To the immense chagrin of those calling for a ceasefire, victory remains Israel’s war objective — and it is far from a distant prospect. Of the two key metrics that will decide its victory, one is mostly satisfied, while the other could soon follow.
The first, the destruction of Hamas’s infrastructure, can be measured in the hundreds of kilometres of subterranean tunnels that the IDF has penetrated, cleared and thoroughly wrecked. Since many of these housed rocket workshops, a clear indication of progress is the drastic decline in the number of them launched from Gaza each day: first thousands, then hundreds, then a few, then none.
The second vector of progress — the killing or capture of fighters and military leaders — cannot be measured so easily. Towards the end of January, Hamas’s death toll was reported as approximately 9,000, and yesterday it was reported as 12,000. Moreover, when one fighter is killed, another is sufficiently wounded to be removed from the battlefield.
Because they live very safely in Qatar, none of Hamas’s top political leaders has been killed, so far. Khaled Mashal, the group’s emeritus founder, Khalil al-Hayya, its propaganda chief, and senior leader Ismail Haniyeh are all in luxury suites in Doha. Back in Gaza, meanwhile, Israel has not yet captured Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas field commander who orchestrated the October 7 attack, and who had learned to speak Hebrew in an Israeli prison, where he was successfully treated for a dangerous brain tumour while serving time for multiple murders.
But it seems that Sinwar had understood little about the Israelis. Clearly he did not expect Israel to launch such such a sustained and bloody counter-offensive. But they did, and were soon in his luxury Khan Yunis mansion. From there, Israeli troops followed an escape tunnel monitored by a CCTV camera, whose footage would show Sinwar and his family fleeing. Today, it is very likely that Sinwar, along with Hamas’s surviving officers and men, is now the target of Israel’s final offensive: in Rafah, hard up against the Egyptian border.
When the battle for Rafah begins, it will only loosely resemble previous Israeli attacks. There will be the same heavy Merkava tanks, with their canopies that can pre-detonate drone attacks, Namer “battle taxis”, currently the world’s best-protected armoured vehicle, and troops armed with Tavor rifles only a little longer than a pistol but with machine-gun firepower. There will also be the same buzz of mini-drones feeding imagery to Israel’s commanders in the field and all the way back to military HQ.
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SubscribeUnless of course, that the Sinwar, Sinwar and Deif are already in Egypt.
“Egypt is preparing a well-fenced temporary holding area in its own territory just across the border, in which Palestinians can receive temporary shelter and sustenance, before heading NORTH*.”
To where precisely Herr Luttwak?
(* My emphasis.)
There is a nice big area where Gaza city used to be which is clear of buildings where they can pitch their tents.
So in another 18 years the cycle will be repeated?
Or is the Gaza Ghetto be completely destroyed as both Carthage and Corinth were?
POSTED AT 11.12 GMT and immediately SIN BINNED!
What is the offensive word GAZA or GHETTO or perhaps even both? This is simply ‘bonkers’!
There is no knowing how soon the cycle will be repeated, but to not have it repeat requires a solution everyone can live with and from what I can see that is a fantasy. Palestinians and Israelis will never live peaceably alongside each other – it is not within either’s nature.
If Israel had done nothing to respond to the outrage of 7 Oct then we would already have seen another 7 Oct. If Israel’s response had be stopped by the international community imposing a ceasefire, as it has done in the past, then possibly it would have been a year or 2 before we saw a repeat. Maybe the ongoing response will give as much as 18 years before the Palestinians try it again.
Actually, there’s seems to be something special about Gaza (which is an oasis between deserts) when it comes to getting levelled to the ground. The Assyrians, the Pharaohs, Alex the G, the Romans, the Persians, the Mongols, the Turks have all had a go at it. It’s amazing that it ever staggers back.
Back to Gaza. And perhaps without the cleptocratic, destructive and hateful rule of Hamas they’ll manage to live more securely than before.
You’re forgetting that a) Hamas was democratically elected and b) actively supported by Netanyahu on the grounds that a divided Palestine would never achieve statehood
Which of those points justifies the attacks of October 7 or any of the other attacks launched from Gaza? Hitler was democratically elected, too, and we all know how that worked out.
North to Europe, of course. The people here cheering on the ethnic cleansing of Gaza will be posting ‘Keep Calm & Carry On’ Facebook memes once those Palestinians commit atrocities over here.
Vera showing his anti-“zionist” animus clearly yet again.
This factual, objective and unemotional assessment is welcome. It’s difficult at times to picture this war being another Israeli war of self defense but informed people know what Hamas leaders have said promising repeats of the October attack. Israel isn’t sure at all something similar won’t happen in the north. Total victory is a concept people haven’t seen in a while. Hopefully it will happen soon for Israel.
Precisely this kind of “assessment” of what amounts to the killing of thousands and thousands of civilians is in itself blood-curdling.
Why do you think Hamas refuses to save the lives of the tens of thousands of Palestinians they claim to protect and represent by laying down their arms and surrendering?
Excellent point, and far too often ignored by the bleeding-heart brigade which parrots ‘ceasefire!’ so mindlessly.
By Islamic theology the dead are martyrs and guaranteed Paradice. Getting killed is the best thing that could happen to them. Therefore, Hamas is doing them a favor by getting them killed.
And what would you recommend Helen? Would you have said the same about Allied bombing of German industry? The Ruhr dams? Israel has been more scrupulous than any power in history in avoiding civilian deaths…..even leafleting areas in advance notifying civilians of an attack. They could have simply levelled Gaza from the air. I’m sure your pious condemnation would disappear if you were relying on an IDF intervention to rescue you from rape and torture in an underground cellar. For all your virtue signals, your moral compass amounts to little more than a ‘icky’ reaction.
Tell it to starving Gazans.
They are still holding up the US aid ship.
For Bibi’s cabinet, it’s just revenge for the Warsaw Ghetto.
