Israel faces several problems in its efforts to fight the anti-Israeli attacks coming from the liberalist movement around the world.
When the attacks come from those who are anti-Israel and antisemitic for ideological reasons, there is very little Israel can do. Here facts do not play a role, – everything we say in our own defense is considered nothing but fabricated lies, even when backed up with evidence.
The real problem comes from people who purport to follow the doctrine of liberalism, but who are either misinformed, or fail to understand the complexity of a reality to which certain liberal principles are inapplicable or unworkable.
In the current situation, there is little difficulty in presenting to the world what actually happened on October 7, when Hamas terrorists, and their accomplices, crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, and committed atrocities, that only a psychopath would not find shocking or inexcusable. Israel’s use of photographic evidence of what happened for hasbara purposes might be considered an extreme measure, but under the circumstances, it is completely justified.
The problem is to differentiate between the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, in which Israel has, thus far, gained the upper hand, and the acts committed by the Hamas terrorists on October 7, which were nothing short of barbaric crimes against humanity.
Disappointment in the UN
UN Secretary-General António Guterres failed to make this distinction when he said in a speech to the Security Council on October 24, that while he unequivocally condemns the deadly attacks of Hamas in Israel on October 7, these acts “did not happen in a vacuum”. The background could not and did not justify the acts – full stop.
However, the most serious accusations that Israel must contend with vis-à-vis the liberal public, concerns the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, intensified by the current war. No one can deny the poor humanitarian conditions there that have been a major problem since the end of the 1948 War of Independence. The Gaza Strip was always relatively impoverished even in the years of the British Mandate.
The movement of a large number of Palestinian refugees who fled, or were pushed out of the State of Israel to the Egyptian-held Gaza Strip in 1949 only aggravated the situation. The population of the Gaza Strip is around 2.1 million – around half of them are the offspring of the original refugees, who still maintain refugee status. This is largely thanks to UNWRA which was established by the UN in 1949 to perpetuate the Palestinian refugee problem, rather than resolve it.
Since coming to power in 2007, Hamas has been known to take advantage of the UNWRA facilities to launch rockets against Israel and dig tunnels in the underground city it has constructed.
As soon as Israel recovered from the shock of the surprise attack by Hamas, which caught it totally unprepared, it started to plan a massive attack on the Gaza Strip with the goal of wiping Hamas off the map as a political and military force.
In all of Israel’s past skirmishes with Hamas (and much smaller but no less lethal Islamic Jihad) Palestinian civilians were killed, and homes destroyed, since Hamas based itself in the midst of the civilian population, around and under hospitals, schools, and mosques, since international law prevents Israel from attacking them.
However, the current military operation is different. This time, Israel’s goal is to eradicate Hamas in the Gaza Strip, something which can only be achieved by bombing all of its offices, facilities, and arms caches, both above and below the ground. This is done by carrying out massive aerial attacks, accompanied by a carefully planned extensive ground attack in the northern Gaza Strip.
From the very beginning, Israel instructed the civilian population in the northern Gaza Strip to move south, in order to save their lives. It was clear that either way – whether the civilian population complied or refrained from moving – a major humanitarian crisis would ensue.
It is believed that so far, around one million people have moved south, with only the few possessions they could carry. Had they stayed behind in the north, their lives would be imperiled. Ironically, it is Hamas that is trying to forcefully prevent the remaining civilian population in Gaza City from moving to the south.
At first, Israel refused to allow any humanitarian aid, of any sort, to be brought into the Gaza Strip, in order to exert pressure on Hamas to release all the hostages taken from Israel to Gaza on October 7. But as the humanitarian crisis intensified, American and other international pressure grew, and aid started to trickle in from Egypt. Israel still refuses to allow fuel to enter, arguing that Hamas intends to use it to preserve the underground city that requires the fuel to generate electricity in order to keep the tunnels lit and ventilated.
All these are rather grim facts. What is a lie, however, is the claim that Israel’s policy is driven solely by revenge, and is designed to deliberately harm the civilian population. If there were a way to eradicate Hamas without moving the civilian population and carrying out massive bombardments and destruction, Israel would certainly opt for it. On the other hand, anyone demanding that Israel gives up the goal of eradicating Hamas is asking it to surrender. What complicates the story is that no one knows who is capable and willing to replace Hamas. All this is very difficult to explain, and sometimes even to justify to those who see the world in black and white.
But there is another difficulty that stands in the way of the Israeli information campaign, and that is voices from the Israeli extreme right, which is part of Netanyahu’s all-right Government. They are vehemently opposed to the Government agreeing to American demands to increase humanitarian aid for the Palestinian population now crowded into the southern Gaza Strip. They are also opposed to any pauses in the fighting – again for humanitarian reasons.
These voices are also calling for the ousting of all, or part, of the Palestinian population there, and the reestablishment of the Gush Katif Jewish settlements, dismantled 18 years ago by Ariel Sharon – all under the rule of Israel.
Unfortunately, such calls are being heard by the growing liberal opposition to Israel abroad, and one wonders why the Israeli Government is doing nothing to silence them.
The writer worked in the Knesset for many years as a researcher, and has published extensively both journalistic and academic articles on current affairs and Israeli politics. Her most recent book: Israel’s Knesset Members - A Comparative Study of an Undefined Job, was published by Routledge last year.