Crossing Israel’s Breaking Point Yields Unity and Success
Enduring Hamas missiles aimed at its civilians for over eight years, Israel has had enough. In other words, Hamas hit Israel’s breaking point, and now should be quite sorry it did. This war has unified Israel’s mainstream political spectrum in dealing with Gaza and Hamas. And when Israel has consensus in a matter, it acts effectively, efficiently, and decisively. And when the so-called “world community” insisted on an immediate cease fire, truce, or “hudna,” it should have known that it was not going to happen this time. Unlike other times when the world meddles in Israeli affairs, it had no local ally to work with this time.
In this conflict, all major Israeli parties, Likud (right wing), Labor (left wing), and Kadima (centrist) support Israel’s military response. Defense Minister Ehud Barak leader of Labor, who was willing to cede portions of the Negev desert to Gaza when he was Prime Minister, is leading Israel’s army as its current Minister of Defense. For example, Barak (a former Prime Minister running again for that office), said ”we have a war to the bitter end against Hamas and its branches” and that the operation would be “widened and deepened as needed.” Tough talk from a leftist! (Note that Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, running for Prime Minister from Likud, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, running for Prime Minister from Kadima, are also fully endorsing this war.)
The world community, in thinking that Israel would sign onto an immediate cease fire, truce, or hudna, also truly miscalculated. Nobody in Israel supported that, and efforts to implement one were a real waste of time.
Time will tell, but right now most Israelis support the war, and are viewing current developments as successful. Israel has virtually been in control of this conflict, killing hundreds of Hamas militants while losing a couple of soldiers, destroying missile factories and weapons storage facilities, and destroying numerous smuggling tunnels. Hamas has not been able to respond effectively, only continuing its civilian targeted missile barrage.
There are lessons to learn from this:
1. Consensus in Israel, though very hard to achieve, empowers Israel. With widespread consensus on a matter, especially when it involves security, Israelis will be effective, efficient, and decisive when dealing with it.
2. As a warning over Iran, there appears to be consensus in Israel that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The world community should know it better find a solution to that problem, or it is exceedingly likely that Israel will attempt to solve it militarily, for better or worse.
3. The world community should know that trying to impose a condition, whatever that may be, onto Israel when Israel’s consensus rejects that condition, will fail. Instead, if the world community wants to be influential, it will need to learn to seriously take Israel’s needs into account, whether the world community likes it or not.
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