Israel’s War With Hamas is A Necessary Act of Defense
BOSTON, MASS - 6:30. October 7. While most would be in the chasm between sleep and full consciousness at the time, gradually drudging through the sleepy-eyed quagmire of beginning a day, those in Southern Israeli cities, such as Sderot, Be'er Sheva, Sa’ad, and Ashkelon were not.
Air raids sirens were going off, and the whistling of falling rockets created a cacophony in the air. Gunfire was heard as Hamas militants paraded through the empty streets of these cities, breaching houses and kidnapping Israeli citizens, separating families, and terrorizing millions of people. This was the most aggressive, and the most coordinated attack since 1973 - exactly 50 years ago since the initiation of Hamas attacks.
The History of Israel
The history of Israel is a long and complicated one, containing the vicissitudes of war, and along with it the drive of progress, turning a tiny strip of desert into thriving cities, technological companies, and a strong country of community. It is considered to be a home to Arabs, Christians, and a thriving Jewish population that has reunited there, millenia after the great diaspora from Zion.
The fact that Israel, a Jewish state, exists in a world of such rife Anti-Semitism is extraordinary, but ever since its creation, the state of Israel has been under attack constantly, previously by Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, but recently by smaller militias and governments attempting to execute the new Holocaust.
In 1933, the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jews fell under the rule of the Nazi state, a state which openly condemned the Jewish population as the bane of the Aryan race, and sought to entirely eradicate them. Six million Jews, almost half of the Jewish population worldwide at the time, perished as a result of it. In the aftermath of the most brutal destruction, there became a new Jewish Problem - not the ones that Nazis promulgated to the world, but rather a problem of displacement.
The sad fact was that Jews, wherever they went, were persecuted; they were persecuted in Spain, Russia, Poland, Iran, Iraq, Austria, Hungary, France, England, Germany, and more. The solution, which had long been in the making, was creating a Jewish mandate in Israel.
Theodore Herzl
Theodore Herzl was an Austrian journalist, who wrote in the late 1800s, and lived in from 1860 - 1904. He is most famous for being a Zionist advocate, supporting the concept of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, where they would be free from such avid persecution, one instance being the Dreyfus trials at the time.
He composed a novel called Altneuland, meaning old-new land. The land of Zion is the historical land of the Jewish people, but had since then dispersed, and were, for millennia alienated to the land there.
However, as anti-semitist sentiment in Europe began to increase, the necessity for a Jewish homeland increased. Herzl popularized the movement in Europe, writing in German, a language which millions of Jews and people in the political and philosophical community spoke.
The Roots of Israel
When Palestine started to become a place of refuge for Jews who could afford moving across the goliath area of Europe, it was originally owned by Britain. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, their territory in the Middle East was partitioned among Britain and France, with Britain possessing territory in Palestine, which consisted of present-day Israel, part of Jordan, and the Gaza strip.
In 1948, Israel fought for its independence against Jordan, and gained more land throughout Israel. Since 1948, the country has been under constant attack from their neighbors, and lately, some of these neighbors have been supplied by Iran, who are growing increasingly concerned about the power dynamic in the Middle East, which Israel is gaining a lot more clout in.
The Six-Day War
One of the largest conflicts in the history of Israel was the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel had what many thought was a precarious army and position. For one, Israel was tiny, and had a small eligible military population, nowhere near the vast swathes of soldiers countries like Egypt could field. Additionally, Israel could be blocked from resources from both Egyptian and Syrian positions. And in terms of naval and air superiority, Israel’s position was absolutely pathetic. If so, then why did they win the war?
All of Israel’s wars are brief, and exceedingly effective. In 1967, there were plans between major Arab states to eliminate Israel, plans between Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, all of which, when combined, were much mightier than Israel, militarily and geographically. However, the Israeli military’s defense actions were exceedingly efficient, and succeeded in the crippling of Syrian and Egyptian defenses, and the grasping of Gaza, Sinai, and parts of the West Bank. From this war Arab countries realized that Israel would be incredibly difficult to eradicate.
The Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War was of a very similar vein to the Six Day War, with the main commonality being over confident Arab forces attacking Israel with vigor and, after having fought for a couple of days, were pushed back into a far worse position than they were originally in.
The war occurred in 1973, with the main Arab participants being the Syrians and Egyptians. The UN had attempted to initiate some sort of ceasefire in the area, however, the contempt that Arab nations had for the State of Israel and the Jews was so massive that it was difficult to institute peace.
Syria and Egypt both crossed the buffers that were positioned by UN peacekeeping forces, and entered Israel. After two defensive actions, Israel halted Egypt and Syria respectively, and proceeded up to Egypt’s crucial Suez Canal and the Syrian capital of Damascus.
What Should the Israeli Defense Look Like?
The first and foremost thing for the IDF to do is get the hostages back. Israel should fight for its people by all means, and should not compromise the fight out of fear or diplomatic disapproval from other countries. Israel has always been accused by the UN of disproportionate response, or attacking out of proportion to the original response. There is no out of proportion when the very people condemning Israel are also attackers. Israel needs to do whatever it needs to do to defend itself, and the rife anti-semitism which exists should be attacked, too.
Israel has always been the place where Jews can go to have a home, to reach asylum, to be in a place where they are safe and capable of improving their lives. Hamas, and many other people in the world, want to attack that. So when you see countries condemning Israel’s actions, or people telling you that the occupation of Gaza is wrong, don’t listen. Israel wants to safeguard the interests of both their country and the people of Gaza.