And reveals the true face of too many Israelis.
Not pretty…
What is the true face of a Gazan?
Hamas.
No… Hamas are stealing the aid. As such, aid is boing delivered as best it can, directly to the civilians, who are NOT starving. That myth has been clearly debunked by the world press, who are unfriendly to Israel. You are ill informed.
What this war “reveals” is that Israel will no longer tolerate the world’s insistence that Hamas be allowed to launch thousands of rockets at their cities and attempt their fanatical genocide of civilians with “impunity”.
It is not about “revenge” as you so ignorantly state, with conspiracy theory indignation… it is about survival. Israel will survive… Hamas’s survival is doubtful, no doubt others will rise up in the Jihadi cause. However, one thing is for sure… that threat will not come from Gaza.
it is a shame that the Israeli’s moral ground has been seriously undermined by their continuous bulldozing and , yes, the actions do fit, ethnic cleansing…… FYI ‘icky’ is a rather lazy effort at describing a very complex situation and reinforces the fact that you dont appear to have read enough history around the situation…..
The bulldozing most definitely do not “fit” ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing is when the population is replaced and or pushed out of an area altogether. This has not happened in Gaza. The bulldozing builds birms to protect troops and equipment from attack and is occupies minimal area.
That war is ugly and destructive cannot be deputed, however your contention that “ethnic cleansing” is taking place can be, when you have zero evidence other than your biased viewpoint based no doubt on the revisionist history, better called the “narrative” of the Palestinians, who have had multiple opportunities to peacefully settle their dispute, all of which have been rejected. “From the river to the sea” sums up their mandate nicely. How can you defend such a call not only for “ethnic cleansing” but “genocide” to boot? Need I remind you who started this war?
Total rubbish! Israel has set out from the beginning to maximize civilian deaths by targeting residential neighborhoods with an intense bombing campaign.
The IDF actually said that they aim for damage, not precision bombing “to shock the Palestinian people”.
Senior government figures in the Israeli war cabinet have made comments such as : we “will destroy everything”. “Gaza will cease to exist”, while prime minister Netanyahu pays lip service to protecting civilian lives.
Look at what they’ve done to Gaza.
Gaza now lies in ruins, it’s a wasteland, far beyond anything resembling self-defense action, with its universities, schools, hospitals, medical centers, churches and mosques, water and sanitation systems, bakeries, water reservoirs, farmland all destroyed by Israeli bombing.
That’s not an accident. It’s by design.
Israel has also targeted the Israeli community, with assassinations of University professors, academics, intellectuals, professionals, religious and civic leaders, journalists, activists, all targeted for assassination by Israeli precision bombing and drone attacks.
This is a genocide. The International Court of Justice has found that there is a plausible case of genocide against Israel.
Tell me again how any of this is justified by the assertions of “self-defense”.
As an occupying military power, Israel has no right of self-defense according to international law.
You appear to have too readily swallowed Israeli propaganda, lies, and misinformation, or you are a propagandist yourself!
You need to rethink your comments and your support of Israel!
Need I remind you who started this war with the deliberate murders of 1,200 civilians.. actual babies, children, women and elderly? Of course I don’t. You are one of the “gang”. One of the kool-aid drinkers who needs to have his stomach pumped. Sorry to break the news to you but your friends in gaza will no longer be able to wage war against the Jews. Hezbollah will follow, You’ll just have to do things yourself or accept defeat.
Gaza voted for Hamas. And Hamas, their elected leaders, should have thought about the consequences of their little attempted “Jihadi Genocide” before they launched it on Oct 7th. You are the one who needs to “rethink” the facts.
“Civilians” who whine about the lack of humanitarian aid after having channeled the billions in prior western aid into building war infrastructure.
I sculpted the violin I am playing for the Palestinians now out of a subatomic particle.
“Blood guilt of a whole people” I think they call it…
Well, you can blame Hamas for that.
Though I doubt you have the wit to understand it.
I refer you to the words of Madeleine Albright, US Ambassador to the UN, when told of the deaths of 500,000 (that’s right, five hundred thousand) Iraqi children and asked ‘Is the price worth it’:
“I think that is a very hard choice,” Albright answered, “but the price, we think, the price is worth it.”
War is an ugly business. Israel (unlike the US in the case above) didn’t start this one. To demand it, on the point of victory, spare the savages who did start it on some specious humanitarian grounds is entirely out of keeping with human history. By the way, I used the US as an example because the Russians, Syrians etc. are too obvious, and the US is about the only other major warfaring entity from whom adherence to the opinion of the international community is actually expected.
If the estimates are correct that 29,000 have died (that’s a Hamas figure so its likely inflated) vs 10,000 Hamas fighters have died which sounds likely if the tunnel networks are destroyed, then 2.9 civilian deaths for every fighter sounds like what you would expect – remembering one of the armies involved is happy to hide behind civilians.
The cynic in me says that this is the enemy Israel much preferred to fight ; that no Arab country has interfered vindicates Israel’s choice to subtly encourage Hamas behind the scenes, at the expense of the PLO, who were created out of the Arab League, and who Arab countries surely can’t ignore so easily.
more like 1.9 as the 29000 is likely to include the 10000 Hamas dead.
You make good points, even if Hamas number are 100% bogus.
Hamas figures hint at ~12-15K fighters killed. Add to that 4-6K dead, based on the standard mortality of a population with the standard of living of Gaza’s 2 million over five months of war. Even agreeing with “Hamas Health Ministry” numbers, that yields ~10K civilian war dead, mostly in buildings Hamas supporters refused to vacate when told too, numerous times.
I am not shocked, alarmed, nor concerned by the deaths of civilians in Gaza’s war, a war they brought on themselves. This is their 2nd NAKBA they created all by themselves, and they are getting off easy. The IDF is actually “protecting” their civilians!! While Hamas would be, without a doubt, slaughtering Israel’s.
