“The idea that it is possible to destroy Hamas, to make Hamas vanish — that is throwing sand in the eyes of the public.” Those were the blunt words of Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, chief spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces -an army that now seems to have broken with the country’s leader—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has repeatedly called for “absolute victory” over Hamas. He and his extreme right-wing allies have sworn to wipe the militant Palestinian group from the face of the earth.
But the latest poll of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza shows how stunningly Israel’s leaders have failed. According to a report released June 12 by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research---
--Two-thirds of Gazans still say they continue to support Hamas’ October 7 attack. This is despite the horrific toll the massive Israeli response to that attack has taken: more than 80% of Gazans report losing family members or have a relative who has been injured.
--The Palestinians support the Hamas attack, not because of the killings and atrocities, but because it put the Palestinian question once again in the diplomatic spotlight.
-And despite their enormous losses, about half of Gazans still expect Hamas to win the war and return to rule the Gaza Strip; a quarter of Gazans expect Israel to win.
-- “There is also increased support for armed struggle, accompanied by a drop in support for the two-state solution; more than 60% support the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority.”
I’d say it’s not that surprising in light of the inability of the Palestinian Authority to do anything about the ongoing carnage in Gaza and the ruthless “ethnic cleansing” being carried out by armed Israeli settlers supported by the IDF in the West Bank.
Who do Palestinians blame for the slaughter? “Nearly two-thirds blame Israel for their suffering, and most others blame the United States. Putting the blame on Hamas in the Gaza Strip does not exceed 8%.”
“Support for the attack on October 7: While overall support for the October 7 Hamas offensive remains high at two-thirds, it has seen a four-percentage point decline compared to the previous poll.”
“The decrease came from the Gaza Strip, which dropped 14 percentage points. It is important to note that support for this attack… does not necessarily mean support for Hamas and does not mean support for any killings or atrocities committed against civilians. (my emphasis added)
“Support comes from another motive: findings show that more than 80% of Palestinians believe that the attack has put the Palestinian issue at the center of attention and eliminated years of neglect at the regional and international levels.
“Moreover, more than 90% believe that Hamas did not commit any atrocities against Israeli civilians on the seventh of October. Only one in ten Palestinians have seen videos showing atrocities committed by Hamas. The results show that those who watched the videos are about fifteen times more likely than those who did not to believe that Hamas fighters committed atrocities on October 7.
“A little more than half of Gazans said they would prefer Hamas's return, compared to about two-thirds in the West Bank….
“Nearly half, in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, believe that the top most vital goal for the Palestinian people should be an “Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders and the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
But the majority of Palestinians believe that even if Netanyahu eventually falls, any new Israeli government will still “not be willing to end the occupation on the basis of a two-state solution.”
They’re almost certainly right.
And so the dreadful war goes on, with Netanyahu, as we’ve said, now at odds with his military over his refusal to say how the war should end. He’s also at odds with most of his people, not to mention his most important international backer, U.S. President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, the terrible scenes of death and destruction broadcast around the world have also provoked an upsurge in attacks on Jewish targets. With major Jewish groups still proclaiming their support for what many authorities now claim to be “a genocide,” it’s too easy to write off those attacks as provoked by nothing but anti-Semitism.
Indeed, in 1976, Israeli General Haim Bar-Lev, who served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1974 to 1979, warned, "If the Jewish nation is to survive, Israel must be strong. But if Israel is too strong, it may alienate the world and bring upon itself the very anti-Semitism it is supposed to escape. Israel may turn out to be the greatest generator of anti-Semitism the world has ever known."
That rise in anti-Semitic attacks is having an enormous impact far beyond Israel’s borders. In France, for instance, the recent assault on a twelve-year-old Jewish girl by three young French boys, who allegedly raped her while hurling anti-Semitic abuse, has been transformed into a national issue.
Indeed, it could well decide the upcoming snap elections declared by France’s embattled President Macron. Ironically, the right-wing anti-immigrant party of Marine Le Pen, whose father famously doubted the Holocaust, is now casting itself as the defender of France’s Jews against a supposedly anti-Semitic left.
Amazingly, Le Pen’s party might well win.
One could also say that Israel also will never recover
Israel will never defeat Hamas. Especially now that Israel has committed this genocide. Their only choice is their worst choice: to make peace. In The Falcon Diaries dating to 2006 Israeli Ambassador Rosen explains why.