The October 7 disaster and the war that has been forced on Israel discredit the notion that it’s possible to "manage the conflict." In last night’s webinar, organized by the Forum, Prof. Andreas Wimmer of Columbia University presented an international comparative study. What emerges from this body of work is that a stable solution to complex and protracted ethno-national conflicts requires international involvement, as in the cases of Serbia-Kosovo, Bosnia, and Northern Ireland.
Israel today has a rare opportunity to mobilize sympathetic international involvement. Many countries have declared Hamas a terrorist organization.
The Iranian regime and terrorist organizations that collude with it in other countries, such as Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen, pose a real threat to most countries in the Middle East. Therefore, Israel's struggle against Hamas is part of a broader regional, even global, struggle. The US, Great Britain, Germany and many other democratic countries, as well as most Arab countries, such as Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, see jihadist organizations as a significant threat that must be eradicated. They also recognize the need to build alliances in order to maintain security.
We cannot and should not single-handedly eradicate fundamentalist Islam from Iran to Yemen. We need to take advantage of the opportunity to establish a regional and international coalition that can defeat Hamas, as was done in the case of ISIS. Only such a coalition can ensure that the IDF’s military attainments will safeguard Israel in the long run.
But, to enter into alliances and establish an international coalition, we need a functioning government. The current government, which for three weeks has been busy evading responsibility, concocting jobs for cronies, threatening critics, and exacerbating the situation in the West Bank, is not fulfilling its duty to ensure the security of the State of Israel.
Moreover, a government whose members are under the delusion that a flagrant violation of international law by Israel will receive any international support endangers all of us. The authors of a document from the Policy Division of the Ministry of Intelligence, dated October 13, 2023, are under the impression that evacuating the population of the Gaza Strip to Sinai and preventing its return (in contrast to a temporary evacuation during the fighting) is a feasible long-term solution. This idea is both illegal and impractical, and its mere suggestion by government officials endangers Israel and seriously threatens its security.
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