If it makes you feel better, you can double the Hamas fighter casualty figures and cut their civilian figures in ahlf.We know for a fact that Hamas are transparent fanatical liars. Why anyone would believe a word they utter, or demand others utter for them, is anyone’s guess. The only one intentionally killing “thousands” of civilians… would be Hamas. Or do you not realize this?
Hi Helen,
It’s Rachel from New and Ancient Story. I lost your email and wanted to track you down! How are you?
Seriously, are people really okay with this slaughter? We just have to look at it from a cold and strategic point of view and those lives mean nothing?
Downvoters and Mr Kean, perhaps you should talk to Jonathan Cook. He knows his stuff. https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/feeble-bbc-hamas-expose-achieved?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=476450&post_id=141857723&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=e6w6h&utm_medium=email
I can understand the claim that Israel’s response has been excessive but genocide it is clearly not. If Israel intended to wipe out Palestinians (intention being part of the definition of genocide) it could do so in much less than 6 months. There is an equally plausible argument that not dealing with Hamas now would lead to more Palestinian deaths long term than the deaths we are seeing now. And linking an articel from a guy who believes that, despite Oct 7th, Hamas is a legitimate organization that deserves respect I really find difficult to fathom.
Well Netanyahu appeared to treat Hamas as a legitimate organisation when he was channeling funds to them in his cynical attempt to undermine the PA. The Israeli government failed in its duty to protect its citizens on October 7 and is now brazenly committing war crimes on a massive scale (the debate over genocide/not genocide is merely a distraction from the simple fact of mass murder of women and children) in order to fend off Bibi’s inevitable downfall.
you are correct in your first point. Netanyahu’s payment of what amounts to a protection racket is an obvious failure and disaster. He has no future as Prime Minister. Everyone knows this.
No, only YOU and your followers think this.
Why did the USA appease Iran? Let them launch attacks against their positions in the middle east and then cater to their demands during the negotiations for Obama’s nuclear deal and it’s aftermath with Joe Biden? Did Old Obama and Joe not deliver billions to the IRGC, Hezbollah and Hamas? OMG… They “financed” terrorists!!! Face it, the world is imperfect.
Yet another demanding perfection from Bibi, while their alternative is so far from perfect they can’t get elected, let alone form a government. FYI: before you go there… it is quite obvious that Bibi had no insight into Oct 7th. That’s 100% on the IDF and Mossad.
Well… what?
Your post is uninformed personal opinion. Tripe. Bibi’s position was called the “middle ground” of politics. Why not see if Hamas would reform? The Arab community around the world was pretending that’s exactly what they would do if given the opportunity to “LEAD”.
Why did the USA appease Iran? Let them launch attacks against their positions in the middle east and then cater to their demands during the negotiations for Obama’s nuclear deal and it’s aftermath with Joe Biden? Did Old Obama and Joe not deliver billions to the IRGC, Hezbollah and Hamas? Face it, we live in an imperfect world.
And yet, you demand perfection from Bibi, while the alternative is so far from perfect they can’t even get elected, let alone form a government. Besides, it is quite obvious that Bibi had no insight into Oct 7th. That’s 100% on the IDF and Mossad.
In closing, you are sorely misinformed, the only people performing “mass murder of women and children” is Hamas.
Israel’s continual bullying of the Palestinians off their land with no seeming let up is the build up to all this – it has caused a complete loss of hope for the Palestinians which in turn has lead to self defeating anger and a culture of suicide/martyrdom. Their relationship with the Palestinians has been mishandled for many years now and this is the outcome – virtually a suicide state – kept in motion by outside forces who cynically use the Palestinians for their own anti-western goals. The fact that the Israelis never managed to sort this out years ago may be their eventual downfall – in the same manner that the Palestinians did not work hard enough to come to an agreement – it now IS their end times…
I believe that the build up to came way before any bullying started. Israel’s neighbours declared war before the ink was dry on the Declaration of Independence.
Yes, yes… it’s all Israel’s fault. No mention of the multiple peace accords and opportunities offered to the “poor” Palestinians to form their own state… which they refused time and time again while opting for murder mayhem, dead and finally Oct 7th. They have proven themselves to be a violent genocidal people. Could it be that the world has no place for them? Not even their Arab brothers want anything to do with them. But, sure… you got a plans to murder the Jews? They’re in for billions!!!! The Palestinians did vote for these leaders you know.
Very few people are “okay” with the slaughter of anyone, Jew or Arab. But war is nasty business and when the other side wants you dead, that leaves little wiggle room for negotiation. No one had even heard of a Palestinian before the formation of Israel, yet no one in the Arab world wants much to do with them. Why is that? The other Muslims states may dislike Jews and Israel, too, but they have made their peace with reality.
Er, no.
Israel has lost all its allies in the ME.
And far worse for us, the US and Britain will be shamed and isolated by this for years.
As usual, we lose the rest of the world, to hang on to tiny Israel…
Er, actually Israel has been making diplomatic progress, albeit there is much hypocrisy and double speak on the Arab side (possibly politically necessary). Saudi fears Iran far more than Israel. Which isn’t funding proxies attacking the Sunni Arab States.
And “shamed and isolated” by whom exactly? Russia, China, Iran maybe? Bulwarks of human rights whose killings make those of Israel look like a tea party.
It is incredible how ridiculous some bleeding heart and self hating westerners look. They can’t even define an enemy (someone who’d kill us as soon as look at us). It’s not Israel….
So size of a country is all that matters? In that case Gaza should be dumped, as it is smaller than Israel. As for your forecast that the U.S and UK will be “shamed and isolated by this for years”, it is your crystal ball prediction and therefore of no value.
Er, yes.
Abraham Accords, which would have resulted in an agreement between Israel and the most important player in the region, Saudi Arabia, had Hamas not decided to scupper all chances of peace on Nov 7th.
