I have covered this conflict for almost 50 years, and I’ve seen Israelis and Palestinians do a lot of awful things to one another: Palestinian suicide bombers blowing up Israeli discos and buses; Israeli fighter jets hitting neighborhoods in Gaza that house Hamas fighters but also causing massive civilian casualties. But I’ve not seen something like what happened last weekend: individual Hamas fighters rounding up Israeli men, women and children, looking them in the eyes, gunning them down and, in one case, parading a naked woman around Gaza to shouts of “Allahu akbar.”
The last time I witnessed that level of face-to-face barbarism was the massacre of Palestinian men, women and children by Christian militiamen in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut in 1982, where the first victim I encountered was an older man with a white beard and a bullet hole in his temple.
While I have no illusions about Hamas’s long-established commitment to the destruction of the Jewish state, I am nonetheless asking myself today: Where did this ISIS-like impulse for mass murder as the primary goal come from? Not the seizing of territory, but plain murder? There is something new here that is important to understand.
Since I can’t interview the Hamas leadership, I’m drawing on my experience in the region, and here’s how I see it.
Magicalsandwichpress on October 12nd, 2023 at 03:39 UTC »
There is really nothing that will stop the ground invasion and occupation of Gaza. Iacta alea est
Pruzter on October 12nd, 2023 at 03:08 UTC »
Is a ground invasion what Hamas really wants here though? Not sure if a ground invasion is giving the enemy exactly what they want. Not sure how they come out on top after a ground invasion.
The costs would definitely be extreme though, agree on that point. For that point alone it should be considered in depth before taking action. If they are already willing to starve Gaza out, what real value does a ground invasion add? At least for the next 2/3 months.
andromache753 on October 12nd, 2023 at 02:41 UTC »
Submission Statement: In this piece, Thomas Friedman, a long time Middle East analyst, encourages a more thoughtful approach to the current Israel-Palestine situation than the knee jerk reaction incited by this weekend’s events. He poses the question: “What do my worst enemies want me to do and how can I do the opposite?” This is a moment where Israel has tremendous political and diplomatic goodwill, a unity government, and a unified populace, grieving from the recent terrorist attacks. A ground invasion, like what everyone is expecting, would be a disaster for everyone, for the Palestinians, for the IDF soldiers fighting it, and for chances at peace. There are other ways forward.