It's important to have a grasp of what Israel and the Palestinians are fighting over in the Gaza Strip. And I am not talking about the solution, because is none, nor am I talking about the prospects of a long-term political arrangement, which never fail to dash our hopes. I am not even talking about any long-term deterrence, because in Gaza, any deterrent effect is always shortlived. The real issue at stake is the Arab and Palestinian solidarity with those who seek an armed conflict with Israel.
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Israel has historically been able, after a lengthy and painful process, to isolate radicals and break this solidarity. When radicals are no longer mainstream, Israel can ignore them or attack them without much consequence. When they manage to drag other Muslim, Arab or Palestinian elements into a confrontation with Israel, the threat they pose increases many times over, forcing Israel to expend many more resources that would have otherwise gone to other causes. Breaking the pan-Arab solidarity has prevented a large-scale war between Israel and ar Arab countries for almost five decades and has led to the positive development of having a thriving Israel increasingly integrate into the region as a Middle Eastern power.
The battle in Gaza is over the hearts and minds. What Hamas tried to do in Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021 and what the Palestinian Islamic Jihad tried to do in the most recent flare-up is to rally the Arabs in Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem, and Israel to join the violent struggle championed by the radical elements against the Jewish state. Those extremists want to secure their position as the leaders of the Palestinian people and cast themselves as the defenders of the Palestinian people and Jerusalem, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Islam who can deter the Jews by means of rocket fire.
The Palestinians want a violent leadership that could inflict pain on Jews and kill them, as well as humiliate Israel. These are the contemporary role models for the Palestinians. Israel wants calm and is willing to go a long way to avoid flare-ups. Had Israel been deterred from confronting the rioters on Temple Mount or the terrorists in Jenin and the agitators in mixed cities and the south, the PIJ and Hamas would have obtained their goal.
In the latest round of hostilities, Israel has appropriately opted not to fall for the addictive allure of calm, choosing instead to forcefully dismantle this strategic paradigm. Jews went up the Temple Mount and Israel continued to carry out its targeted killing of senior terrorists in the West Bank. Would-be Israeli Arab rioters got the message: If they disturb the peace in mixed cities, they would face ten battalions ready to confront them. In other words, Israel proved that those who show violent manifestations of their solidarity with terrorists in Gaza will pay a heavy price.
What's left is just the leaders of the Joint Arab List who continue with their old refrains. Let them continue with their blabbering nonsense. The more they continue exposing their true deceitful nature and lowliness, the more Israelis will be inclined to turn away and ignore their whines.
We face a long, often frustrating, battle. But Operation Breaking Dawn has helped move us closer, thanks to another form of solidarity: that of the Israelis to each other.
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