“When the other side wants you dead…” Sure Hamas would like to destroy the state of Israel. Problem is, Israel is a nuclear power with one of the most powerful militaries in the world and unlimited support in terms of money and materiel from the wealthiest nations in the world. And “war is a nasty business” really is the most facile and morally bankrupt justification for what would undoubtedly be described as evil if the boot was on the other foot.
What the hell do you mean ‘ok’? No-one is ‘OK’…..Your prescription is for total pacifism. If you declared that, I would respect it. But that means you would have to accept the rape and killing of yourself, your daughters and your friends without complaint…..which is pretty easy from an arm chair in southern England or wherever you are. Seriously – what would you have them do?
One false flag attack by one side on one day, and the other side, with a vastly superior military force and financial backing, “defends” itself day after day after day until Netanyahu’s stated aim of ridding Gaza of Palestinians is achieved. I’m not okay with any of it. I feel curious as to why others are not just okay with it, but feel the need to defend this okay-ness by being over enthusiastic about the slaughter or by stepping back from the mess and coldly analysing the strategies used to commit mass murder, as this article does.
I had visitors the other day. The news was on. First comment: ‘isn’t it terrible what’s happening in Gaza?’ Aaargh! Do you mean ‘wasn’t the Oct 7th massacre an abomination? Those lovely girls, dancing in a field, gang raped and butchered’?
How can any woman (especially a woman) struggle to understand the ‘enthusiasm’ to pursue and bring to justice those who organised and perpetrated this barbarism?
You are either a troll or living in cloud cuckoo land. Maybe a spell in Iran would help?
Ms Hughes, I wonder if you’ve been told the severity of the October 7th attack. I won’t burden people’s minds with details but over a thousand people were killed. Are you aware of human shields? Should that hinder the pursuit of military goals? No. Their fighters don’t wear uniforms so who is a civilian? Remember the hospital? Hamas said 500 were killed but it was a lie. Their numbers are unreliable. If Hamas cared about their people they’d surrender. I don’t want to see IDF soldiers die. I know 2 families who suffered the loss. Israel has no choice but to stop an unrepentant foe who started the slaughter when there was peace.
There is so much evidence that that the IDF itself was responsible for many of the Israeli deaths. That’s why I’ve directed you to Jonathan Cook, as he has reported on it from the point of view of an independent journalist who knows this part of the world intimately. You should take a look at what he says. But if possible with an open mind, and I’m a little concerned you aren’t able to do that?
They always out themselves eventually; it’s only a matter of time. In HH’s case, it only took about 6 comments to learn that “it was a false flag operation,” or, put more colloquially, it was “dem Jooz what done it.”
Many of us do not share your irrational faith in What Jonathan Cook writes.
No views of your own then, just parroting those of a dodgy journalist?
“Are people ok with this slaughter”. Any deaths of Gazan civilians is entirely on the hands of Hamas who firstly did not need to undertake their barbaric attack of 7 October – and secondly could surrender now.
Israel will not be killing civilians indiscriminately, while of course that is precisely what Hamas did – and wouldn’t a vastly greater scale were it to have the chance.
You are surely intelligent enough to see that the events of that day were desired by Netanyahu to enable what he is now ordering to be done? We are all being played – is that not clear to you? It is so very easy to get us all arguing with one another about who is right and wrong, good and bad, and apparently just as easy to persuade people that war and slaughter are entirely justified.
Willful idiocy is such a bad look.
The deaths are the sole responsibility of Hamas. Talk to them,
Netanyahu helped set Hamas up, so he might have a teensy weensy bit of responsibility too, don’t you think?
No.
I was never going to reply to another Unherd poster but the mention of Jonathan Cook made my blood boil. The man is a snake. I had an email exchange with him years ago that started off reasonably civilized but soon deteriorated as he became nasty beyond words when challenged. He is an agenda-driven, Jew-hating maniac, given that he chooses to live in Israel — in Arab Nazareth, to be sure, but right next to the thousands of Jews living in the newer part of the city.
As for Ms. Hughes, it’s noteworthy that for all her lamentations about the “slaughter,” she doesn’t call for Hamas to surrender or even release the hostages; not once has she even mentioned Hamas. This is because she actually doesn’t give a damn about the slaughter of Palestinians, despite her hand-wringing; as is the case with most of the unilateral ceasefire pleaders, it isn’t about the Gazans, whether children, women or men. It’s about keeping Hamas in power, so it can have more goes at Israel. They always out themselves by not calling for Hamas to surrender.
Thank you. Exactly.
That’s a valuable contribution to this thread. Thank you.
Don’t resort to others to back up your flawed argument. I’m waiting for your reply to the questions raised here.
Yes Helen. Those lives mean nothing. They are a corrupted people who teach their own children that Jihad and death are desired to life. What do you not understand about Hamas, ISIS, Jihad and radical Islam… besides everything?
Yes, excellent piece, and one thing that struck me reading it is how little space is taken up with the most controversial aspect of the pending operation, that is, relocation of Rafah’s noncombatant population to a genuinely safe place with adequate food, shelter and medical care. Getting them relocated is bound to take a while, but it must be done before any further attacks on Rafah take place. When it’s done the IDF can move in and finish the war. The Israelis can’t completely eliminate Hamas and the other criminal organizations involved in the October 7 atrocities, but they can come damn close, and they should be able to declare victory and go home once the tunnel network is destroyed and they’ve seized or destroyed every weapons cache above ground they can find.
These Palestinian Arabs have been on the global welfare rolls for generations. This has sapped their confidence, initiative and intelligence as a people, as dependency always does. But is it too much to hope that they call to account the leaders who landed them in this mess? I’m afraid I know the answer.
“…a genuinely safe place with adequate food, shelter and medical care.” Doesn’t everyone in every country everywhere in the world want that? Sudan? Hamas received billions of dollars and euros. The UN gave more. Tough love has a cruel aspect and cold turkey hurts bad but hopefully they’ll learn they’ll need to take care of their own needs when Hamas is totally destroyed.
