U.S. assistance can only be useful if the Israeli government has a strategy to succeed.
Yet the challenges confronting Israel in its expressed goal of smashing Hamas are mammoth. The terrorist group and other militants are holding around 150 Israelis hostage in Gaza and haveif the bombing continues. The war could expand to the occupied West Bank and to Lebanon, where Hezbollah militants, backed by Iran, have 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel.
Below are a few questions I’ve had from readers that I’m mulling over in my own mind, along with answers based on conversations with Israelis, conference calls, and my own experiences in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza over several decades.Israel suffered an unimaginable security failure. Egyptian intelligence officials say their Israeli counterparts ignored repeated warnings that “” was about to happen with Gaza.
However, Hamas had bigger goals. Taking hostages gives Hamas bargaining chips to exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Moreover, its military “success” boosts its prestige on the West Bank, which it dreams of taking over when the 86-year-old Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — who heads the anti-Hamas Fatah faction — exits the scene. And it no doubt hopes that Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon will ultimately join the war.
Right now, all of the above look doubtful. The first may be possible if Iran can be convinced that a wider war will boomerang on Tehran. As for the second, Hamas has said there will be no prisoner exchange until the war ends.
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