Le Monde: Gaza war deepened Israel's isolation in the world
The "widespread" sympathy that Israel received after the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas) led the attack on October 7th, under its military strikes in the Gaza Strip, has gradually deteriorated into support for Palestinian civilians and its international isolation is deepening.
The "widespread" sympathy that Israel received after the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas) led the attack on October 7th, under its military strikes in the Gaza Strip, has gradually deteriorated into support for Palestinian civilians and its international isolation is deepening.
"This can be summed up by a report in French newspaper Le Monde, which highlighted that this shift was accompanied by distortions in views between the outside world and Israel, and that legitimate feelings and prejudices limit the consideration of the complexity of this tragedy, and make thinking about the war in Gaza a challenge amidst campus fever, attitudes, glowing social networks, and the rise of anti-Semitism."
In the report of Pyotr Smollar in Washington, Le Monde said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears a heavy responsibility for the crisis that is engulfing his country both morally and security, after he attacked the moderate forces and allied with the representatives of violent Jewish superiority, at a time when the rise of religious-nationalist tribalism exemplifies the fragmentation of Israeli society.
Similarly, Netanyahu should be held responsible for the October 7 catastrophe, according to the paper, and only through a commission of inquiry that highlights the warnings that went unheeded and the analysis that was ignored.
By focusing on Netanyahu, who has spectacularly lost public credibility, Western experts are missing a form of Israeli consensus that is in mourning and rage, united only by a desire to end Hamas, which would be the first misunderstanding.
A Vindictive Desire
The desire to "destroy Hamas" which covers everything for Israel is matched for the whole world today, except the United States, by the desire to put an end to the massacre committed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. This is the second misunderstanding with Israel, which mixes legitimate military goals with satisfaction of the desire for revenge, believing that in order to restore national security and deterrence, the tumor must be removed, even if the Palestinian body dies.
Although the number of martyrs in Gaza has exceeded 22,000, in addition to the displaced and the destruction, the Hamas party and its political leadership remain almost unchanged, despite the assassination of the second-in-command in the movement's political bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri. Thus, acknowledging the near failure would lead to a form of collapse for Israel, exacerbated by the dramatic fate of the remaining hostages.
The third misunderstanding concerns the aftermath of the war, in which Netanyahu declared that "there will be neither Fatah-Stan nor Hamas-stan" in Gaza, and he is maintaining his alliance with the religious-nationalist right, a calculation consistent with the pessimism that basic peace in Israeli society is impossible.
In this dark era, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration wants to revive a two-state solution and "energize" the Palestinian Authority so that it can return to Gaza, which means, without saying so, gradually bringing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been in power since 2004, out of the picture. It might also include accepting Hamas and Islamic Jihad into the Palestine Liberation Organization, so what seems to be an option in the West is a threat to Israel, and that is the greatest misunderstanding.
Source: Le Monde