Hamas stole the aid for itself. Israel, as the occupying power, is responsible for the welfare of noncombatants. That’s a matter of law. As a matter of politics, Israel is surrounded by Arabs who have made peace with it and it really does not want to alienate them. It has to provide friendly Arab governments with some cover to keep not so friendly Arab populations from destabilizing things and making the whole situation a great deal worse than it is.
Just setting the stage for a nuclear-armed confrontation with Iran…
If you are as old as I, you were probably marching and chanting “Better Red than dead”. Let’s cede victory to the most deranged.
This is a big fear.
“But it seems that Sinwar had understood little about the Israelis. Clearly he did not expect Israel to launch such such a sustained and bloody counter-offensive.”
Of course he both expected and wanted Israel to do what it has done. What he also expected was the international community to tie Israel’s hands and force a ceasefire when the started winning as they had before.
it’s almost as if Sinwar had seen this movie before and knew how it went.
Yes. He expected something similar to 2014 and 2018. It shows how badly Israel’s deterrence factor had been eroded.
Deterrence can only work if the leadership fears the consequences for its people. Hamas leadership has clearly demonstrated it could not care less about the Palestinian people – they are mostly living in luxury in Qatar. The rest of the Arab world could not care less about the Palestinian people either, but the situation does enable them to have a go at Israel, but for the most part the main ones outside of Iran have been pretty muted.
Complete destruction of the infrastructure and degrading Hamas forces as much as possible (IDF are not going to get the cowardly leaders and they can’t expect to get all the foot soldiers either) is necessary to degrade the capability for further attacks, they will not deter the intent.
Thanks for a well-reasoned argument – a rarity for this subject!
Given that martyrdom is only for the foot soldiers and civilians, I would not expect the IDF to be able to capture / kill Sinwar. Once the tunnels are dealt with Israel needs to call a halt.
It will be whether a meaningful peace process can follow all the destruction that determines whether Israel has been made any safer in the long term. I have my doubts that it will ever be possible and we will see several rinse and repeats of the whole thing in the decades to come.
Some compare Islam to chronic arthritis. It’s a pain you live with. Brits, the French and others are learning what it’s like living with Islam. Oppose or submit to one more intrusion. Israel can’t afford no-go zones like some European countries. Israel doesn’t have the luxury of deportation like other countries.
The problem is not Islam. The problem is that Islam is the excuse for extreme violence by a group of angry men, mostly young men, misled and mislead by a few older ones hungry for power and glory
No. Distorted Islam is used.. just look at what distorted Judaism is doing! And distorted Christianity too (rabid Evangelic variety) ..they ALL produce Satanic, degenerate, heartless, soulless killers. This is not new.. It has always been so. The worse evil of all is done on the coat tails of good! All three religions are very SIMILAR in there essences.. if a paedophile becomes a Catholic priest that doesn’t negate Catholicism! If a Labour politician becomes a Starmer that doesn’t negate the Labour movement..
Did you ever wonder why say Cat Stevens converted to Islam (now calls himself Yusuf) ..might be interesting to find out don’t you think? ..or is your tiny Islamaphobic mind so narrow that would be impossible?
Gaza will be largely un-inhabitable for years to come. The international community will need to step up and deal with the Gazans or choose to let them starve. Israel will not allow any “rinse and repeats” until what happened on Oct 7 is forgotten, which won’t be for a very long time.
I can’t see anyone sending any construction materials to Gaza ever again, or Israel allowing them in, considering the amount of concrete used in building Hamas tunnel network rather than “rebuilding”.
..as night follows day; and for Israel that thinks it’s having its day now, a terrible dark night will come. If I lived in Israel I would get tf outta there ASAP while I still could.
Do you really think Israel is enjoying this? Your understanding of Israel is nil.
Mr Luttwak says that to capture Mr Sinwar, IDF *has to* move into Rafah.
Later though he says “the offensive must be preceded by the return to the north of the million or so displaced Palestinians”.
Sure Mr Sinwar will stay put in Rafah for the IDF to take him out.
These arguments are not serious and it saddens me to say that UnHerd has actually been following the herd on this issue, having a pro-Israel piece every day.
I surely don’t see such a complex issue through the lens of culture wars, one can be a (small c) conservative but also speak the truth about Israel.
Oct 7 was a dividing line between the civilized world and barbarism. It revealed the true colors of many anti-Western forces within our societies and without, The civilized democratic world supports Israel in its just exercise of a war against Hamas. They will win. The next step of the fight is to rid our Western institutions of barbarians and their enablers.
Another example of the present near-psychotic thinking among Israelis and their supporters, making genuine victory near impossible.
It’s one battle Hamas has won…
For sure, paradoxically the apparent victor is really the big-time loser. The evil, demonic state exposed in all its filthy racism and heartless cruelty for all to see like Naz¡ Germany. How on God’s Earth can Israelis ever hold their head up among civilised people, ever again.. a pariah state peopled by degenerate child murderers.. there is no way back.
Evert sick contribution you make shows your true colours a little more each time: a racist, bigoted, antimuslim, white supremacist.. and very proud of it too.
Considering there is little pro-Israel reporting in the mainstream, it is refreshing to hear about the pro-Israel position. The $6 billion of foreign aid that went into Gaza seems to have provided a whole load of proPalastinian propaganda as well as tunnels and weapons instead of power and desalination plants. Maybe time that mainstream media follows Unherd’s lead and ignores the Hamas propaganda on victimhood and reports on the population that voted in the terroriats.
Again, my point: Israelis have been driven into a near psychotic state, where they can’t think rationally.
Hardly surprising since they haven’t attracted the smartest people on the planet.
Seeking mass punishment of ALL Gazans, as the above writer condones, will not get the population on Israel’s side. You cant catch terrorists if no one will turn them in.
