At the deserted Ben Gurion International Airport, the announcement "This is the final call for passengers boarding the flight" is heard regularly despite there being scant volume of travelers. Perhaps the person making those announcements should be tapped so that they could make a different kind of announcement in the War Cabinet: "This is the final call for War Cabinet members to align expectations with the Israeli public and world public opinion regarding the meaning of 'toppling Hamas'."
Israeli leadership has adopted a tactic aimed at keeping the Israeli public and international public opinion in the fog of war, which does not include a concrete realization of victory and has run its course.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
The statement "We came to topple Hamas" is just too vague. The lack of clarity as to this goal is becoming counterproductive and allows the creation of a cooling effect, which will weigh on the fighting.
We are witnessing these days the "trickling" of a narrative that "there is no more hope for continuing the fighting in Gaza – "the number of casualties is increasing"; "the benefit of continued fighting is marginal"; "Hamas has been dealt a mortal blow and the only real Israeli interest left is freeing the captives".
This trickling will turn into a flood if the Israeli leadership continues to obscure the goals of the operation and does not set a concrete goal that specifies what victory is, and what "toppling Hamas" means.
There is a clear danger regarding our continued unity as a society that is imbued with a fighting spirit the longer the fighting in Gaza continues and the victory goals remain unclear. The Israeli leadership must make a public decision that the idea of "toppling Hamas" is first and foremost about removing the remaining living members of Hamas' military wing from Gaza. Removing them in a manner similar to that used to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization forces from Beirut in 1982.
This is a clearly defined goal, which would reflect a clear Israeli victory. To this should be added two additional goals: The demilitarization of Gaza from heavy weaponry and rockets – a goal that the prime minister has only started repeating in the last two weeks – and the establishment of a security buffer within the Gaza Strip.
Ending the fighting without removing Hamas' military wing personnel from Gaza will allow contradictory interpretations as to whether there was an Israeli victory. An Israeli victory is a must given the defeat we suffered in the fighting on October 7. It is necessary to create regional deterrence, and so that the Saudis, and other countries in the region after them, will aspire to a regional strategic alliance with Israel.
A clear Israeli victory is a necessary condition if the residents of the border towns are to return to their homes. Any other outcome of the fighting that does not include removing Hamas' military force from Gaza will be interpreted as a victory for Hamas, even at the cost of heavy losses to the organization.
From there, the way to Hamas' rehabilitation in Gaza is short. Leaving an organized and trained military force in the Strip will prevent any real possibility of forming an alternative force that will rule Gaza. Sooner or later, Hamas will return to rule the Strip, to our chagrin, to the chagrin of the Americans and the Palestinian Authority. Hamas retaking control of Gaza will be faster and easier than the Taliban retaking Afghanistan. Ask in Washington.
Israel has no other choice but to remove Hamas from the Strip in the manner of removing the PLO from Lebanon. The alternative is the destruction of this force, the meaning of which is the killing of enormous numbers of non-combatants. In 1982, IDF forces besieged Beirut, a siege that led to the departure of about 12,000 terrorists from Lebanon. The IDF of 2023 is a much more powerful military than in 1982. The removal of the PLO members back then prevented a spiraling humanitarian disaster in Lebanon. Removing Hamas' organized military arm from Gaza today will prevent a spiraling humanitarian disaster in the Strip. This should be Israel's declared policy. This should be the American aspiration. This should be the rationale for having America put pressure on Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to remove Hamas from Gaza.
On the margins of this substantive discussion, it is important to emphasize – let us not be misled or confused: The killing of Yahya Sinwar will not be proof that Israel had won. Every leader has a replacement. Killing Sinwar without removing the rest of Hamas' military wing from Gaza can serve as a tool to shape the Israeli consciousness as if we had won. Such narratives will fade much faster than expected. Let's hope our leadership will not be tempted to settle for a "victory image", but will insist on bringing the victory itself.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
