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The Absence of Decisive Action by Israel Now Will Invite More Attacks in the Future

(X) Robert Satloff - Bombing alone cannot succeed in achieving Israel's war aims. Only by the regrettably costly route of ground operations - costly in terms of Israeli soldiers, Palestinian civilians, and perhaps the hostages - can Israel meet the objective of ending Hamas rule in Gaza. Israel's war aims are to guarantee Gaza cannot be a platform for attacks in the future, to restore the confidence of the Israeli people that its government and army can provide for security, and to reestablish Israel's deterrent power in the eyes of friends and adversaries in the Middle East. Reestablishing Israel's deterrence is critical to prevent a much bloodier conflict in the future and to open possibilities for a return to diplomacy with Arab states. The region-wide perception of Israel's strength has been the prerequisite of all peacemaking since 1973. Calls to impose a ceasefire on Israel to achieve "calm" fail to appreciate the enormity of what happened on Oct. 7, not just in its barbarity but in its strategic significance. The effort by an Arab force to take territory inside pre-1967 Israel is as if al-Qaeda took control of Manhattan on 9/11 rather than hit the Twin Towers, forcing the U.S. army to fight to retake the island. The absence of decisive action by Israel now will invite more attempts of this sort in the future - more sophisticated, more audacious, more lethal. Demands that Israel present a detailed plan for "the day after" the war are a tool to prevent its decisive action. The writer is Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2023-10-23 00:00:00
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