But again, like Luttwak himself, these aren’t terribly bright people…
Imagine someone thinking himself so clever believing that Israelis — probably the most successful people in the world in terms of technological, medical and military innovation — as “not terribly bright people.”
The LEADERS stupid.. have you heard people like Ben Gvir, Smothrich and the other idiots? Oh they’re stupid alright.. what has Israel gained under such leadership? What has it lost.. that’s your homework.. Report awaited!
True.. Satanyahu and Co. are looking for Capos among Palestinians.. wrong race of people Bibi!
Israelis have received the most Nobel Prizes.
Is Norman Finklestein a Hamas propagandist? Doubtful as he has condemned Hamas’s action. How about Noam Chomsky and a host of other JEWS on the subject that know the history and the people far, far better than the (majority) sad, sick, bloodthirsty contributers here.
As decent human beings it behoves us all to speak the truth about Zionist Israel and all it’s murders, land grabs, child arrests and torture.. It is a godless, heartless, soulless land run by evil Satanists, led by Satanyahu itself!
Embarrassing.
The Israelis have no option but to win this fight. What the weak, defeatist Americans cannot understand (or maybe actually relish) is that there’s a whole queue of Islamofascist bully states and parastates waiting for their turn at annihilating Israel. Accepting a ceasefire rather than smashing Hamas to a pulp would only encourage the next, then the next, Islamic challenger. Hundreds of thousands of lives will be saved from future wars if Israel can drive a stake through Hamas now.
Just remember how 50 years ago, the US was feeding the Syrians intelligence against Israel via the USS Liberty spy ship in the interest of “balance”. The US is not a reliable friend. As for the so-called “military aid”, which comes back almost entirely to the US, they get to enjoy Israeli research and development for free, that would cost them multiples over of what they spend in aid.
Indeed. To quote a famous American war criminal Henry Kissinger: “To be an enemy of the US is dangerous, you be a friend is fatal!”
You’re a very sick puppy.. seek out an exorcist if you can.
There is no question that Hamas “jumped the shark.”
Repulsive, inhumane justification of a war that is already considered by the ICJ to plausibly amount to genocide.
To hell with the ICJ and the UN. The West and democracies need to form a new international body.
No need, only the demonic US needs to be expelled.. After all, every other country votes in a civilised way unless it is threatened by the US. Obviously Israel doesn’t and never did have a legitimate place among civilised countries; it too and North Korea need to be expelled. Anyone who dismisses the finding of the world’s highest court as you do is a sad excuse for a human being..
The ICJ said nothing of the sort. It’s still considering the matter. Its preliminary judgement was to counsel Israel to ensure no genocide takes place (an entirely otiose ruling given the facts, which do not need to be recited yet again).
OMG these delegates are everywhere.. haven’t you seen the video footage of the women and little children blown to pieces? Are you a woman? Do you have a heart? Are you even human?
Nonsense
That’s really profound and insightful.. can you enlighten us further or is that the sum total of you intellectual capacity?
350 mm Arabs surround Israel. 25k Palestinian ARABs is hardly a genocide.
Perhaps many of you ought to research back at the history of Palestine, and go through both the old and new testaments of the bible, as well as maps which locate where each book within the bible, accords to.
It was never solely a land occupied by the Jewish. For much of the time it was occupied by Greece, Rome, the Ottoman Empire and the British. The Jewish primarily were shepherds and others who wandered about the region, until they left of their own accord.
Perhaps also, we did not ought to lose site of how many Palestinians lost their lives fighting for the British in the Second World War and our responsibility for how we left everyone to it after creating Israel, which was never meant to be or should be the whole of Palestine.
And instead of seeing Muslims as some kind of evil, do not forget that their religion recognises Jesus, and although, they did not see him as the son of God; they do see him as a prophet who God will on the day of judgement, send to guide us all to heaven. So, they have much in common Christians, as well as Jewish.
The Palestinians have been the scape goats throughout much of history, if any care to look.
Their religion recognises a Jesus who is nothing much to do with the one in Christianity tho. And if that were so important to them, they would surely prefer a prophet who is a historical figure, and who the non-Christian sources indicate was indeed a religious figure.
Versus one like Muhammad, where the limited non-Muslim sources available, only tell us was a warlord.
More research required Im afraid. My dear old mum used to say “No point in being ignorant if you can’t show it off” How right she was.. and you to be the living proof of it!
“Your mother was in need of psychiatric help as you are…maybe start with an exorcist eh?” Your words of venom that you directed at another poster earlier on. How does it feel?
❝In the winter of 164 BC, Judah the Hammer conquered all of Judaea and Jerusalem apart from Antiochus’ newly built Acra Fortress. When Judah saw the Temple overgrown and deserted, he lamented. He burned incense, rededicated the Holy of Holies, and on 14 December presided as sacrifices resumed. In the ravaged city, there was a shortage of oil to light the candelabra in the Temple, but somehow the candles never went out. The liberation and resanctification of the Temple are still celebrated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah – the Dedication.❞
Montefiore, Simon Sebag. Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East (p. 138). Orion. Kindle Edition.
Perhaps it is you who should “research back at the history”.
It might be interesting but it is 100% IRRELEVANT isn’t it? 164 BC! yer ‘havin’ a larf init?
The ONLY indigenous people to ever have sovereignty in the land were the Jews. And they had it twice: Once, from 1000 BC to 586 BC; and again from roughly 110 BC to 63 BC. No other indigenous people EVER had sovereignty over the land. Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamlukes, Ottomans and British had sovereignty, but none of the above were indigenous.
One hates to break it to you but the Bible is quite clear that Jews are not “indigenous” to the land.
They stole it then and they steal it now.. the murdered the Indiginous people then and they do so today.. genocide of the Amalak then, genocide of the Gazans today.. but it’s all OK apparently gawd told ’em to do it! Hello, are there any adults here?
At last. It isn’t the Israelis you object to but the Jews.
