After more than eight months of war in Gaza, even with Prime Minister Netanyahu still talking about a “Total Victory”, it is clear that Israel will not be able to destroy Hamas, and even the Chief of Staff has stated that “Hamas is an idea and ideas you cannot destroy”. The continuing fighting in all parts of the Gaza strip are causing Israeli casualties that do not add to the war effort but make it hard to turn on the TV in the evening and see the face of these 19-20 year olds whose lives were destroyed.
The events of October 7th last year were the biggest disaster that has hit Israel in its 76 year existence but the response has been disproportional and the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the destruction of the Gaza strip won’t do anything to ease the pain of the families of the murdered Israelis, and it will not help bring back the hostages that are still being held in Gaza, no matter what the government claims.
But the on-going war threatens to drag Israel into an armed conflict with Hezbollah in the north, where on a daily basis already, towns and villages are shot at with more than a thousand houses already destroyed. And the people of the border communities, who were evacuated in October, by now have “lived” more than eight months in hotels in the center of the country, without a possibility to go back home.
And if in the end Hezbollah (or Israel) decides to start a real war, the State of Israel may be in real danger. Hezbollah is a terror organization that has de facto occupied Lebanon for many years, has many thousands of well-trained fighters and has stockpiled large amounts of weapons and missiles. Fighting Hezbollah will mean a completely different level of war, which Israel may not be able to win, at least not without the help of its ally the United States, and it is uncertain the US will interfere because it may result in an all-out regional war including Iran.
The many thousands of rockets Hezbollah has acquired will cause extensive damage in Israel, at Army bases, power stations, industrial complexes, airports and of course civilian areas, with many casualties. And while Israel will inflict serious damage on Lebanon as well it is not at all clear how well Israel will be able to sustain the damages and large number of both civilian and military casualties. It is not (yet) said aloud too often but experts (both military and political) are seeing a war with Hezbollah as a real existential threat to Israel in particular if Iran will take part in it, as it already did in April.
So where is the Israeli government in these difficult times? It has kept itself busy.
With appeasing one of its key supporters, Arye Deri, Chairman of the SHAS party, through a new law that would give them the power over appointments of local rabbis, thereby creating hundreds of Jobs for his buddies.
Attempting to prevent the changes to the laws of conscription and thus allowing thousands of youngsters to remain in Yeshivas while young men with a sense of solidarity, keep dying in Gaza.
Minister of Transportation, Mri Regev, even thought it OK to go on vacation in the middle of a war and trying to find an excuse to have the State pay for it, like she did last time, when she went to India and Sri Lanka on vacation.
Transferring hundreds of millions of shekels in “Coalition Money “(a euphemism for bribery and corruption) including to such ridiculous ministries as Settlements and National Missions.
Abusing the war situation and his power as Finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich is busy de facto annexing the occupied West Bank, through the use of Jewish terrorists, and the money he has control over.
In other words, the Israeli government doesn’t seem to care too much about the war and its consequences and citizens both in the North and in the South are left to fend for themselves and to keep dreaming about their previous life.
And those that do care about the war, like Ben Gvir, he is demanding a seat in the war cabinet, only to make the scale of the war even worse than it is now and not to stop until ”total Victory” is achieved.
Israel is in real mortal danger. It may not be only from the war even though the danger is real and big. But the Israel as we know it is already disappearing and after the war, with fascists and ultra-orthodox gaining strength, it will become a fascist, religion controlled state like its biggest enemy, Iran.
But apparently this is the “will of the people”? The Jewish People?
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