The good news and the bad news about the Gaza War

If you’re the average Israeli, listening to the nightly news, which often includes an update by IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the impression, with which you’re left, is that our soldiers have made great strides as they continue to eliminate the enemy and forge deeper into the battle while blowing up more tunnels and significantly weakening Hamas’ capabilities. 

The near-total absence of rocket fire, coming from the south, would also serve to confirm that the war is being won, because, unlike the first few months of the war, most of us are no longer running to our bomb shelters for safety.

However, there is an entirely different story that is circulating, and one which is very worrisome and can’t be ignored.

Retired General Israel Ziv, a well-respected career military man, who held many prominent positions, during his tenure with the IDF has characterized the war as one which is failing to achieve its goals, for lack of having them properly and clearly defined. As he puts it, “We are over five months into this war without any predictable political goal. What is next? Even if we stayed and declared that we were occupying, we would become the new government in Gaza. Israel would need to establish civil police and security systems and take care of various services.”

Ziv also points to the international crisis, which has resulted in what has become Israel’s most protracted war, since the inception of the nation in 1948. Part of the lengthy time it has taken, he claims, is due to the government’s inability to make policy decisions and move forward with a confident and comprehensive plan in place. For example, no one, to this day, knows if Gazans will return to the places where they lived prior to October 7, no one can say who will govern Gaza, who will rebuild the city, how long that will take, what will happen to the inhabitants until then, who will provide for their daily needs, what will happen to the captured prisoners long-term or how and when future elections will take place in Gaza. 

These are just a few of the unknowns among many other puzzling questions for which no one seems to have the answer. Ziv, who admits Israel has no solutions, is quick to state that neither does the U.S. In short, this is a conundrum, purposely created and left on our doorstep to solve but one for which the harshest critics cannot offer any alternative conclusions. It’s the perennial thorn in the side, which languishes to the detriment of Israel, which is expected to make peace with a deadly enemy that won’t be happy until the last Jew is gone from the Middle East.

So, what happens, in the meantime as we remain in freeze frame, with no clear direction or vision as to how we proceed? General Ziv fears that, “in the end, the US will not be there for us either, because there is a limit to what they are willing to contain.” But while he maintains that world support is crucial, would that include abiding by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ warnings of the “huge mistake” it would be by going into Rafah?

Harris, who claims, “she’s studied the maps and there’s nowhere for those folks (Gazans) to go,” offers no other options when it comes to eliminating the additional tunnels, weapons and terrorists that are still in Rafah but which we’re being told must remain untouchable and inaccessible to us. How convenient! 

Just as we approach the eye of the storm, our greatest ally (or so we were told) has drawn a line in the sand, making it clear that this is where it has to end. Is it any wonder that these nagging and persistent problems never get resolved? Instead, they are meant to be perpetuated and ongoing, to the extent that we keep playing the game by their rules.

But maybe there is a chance, this time, that we will reject those rules, because, as things stand now, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer insists that “an IDF military campaign to destroy Hamas in Rafah must take place even if it harms Israel’s relations with the U.S. and isolates it on the international stage.” Stating that “even if the entire world turns on Israel,” he, nonetheless, assures that “this operation is going to happen.”

Yet, General Ziv does not concur and has grave doubts, stating that “Israel can only last for a few months, as a nation on its own.” He claims that “without the backing from our allies, we will not be able to continue and defeat Hezbollah in the north,” placing us in a position of “national irresponsibility from a security point of view and in general.”

So, there you have it, we are doomed if we do and doomed if we don’t – leaving us in a quagmire from which we cannot emerge. Consequently, the good news that Israel’s military machine is successfully executing the orders that they are being given does not necessarily translate into a triumphant victory for the Jewish homeland, and that is what constitutes the bad news.

How do we get out of this non-stop merry-go-round?

That’s the $64,000 question, because some would like us to believe that the price of going it alone may be worse than the price of revisiting this conflict every year. But for parents, spouses, children and other family members who are losing their loved ones, fighting a battle with no end in sight, something about that feels terribly futile and non-beneficial.

There is no question that Israel is at a crossroads which can no longer be delayed by the choice of inertia. Our leaders must take decisive action, knowing that whatever they choose will have its risks and consequences. In the end, leaders of other countries will also have to decide whether they’re willing to abandon democracy in favor of a terrorist organization whose aspirations are domination of the entire world. It is up to them to find the courage required to back those who have put their own lives on the line for the sake of freedom and liberty.

We can only hope that they will make the right choice, but irrespective of their actions, we have to do what is best for us, and that begins by taking a position as to what will serve our present as well as long-term interests. Compromise may have to be a part of that, but not to the point of prolonging an end that must be concluded once and for all, and certainly not to the point of irreparably injuring ourselves just to placate others who have no better plan to stop the tyranny.

Israel must take the lead and show the rest of the world how we can win, so that they, too, can continue to enjoy their freedoms without the need to wage their own battle!