Rather exemplifies the near-psychotic state that Hamas drove the Israelis into.
Deliberately starving ALL Gazans violates the Rules of War–and humanity.
It also makes Gazans far less likely to cooperate with Israelis–and thus winkle out Hamas.
But hey, if all you want is revenge, why would you spare anyone?
It is not revenge but justice. And according to the rules of war, an embedded enemy can be starved out. If civilians starve it is the fault of those embedding. This is why Hamas is responsible for most of the deaths. There is little blood on Israeli hands.
Not only are you a wicked, evil minded degenerate you are also very, very ignorant on almost all ‘facts’ you quote.. did those ‘facts’ come straight from your Zionist conditioning camp or were you in the Naz¡ youth perhaps. Your views are demonic, not human..
Ain’t that the truth..
You obviously have no understand of the term genocide.. If the entire population of say (Chistian) Malta was annihilated by your logic that would not be genocide because there are two billion Christians? Back to school for you child.
Indeed. if the legal arm of the United Nations believes it, it must be true. After all, the case was brought by South Africa’s ANC. A member of that ANC just a few days ago threatened a bloodbath of South African Jews. How’s that for a “plausible” genocide, whatever that means. By the way, do you call for Hamas to surrender? After all, that would be the quickest way to end the so-called “plausible genocide”.
Factually incorrect on all counts.. usually the extreme righting bigots on UnHerd sneak in or or two half truths, but not you..
You obviously don’t know how propaganda works ..you gotta sucker in the gullible with a few minor truths as tempters. Amateur!
Quite correct.. please take into account the preponderance of extreme right-wing, racist, antimuslim bigots that troll UnHerd and take courage that the simple youth you speak is hitting home.
Here are a couple of interesting interviews on with a Jew who is not afraid to criticise Israel and one with a Palestinian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv8F4NLr4E0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjD1T9naV2Y
Since I have no intention of watching, let me take a guess: The Palestinian won’t be one “who is not afraid to criticize” Palestinians.
The typical anti-“zionist” notion of “balance.” You hate Israel, we hate Israel: you see, balance.
Yep, when ignorance is bliss why would you watch truth.. so conditioned not you don’t even qualify as an individual.. just one of the Borg..
I see below quite a few comments lauding critics of Israel. That’s fine. But it should always be preluded by reference to Hamas’ Charter, which commits Hamas to the liquidation of the state of Israel. Since it is couched in the purest anti-jewish phrasing, it is clear that Hamas means the liquidation of jewish people. That is what Hamas acted out in plain daylight on October 7th.
Israel is thus more than justified justified in seeking the total destruction of Hamas. Any western government which denies that is playing footsie with Palestinian supports among its own electorate-a despicable thing to do.
One should also not forget UN Resolution194 (1948) section 11 on the right of return, referring originally to those Palestinians who fled the war but now applied to their descendants. This is what has stymied all subsequent 2 state plans.
No, what has stymied all 2 state plans is the continually very clearly stated desire of the Palestinians for all of the land. They consistently say so, yet “experts” in Europe and America “Westplain” it — Einat Wilf’s descriptive and excellent word — to mean something else. I respect the Palestinians, so I take them at their word. They reject Jewish sovereignty even in one square inch of “Palestine,” and always have. Any expressed support for 2 state is just a stepping stone, with the Palestinian leadership and nearly all the population — as evidenced by poll after poll — licking their chops at the prospect of having Israel’s major population centres within artillery range.
Total rubbish.. listen to two great Jews on the matter Norman Finklestein and Noam Chomsky to mention just two.. there are many others that will tell you the truth.. not that people like you are interested in truth.
.
not just that. Also illegal settlers having to stay put and a host of other Apartheid conditions.
So how do you feel about the Zionists totally committed to the elimination of all Arabs from Palestine? ..or is that different somehow? The only difference I can see is that one side are the oppressed, indigenous people while the other side is an occupying colonising people which kind of give the rights of the former some weight over the rights of the latter I would have thought ..unless you think we must all go back to where we were 2,000 years ago? ..all white Americans back to Europe, all black Americans back to Africa, 90% of English back to France and Germany etc.
Those calling for the expulsion of Arabs are a tiny minority. Not in the Likud and only a small number even in the ‘far-right’ parties. Not so with Hamas (and actually the PA). expulsion or extermination of the Jews is policy.
victory remains Israel’s war objective — What does victory look like? Perhaps more important, what will the aftermath look like? A person can see Hamas for the barbaric, sociopathic entity that it is and also question is Israel hasn’t made its point in responding to October 7.
The rest of the Arab/Muslim world is not likely to sit around indefinitely while people are, for lack of a better term, exterminated from the premises. It may be hard for an outsider to separate the jihadi from the random Arab living in Gaza or the West Bank, but it is not an insignificant distinction.
Maybe this is the only way. I’m not sure how one gets rid of the toxic mindset that defines the likes of Hamas and its brethren. But war today is much different from war of the past, primarily in how the modern-day version plays out in real-time and sadly, is often ‘reported’ on by people who have taken sides.
I’m curious: did the reporters on the Naz¡ concentration camps take sides? Or did we have balanced views?
Even if all that cimes to pass, Hamas won’t have been remotely destroyed. It will just rebuild over a decade and Gaza’s monumental birthrate will ensure a properly disgruntled supply of fresh meat for their grinder
Sadly this is true. They need to wage a “vernichtungskrieg” here, really. But they can’t.
The Arabs in Gaza must be driven out.
You should change your name to James Hate.. you’re a very sick puppy.
My mother lived in London during the blitz, and at one point she was bombed out of her home, being lucky to survive. Despite knowing the horrors of bombing she welcomed the bombing of German cities. NOT out of a feeling of revenge, but because she knew that only the total defeat of Germany would bring the war to an end and liberate most Germans from the evil of Nazi rule. For similar reasons it is vital that Hamas is defeated, only then will there be a possibility of peace.
