LONDON, England — The “war” in Gaza has now lasted over two weeks, with no immediate sign of an end to hostilities. This is really bad news for Israel in particular, and Diaspora Jews in general. I have certain perspectives on the matter.
I believe the US administration bears a great deal of responsibility for the confidence shown by Hamas. Let us just recap on who Hamas actually are. They are an arm, some would say even the military arm, of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The US, for some unfathomable reason, strongly supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and some people think that the US was instrumental in overthrowing President Mubarak and installing the Muslim Brotherhood to government in Egypt.Then a few weeks ago, the US supported a new Palestinian Government that effectively amalgamated Hamas and the PLO, which effectively is extending the Muslim Brotherhood influence in all Palestinian territory.
Let us not also forget that John Kerry on several occasions recently has threatened Israel with dire consequences if it didn’t accept Kerry’s terms for a “peace” agreement, and warned that intifida and international isolation will follow. Is he now following through on his threats ?
I believe these US moves have greatly encouraged Hamas, in their belief that the US State Department is sympathetic.
From the Israeli perspective the “war” at the time of writing has gone on for over two weeks, with no sign of significant progress. It is tragically reminiscent of the war with Hezbollah several years ago. It is meaningless the Israeli military saying every day that x tunnels and x terrorists have been killed. Unless the Israelis can show an overwhelming victory, then Hamas will be the winners. Why ? Because they can show to their people that they have stood their ground and survived.
Yasser Arafat only came to prominence when he fought at Karame, an engagement when the Israelis lost a lot of men, and Arafat promoted himself into a great hero. Then Hezbollah withstood Israeli attacks in Lebanon, and became a major player in the area due to the prestige it assumed.
Unfortunately the same is going to happen to Hamas. Its endeavors against the Israeli campaign will bolster its propaganda, and it will gain massive new prestige, to the detriment of Abbas and the PLO.
Therefore unless Israel starts to really show some progress, this is going to end badly.
I also want to discuss the appalling rise of Muslim anti-Semitism in Europe. One needs to remember that Muslims have become a massive minority population in Europe. In the UK, one in ten babies born are from the Muslim community. By the time my grandchildren grow up, I don’t think they will be safe living in England. Apparently 100,000 people demonstrated against Israel and Jews, in London last weekend. Generally speaking, the average Englishman is a very tolerant person, but even here it doesn’t take much to get anti Semitism going. There is a deep apprehension here.In France there have been what only can be called pogroms, with synagogues attacked and Jewish shops destroyed. Many French Jews are emigrating to Israel, and even more are fleeing to London in recent years, even though England has its own problems as discussed above.
The last point I want to make, is that the acquisition and building cost of the Hamas attack tunnels and thousands of rockets, must have been astronomical. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet Gaza was supposedly impoverished. It wasn’t the Israeli (and Egyptian) blockade that made it poor, it was the Palestinians own choice to channel resources to attacking Israel rather than building their own state.*
Levy is a freelance writer who divides his time between homes in London, England, and Eilat, Israel. He may be contacted via lloyd.levy@sdjewishworld.com
