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Israel's Qatar Strike Shows It Speaks the Language of the Middle East

(Jerusalem Post) Dr. Dan Diker interviewed by Alex Winston - For decades, Israel's military has operated within the constraints of Western diplomatic norms. These include measured responses, careful escalation ladders, and endless rounds of negotiations that often reward the very actors who orchestrate violence against Israeli civilians. Tuesday's strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar may mark a fundamental shift: Israel is speaking the language the Middle East actually understands. Dr. Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, explained how Western powers have consistently tried to impose their own cultural framework onto Middle Eastern dynamics. This approach treats negotiations as good-faith exercises between rational actors, where compromise is a virtue and escalation is failure. However, this misreads how power operates in the Middle East. Hamas's leadership has spent decades exploiting this Western mindset. The result is a perverse system where delays in hostage negotiations are rewarded with international pressure on Israel, rather than consequences for Hamas, which twists the international media narrative to its liking. The traditional Western approach created what Diker called a false assumption "that Israel wouldn't dare attack Hamas leadership on Qatari soil because it assumed that the Americans would prevent it." This assumption became Hamas's shield. Yet, as Diker noted, the Middle East "only understands victory and defeat." This isn't cultural stereotyping but rather a recognition that this region is different. In a region where state collapse is common and tribal dynamics remain strong, strength signals legitimacy, while weakness invites aggression. Rather than seeking Western approval for each escalation, Israel is demonstrating that it will act unilaterally to protect its interests. Diker also pointed to the alignment between the leaders of Israel and the U.S. in "defeating radical extremist Islamism." Middle Eastern actors closely watch the U.S.-Israel dynamic. When they see daylight between Washington and Jerusalem, it emboldens rejectionist strategies. When they see coordination, it forces recalculation of what's possible. When Middle Eastern actors believe their opponent is truly committed to total victory rather than managed conflict, they begin calculating exit strategies rather than endurance contests.
2025-09-11 00:00:00
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