordered a “total siege” of Gaza, cutting off power, food, fuel and water to the enclave, which is home to about 2.4 million people. Israeli warplanes shelled Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing an estimated 400 Palestinians. Israeli military planes have also been attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, raising fears that the war could spread north. And Hamas rockets continue to fall on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

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Domestically, Prime Minister Netanyahu is aiming to form an emergency unity government. The main leaders of Israel’s opposition, Benny Gantz, former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and Avigdor Liberman of the Yisrael Beytenu party, have said they would like to serve as interim leaders if they are to have real influence over Israeli policymaking. He announced his intention to participate in a coalition government. But main opposition leader Yair Lapid said he would only do so if Prime Minister Netanyahu sacked far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

The two men are widely seen as key figures in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s politically divisive efforts to reduce Israel’s Supreme Court’s government oversight powers. These putative reforms polarized and divided the country and the military, sparking months of weekly protests.

Many now accuse these divisions of distracting from the core mission of Netanyahu’s government: keeping Israel safe. Unsurprisingly, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s team accused the demonstrators of focusing resources on large-scale protests rather than allowing security authorities to devote resources to protecting themselves from external threats. are doing.

Once the crisis subsides, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government are likely to face a political reckoning over how Hamas was able to carry out the deadly and unprecedented attack without warning.

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Israeli military officials told reporters today that Israel promised to investigate the causes of what one terrorist analyst called “all failures,” not just intelligence and security failures.

The military’s chief spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari, vowed that the military would get to the bottom of the failure. “First we fight, then we investigate,” he said.