The Unprecedented Attack on Israel’s Home Front. The civilized world must answer whether it is with the terrorists or with Israel.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
By: Joseph Puder
Not since the Holocaust was a one-day toll of murdered Jews as high as on Simchat Torah day, October 7, 2023. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) launched a dastardly unprovoked surprise attack against the Jewish state, on Shabbat and the holiday of Simchat Torah. This unprecedented attack that murdered over 1,200 Israelis and injured almost 3,000, some of them critically, exceeds in relative terms the toll of American casualties on the 9/11 and Pearl Harbor attacks combined. The Nazi-like murders of entire families, decapitating babies, butchering young children, elderly men, and women, including Holocaust survivors, were beyond horrific. Additionally, the kidnapping from their home and country of about 150 Israelis, dragging them to the Gaza tunnels with sheer brutality, was a war crime, and in the process, the raping of young women is a crime that the international community must finally deal with without moral equivalency. It was, moreover, a crime against humanity.
The Islamist terrorist group we call Hamas is no different in ideology, religious fanaticism, and cruelty from ISIS or Al-Qaeda. It harbors the same Salafist way of thinking, which rejects any kind of peace with infidels, be it Christians or Jews. It so happens that the Jewish state is situated next to Hamas in Gaza and has thus become a target of annihilation. The mistake Israel has been making with regards to Hamas is that it dealt with this barbaric terrorist group that harbors a 7th-century mentality as if dealing with a rational actor. Israel has increased the number of Palestinians allowed to work in Israel to relieve the economic misery in the Gaza Strip. Israel also increased the delivery of food, medications, and other life necessities to Gaza. Israeli policymakers hoped that economic betterment of the population in Gaza might mitigate Hamas’ and PIJ’s zeal for terror and murder.
Hamas, which uses its civilian population as human shields following every massive rocket attack on Israel, could care less about the welfare of its people. Economic improvement in Gaza counts only if the Hamas leadership can reap its benefits. Hamas cares little about improving the lives of Palestinians under its control. The terror group has done little to build up the Strip’s infrastructure, schools, medical services, etc. Whatever funds Hamas receives from Qatar and Turkey goes to build up its military infrastructure. Iran provides arms, training, and funds to bolster Hamas’ offensive terror capabilities against Israel. Shiite-Muslim Iran has no interest in the welfare of the Gaza Strip's Sunni Muslim population.
It was clear that the perception in Iran and its terror proxies was that Israel is vulnerable due to the internal strife and enhanced by the Israeli media announcing the refusal of Israeli reservists to show up for duty. Iran must have planned this attack on Israel with Hamas and other proxies for many months. The prospect of a rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia expedited the Hamas operation. The October 7, 2023, attack was a significant failure of the vaunted Israeli Intelligence services, and in particular that of the military intelligence. This was a far more costly disaster for Israel than the Yom Kippur War intelligence failure because it occurred on Israeli soil and cost the lives of civilians and military personnel alike. It damaged Israel’s deterrence vis-a-vis its enemies. It might also reduce Saudi Arabia’s inclination to strike a peace deal with Israel unless Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) manages to destroy Hamas and PIJ military capabilities and expel it from Gaza. A task, laden with danger and casualties since it would require entering the Gaza Strip with land forces.
The only light coming out of one of the darkest days (October 7, 2023) in Israel’s history, is that it is forcing the internal feuding in Israel to end. The country is closing ranks, and a united war cabinet is likely to emerge shortly. Such a cabinet will have the support and confidence of the entire population. It will provide Prime Minister Netanyahu with full backing for whatever decisions are made in response to the atrocities committed by Hamas and PIJ. Israel needs to reclaim its deterrence if it is to avoid other fronts against Israel to emerge, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, and the mixed cities within Israel.
Israel must now deal with Hamas and PIJ the same way the US and its allies dealt with ISIS. It must crash Hamas militarily and remove it from the Gaza Strip. These depraved beings cannot be allowed to continue threatening the lives of Israeli civilians. No civilized democracy can allow such monsters to be their neighbors.
This time the IDF has been told to take off its kid gloves and exact a significant toll on the murderous organizations of Hamas and PIJ. Although Israel has called on Palestinian civilians in Gaza to find shelter in UNWRA agencies, any structure associated with Hamas and PIJ is targeted for destruction. This will not be a repeat of previous operations. Hopefully, the solidarity shown with Israel by the US and some of its Western allies will enable Israel to finish the job of clearing Hamas and PIJ out of Gaza. Such a massive operation might take weeks, if not months but the people of Israel and the IDF are now motivated by the atrocities they have witnessed against innocent Israelis.
For poetic justice to be served, the Biden administration should leverage the $6 billion currently in Qatar and transfer it to Israel, to rebuild the enormous damage caused not only to the psyche of Israelis traumatized by the indiscriminate murders of families and friends but also to rebuild the damaged physical infrastructure caused by Iranian rockets supplied to Hamas and PIJ to attack the Jewish state. There is no question about Iran’s involvement in the planning of this dastardly and unprovoked attack on Israel. Israel at this point must repeat George W. Bush’s call to the world, “Are you with us or with the terrorists?” Anyone on Israel’s side must support Jerusalem to complete the job left incomplete in previous bloody engagements with Hamas, removing the terror group from Gaza once and for all.