Last month, Israel, having tried to displace and murder the Palestinians in Gaza for over a year, finally recognized that they have failed in every meaning of the word. They have agreed to a ceasefire with the Islamic resistance movement Hamas, in exchange for the release of hostages taken by the resistance.
Israel, apart from the margins of territory they still occupy, has gained nothing, no concessions, no influence, nothing. Humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza once more. Hamas, despite having many of its leaders killed, is not hindered as an organization and continues to administrate Gaza, even in its ruined state.
Overall, this war has taken a very similar course to Israel’s defeat against Lebanon in the late 1970’s, and for many of the same reasons. Israel continues to rely on their “Dahiya model” which is named after their bombing of the Beirut suburbs and translates to indiscriminate bombing of urban and residential areas in an attempt to totally eliminate any resistance. But regardless of how many bombs they drop, they do absolutely nothing to ingratiate themselves with the local population.
Israel bombs their homes, destroy their cities, and kill their families, while giving no reason as to why they should stop fighting. Much like their defeat against Lebanon, Israel still has no serious method to combat guerilla warfare. Their exorbitant and ineffective use of explosives means makeshift weapons are always readily available for the resistance. With every civilian a possible enemy, senseless killings and massacres are common for the Israeli occupation, which only works to enrage the people further. These horrific flaws to their methods don’t only show themselves in their conflict with Hamas, but have always been prevalent in Israeli military strategy since the founding of their state after the fall of the Ottoman empire.
Even with the end of the fighting and the successful devastation of Gaza, this war has exposed Israel’s weakness to the world. Israel, while it tries desperately to portray itself internationally as ancestrally tied to the region since ancient times, is at its heart a colonial project. Israel has less than 10 million citizens and cannot seriously commit to the resettlement of stolen Arab land that many of its fanatical leaders are obsessed with.
Due to its aggressive diplomacy and refusal to negotiate with its neighbors, Israel frequently finds itself at war, and whenever it does, Israel has to conscript their population, which deteriorates their economy, which forces them to try to attract western settlers, which causes more war. Israel is in an unending spiral of systemic decay and repression that only ever makes it more reliant on the United States for support.
Israel depends on shipments of American weapons to fight their wars and is dependent on trade with the United States and its allies to support its economy. On the world stage, Israel is despised by almost every other nation outside the west, which has been made clear as South Africa’s case for genocide in the ICC against Israel was joined by 14 other nations. This has also been made clear by Israel’s treatment of their own citizens. Israel has never been designed as a state for all Jewish people, with Ashkenazi Jews from Europe and America being the most favored and privileged, while Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Orthodox Jews are left poor, disadvantaged and conscripted into the IDF.
Right now, Israel is possibly the least reliable and worst ally the United States could ever ask for. They offer us nothing economically and actively endanger our continued trade with wealthy allies like Saudi Arabia, as well as endangering shipments of goods through the Suez Canal by inciting violence in the region. We frequently subsidize Israel’s armed forces, and their constant conflict with their neighbors actively endangers our own interests in the region.
The United States and Saudi Arabia could be great allies and partners, but Israel’s wars get in the way of that. The new democratic government in Syria should be an easy win for us diplomatically, but Israel has already begun postering against them and taking territory for no good reason. Egypt and Turkey are both key partners in the region who the United States would need to keep a good relationship with, but Israel continues to spark animosity with them, and our continued support of Israel only pushes them closer to Russia and China.
Now, with all that information overviewed, it’s still important to recognize that what has just taken place in Palestine is the most well publicized genocide in all human history. Searching the internet for the most clear and blatant examples of mass killings, war crimes, and abject brutality and destruction is not at all difficult. While conservatives, nationalists, and religious figures try to defend Israel and paint them as moral and righteous, they have not yet realized how shortsighted they are, and how history will remember anyone who tries to defend the despicable events that have taken place.
Not only has this war led to many younger people, not just in the United States but across the world, becoming disillusioned with the common claims made about the necessity of the state of Israel, but also caused them to doubt the governments that continue to support Israel even in the face of these tragedies. When voters were polled about why they didn’t favor Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, the second most prominent issue younger voters disapproved of was the handling of the war in Gaza. Not only will young people form their own thoughts about the nature of our government and our country based on how we act now, but in the future, decades from now, our children and grandchildren will be reading about this in history books. Those in charge cannot erase what’s happened from human history, no matter how many billions of dollars they spend trying to control the narrative.
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/11/30/we-will-rebuild-gaza-families-return-to-homes-in-ruins