Your mother was in need of psychiatric help as you are.. maybe start with an exorcist eh?
Immature and rude, you should apologize and thank your lucky stars for Timothy Baker’s mother’s generation that saved your sorry arse from Hitler.
What a disgusting comment.
I have no doubt about the wisdom of Israel in ignoring the ranting of the senile old man in the White House. He seems to be trying to say what Obama and the other puppet masters want, but often it is only “Doctor” Jill who seems to get it. The publishing houses will bid millions for her first-person memoir of coping with the mean old man. Not that the Bidens need the money. China has been good.
The German public read articles much like this in 1943.
What do you mean?
Only to set the stage for another war.
Luttwak proves that Israelis are the world’s best tacticians–and the world’s worst strategists and politicians.
Bibi and Co exemplify this. We’ll see another bloodbath on the West Bank soon. And unless Bibi decides to kill the millions of Palestinians, set the stage for another conflict.
Look for it in about five years. With nuclear-armed Iran in the wings.
Time to cut the cord and let Israel seek its own destiny…
Israel forfeited the high ground from day one. This was little more than a psychotic response to a terrible provocation.
Israel COULD have filtered, and then housed and fed the Gazans in camps, the way it was done in Mosul.
It would have been near genius, showing Gazans how much Israelis cared about civilians–and how little Hamas cared.
Instead, they bombed indiscriminately, using dumb bombs–guided by AI (!). And the targets were–the phones of Hamas commanders already long gone. Genius!
And 30,000 dead so far.
“But…but what ELSE could we have done??”
What every other army has been obliged to do since WW2:
Obey the Rules of War.
Now the whole nation is just a War Crimes State–rued by war criminals..
Martin, do the facts around the Israelis saving Sinwar’s life while he was in prison, not signal to you that displays of virtue, even at a personal level, are not an effective tool against evil? As much as we would like there to be no evil in the world, it runs through each and every one of us, and through all ideologies. In Gaza, now’s the time for the law of victory to be enforced, and only after that, can the ME resume the process of peacemaking that Hamas sort to derail. Only the indelibly feminized Western establishment assumes the Arab states (not the Persians) don’t want that as well.
I hereby return to.you the evil you bequeathed to me.. a problwith evil people is they assume the rest of us are like them.. Happily, it I not true.
…Good Lord ! An Irishman without sin!
17 downticks! What part was inaccurate?
As long as Bibi’s in charge, there is zero chance of any solution to this problem.
We need to cut the cord.
Europe (i.e. Ukraine) and the Far East are far more important to us than Israel.
Indeed, the Houthis are blockading international shipping only because of this war.
And that just aids XI, Putin and the Ayatollahs.
Just get out.
We’ve let this diversion ruin US and UK foreign policy for some 50 years…
A “cut-and-run” advocate. Why not? It’s only Israel.
Couldn’t agree more. 0.001% of the world’s population putting the other 99.99% at risk of annihilation! Disable the nuclear capability and leave them to their just desserts!
Quite right.. you caused the problem and so you should fix it but since that is not only impossible but you make things far worse, yes you should get tf out ASAP. One useful thing before USUK leaves, please: diasble Israel’s nuclear weapons or it’s bye-bye world! You can go in on the pretext of supporting Israel and just do it. Then, yes fo home with you tails between your legs for pity sake!
Hamas has not been imposed on the Palestinians, they elected them.
And 72% supported the Oct. 7 attack; 82% in the West Bank. 2-state, sure sure.
Israel has to worry about American military aid. Biden is being pressured by antisemitic woke on his left flank who want to deny him reelection for helping Jews. Trump likes Israel but the Republican party is turning isolationist. All of America’s allies need nuclear weapons since America is coming home and avoiding foreign wars. Luckily Israel has the bomb. They may have to use it. The prophetic books indicate that they will. The war of Gog and Magog is beginning and will go nuclear as per the Bible.
This rather dispassionate analysis ignores the fact that virtually all of Israel’s friends have admonished Israel strongly against an invasion of Rafah. Israel’s doing so anyway will further isolate the country from international public opinion, even among its friends. The latest hearings of the ICJ will certainly lead to a near universal condemnation of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Public opinion, even in the West, is shifting to a pro-Palestine point of view, and an invasion of Rafah will only exacerbate this.
Can Hamas be defeated? There is considerable doubt about this, but continued Israeli occupation, which seems to be Israel’s goal, will always breed resistance movements of some kind, certainly with support from Iran in the background.
The Guardian disagrees quite strongly with the author’s analysis of Egyptian attitudes. Popular opinion all across the Arab world is strongly backing the Palestinian cause.
Israel’s continuing of the war, the occupation and the settlements, all policies of the current government, along with its increasing extremism, will lead to Israel losing its geriatric support in the West and becoming ever more isolated.
You seem not to understand the the admonishment in Western “streets” is about preserving Hamas, not Palestinian children. You also don’t seem to get that Western governments’ admonishments are mostly for public consumption, as are those by Arab governments such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both of whom will surely breathe a sign of relief one Hamas is eliminated.
The NY Times and Haaretz don’t agree with you
….correct. Which just proves Harry’s point about it’s all for show.
Your opening statement is 100% false.. the rest has some merit. To suggest that the good people in the streets are not protesting again the slaughter of innocent is a gross lie!
If there is ad middle ground between theywo statements I’ll put my money there.. neither proposition seems compelling to me..
Qatar .. the duplicitous .. supposedly negotiating for the release of the remaining hostages ‘NOT MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE’ & providing shelter for the most evil of terrorist leaders ..
please note, when Assad and his son butchered the hundreds of thousands of fellow Arabs, the world could not care ..
Best the Israelis permanently consign all males over 14 to the camp the Egyptians are building.
The Egyptians will slowly thin them out, that will put the fear of god up Fatah on the Eest Bank, Hezbollah to the North will slink away for another decade or so.