There is a reason that the large and disruptive demonstrations and labor strikes in Israel over the last few days have received extensive coverage on all Palestinian channels. In fact, according to those who regularly follow these things, the military arm of Hamas has published psychological warfare content specifically related to the demonstrations.
Hamas sees these images as a shot in the arm of hope for those who feel despondent about the deep military losses on the ground in Gaza, and in Judea and Samaria.
Those who don’t see this simply have no understanding of Palestinian society and will doom us to another hundred years of bloody terrorism and conflict.
For many decades, the main ingredient of what the Palestinians call terrorism is called sumud, meaning “steadfastness.”
The basic political strategy of sumud is that eventually, however long it takes, the Palestinians, even against seemingly impossible military strength, will eventually win because they will outlast the Jewish state.
While their rockets, suicide attacks and even that attack on Oct. 7 were not meant to physically destroy the State of Israel, they felt it would pave the way for weakening Israel bit by bit so it devours itself.
We might have our internal disagreements about what led to the massacre on Oct. 7 but Hamas and its terrorist supporters saw a fundamental weakness in Israeli society over the last few years—with Israelis talking about leaving en masse, senior Israel Defense Forces and Israel Air Force officers talking about refusing to serve, and general talk about the collapse of Zionism—and acted.
When Hamas and its supporters see the civil unrest taking place in Israel, it gives them hope that their strategy is succeeding. Currently, Hamas sees that despite Israel’s overpowering military might, many, including those in Israel’s security establishment and opposition, seem to want to make a deal “at all costs.”
This position displays weakness and defeat. If Israel is going to remain and flourish, as it has done for over seven decades, then it needs to remember that it is situated in the Middle East, where even negotiations are fought from a position of strength, and leverage is everything.
Unfortunately, some Israeli opposition leaders, like Yair Lapid, are playing into Hamas’s hands with their behavior in the hopes of some political and electoral gain.
Those demanding that the government weaken its position in negotiations and, even more, the ludicrous statements that the IDF’s defensive measures in Gaza are leading to the deaths of hostages, are extremely dark and dangerous.
It remains unclear what they would prefer, that the IDF just left Gaza, either unilaterally or through a deal, leaving Hamas still standing and able to regroup and plan the next Oct. 7 in a few short years.
The image of a steadfast Hamas waving the flag of victory would bolster the growing belief of those in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Tehran, Beirut and elsewhere, that the Jewish state is starting to unravel.
This will create a self-fulfilling prophecy, and mean far more bloodshed than we have ever witnessed before.
Demands that Israel remove itself from the Philadelphi Corridor or allow unmolested travel for Gazans from the center of the Gaza Strip to the north and back to Hamas’s major centers of power are not just senseless militarily, they also project the image that the Jewish state will not hold its ground under external and internal pressure.
Though Israel did not seek this war, it has allowed the state to reform its image and show its enemies that it will not be cowered, and that it will fight tooth and nail for its existence and should not be tested.
If it allows demonstrators, opposition leaders and other subversive elements to dictate policy, Israel’s tactical battlefield victory will turn into a long-term strategic defeat. This is what our enemies see. It is time Israelis see it as well, and act accordingly.
