There are no good answers, only more questions leading to even more as the world watches Israel unleash its fury on Gaza with relentless bombing, seemingly unperturbed by the high civilian death toll -- according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, more than 10,000 people have been killed so far. Israeli military says it’s a necessary condition of fighting an enemy that hides among its people.  

Hamas leaders seem equally unperturbed as more and more Palestinians die – it’s part of the calculation. They are martyrs for the “cause” in death and human shields in life for Hamas’ nihilistic aims. They must not flinch when their schools and hospitals double as weapons depots or their homes hide entrances to the never-ending tunnels. Does Hamas give them a choice? The short answer is “No” and the long answer would require a book. 

In the circle of fire burning in the Middle East, there will be no winners, only losers. Can Israel say it “won” because it killed seven times more Palestinians? Can Hamas claim it “won” because it forced the Palestinian issue front and centre even though at great human cost? The honest answer would be “No” to both. 

One also must ask if the kind of brutality Hamas inflicted on Israeli civilians, including children, is justified for the “cause”? Hamas put on a horror show to beat all horror shows. Yes, it shattered the smugness of oil kings and western leaders busy designing a new world order but is perpetual war a solution? 

Hamas certainly thinks so. Its media advisor Taher El-Nounou was clear when he told the New York Times, “I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders and that the Arab world will stand with us.” Hamas leaders are gleeful the Palestinian issue is back on the table and “now no one in the region is experiencing calm.” 

They are right about that. The Ukraine war has been pushed aside. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/world/middleeast/hamas-israel-gaza-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Next question: Are 10,000 dead Palestinians enough to avenge 1,400 dead Israelis? Will the Hamas leaders living safely in Qatar relent and return the 240 hostages and save their people from more death and destruction? So far, the answer remains “No.” More bombs, more suffering and more rubble on the cards.  

Permanent victimhood is a desired state of being -- it keeps everyone in business. It keeps Iran humming as the “saviour” of Muslims with “an axis of resistance,” it keeps Qatar buzzing as a hostage negotiator and supreme busybody and it keeps the sundry militia groups in Lebanon busy fighting for a cause. Generation after generation is indoctrinated, trained, armed and sent to die. Those who have the means to escape flee to the West, get educated, earn money and then protest in comfort.

On the other side, stands Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a man reviled by many at home and abroad. He has vowed to “destroy Hamas” and blamed everyone but himself for the security lapses that allowed Hamas terrorists to invade on Oct. 7 so easily. Many Israelis are convinced Netanyahu’s rightwing policies prepared the ground that ushered the latest catastrophe. Members of his coalition of madness have heaped every humiliation on the Palestinians they could since the government was formed last year. 

Even as the war rages, Israeli “settlers” – a special brand of rabid -- are destroying villages in the West Bank, burning olive trees and pouring cement on agricultural land. The United Nations has recorded 222 settler attacks over the last month. Is this how the Middle East’s only democracy goes to work? 

Netanyahu has repeatedly rebuffed Israel’s most important and generous patron, the United States, making President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken look like plaintiffs. They have to plead for “humanitarian pauses” in the bombing campaign to allow for food, water and medicines to be delivered to Gaza. The Americans don’t want to ask for a “ceasefire” despite growing pressure from Arab leaders who say anyone who supports Israel’s war is a party.

Biden is under pressure from all sides. The right blames him for even asking for a “pause” in the war, the left accuses him of arming and aiding Israel to kill Palestinians. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, was censured in the House of Representatives this week for releasing a video implying Biden was responsible for “genocide” – an allegation that appalled many party members in the centre.   

But Israel’s war is playing out on American streets -- and for the first time in years, Israel seems on the back foot. Thousands of Pro-Palestinian protestors have been marching in major US cities, including in Washington DC, chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” -- a chant Jews see as a call for the elimination of the state of Israel. Last weekend they defaced the White House gate with “bloody” hand prints. Mainstream media mostly gave the story a miss for some reason. 

All said and done it seems the US has little leverage over Israel despite the massive amounts of military and economic aid delivered over decades. To date, the US has sent $158 billion to Israel, making it the largest recipient of American foreign assistance since World War II. 

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf

Again, to what end? Some argue that US money has helped finance the kind of “settler” state Israel is today. Any talk of a serious settlement with the Palestinians went off the agenda years ago to be replaced by tactical jugglery. The Americans watched but said little.  

But then US presidents have found the political cost of confronting Israeli leaders to be too high and most don’t bother. Israeli politicians know that and business goes on as usual. Until another fire erupts.