Israel’s battle against Hamas, codenamed Operation Swords of Iron, will inevitably turn out to be long and drawn out.
This is not the Six-Day War of 1967.
We live in a society where we want instant results, instant gratification, where we have an an on-and-off-switch immediately at our disposal.
Quick fixes and quick solutions.
It's natural to hope for wars to end quickly, with minimal damage and loss of life, but reality and history starkly prove otherwise.
Gaza and Hamas and the war with Israel are not ripe for a quick fix. This war will require time, discipline and tremendous patience.
For the past 18 years, since 2005, when the Jewish state completely withdrew from Gaza, Israel has attempted to militarily set Hamas back.
Israel’s stated goal was to destroy the Hamas infrastructure and its armaments.
Despite their goals Hamas was successfully able to re-arm their military and refortify their tunnels.
Time and time again, Hamas would shoot rockets into Israel and Israel would bomb Gaza from the air.
Israel would send in strike forces and special ops for very specific targets and operations.
It was not a ground offensive.
Bombing from the air and sending in special ops teams meant that the human cost to Israel was minimalized. Israel struck Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the air, from a safe distance.
The strategy was only minimally successful.
Hamas was only temporarily hindered.
With the help of their friends in the Muslim and Arab world, Hamas quickly rearmed and reestablished themselves.
The tunnels Israel thought they had destroyed were reopened.
And new tunnels were constructed.
Then came the morning of Oct. 7, 2023: a Saturday. The Jewish festival of Simchat Torah.
This time was different. This was a massacre.
While in previous missile attacks and incursions, a handful of Israelis were killed and injured, Israel mourned the losses and moved on.
But the brutal murder ofnearly 1500 Israelis and the wounding of over 4000, at least 200 hostages taken and those still missing and unaccounted for — that changed the rules of a very deadly game.
The resultant carnage is overwhelming.
Israel was established on the principle of self-defense.
The Jewish State would defend itself from those who wish to destroy it.
Hamas wants to destroy Israel, it is in their charter, and the only solution Israel now has is rooting out Hamas. As the old saying goes, easier said than done.
Rooting out Hamas is not just a matter of destroying buildings and tunnels. Rooting out Hamas means finding all those terrorists who participated in and perpetrated the horrific massacre, all those who were involved in its planning and all those who also supported its mission.
Over 1500 Hamas terrorists have, to date, been killed or captured by the IDF.
Terrorists perpetrating their dastardly deeds and then hiding in the various communities and hiding places.
Hamas terrorists who were stopped before they were able to proceed to other towns and villages and continue their murderous rampage against Jews.
Those not killed or not caught were terrorists who ran back into Gaza with their hostages.
Making a complicated situation even more complicated is the knowledge that a large group of Gazans — Gazans not trained by Hamas, crossed into Israel through the breached fences. Once inside, they looted and then they, too, gathered up innocent Israelis and took them into Gaza as their hostages.
Slogans like "the total defeat of Hamas" and "wipe Hamas off the face of the earth" are grossly unspecific and cliché.
Israel needs not slogans but practical operational steps to achieve its goal, and to allow Israelis to, one day, close their eyes at night and sleep in peace without a living nightmare.
The operational details are numerous. The operation will take at least a year.
Historically, this operation in Gaza is akin to the "De-Nazification" of Germany after World War II.
It took years and it took the Marshal Plan.
It required the re-education of Germany.
In the end Germany, emerged as one of the most productive countries and one of the most powerful economies in the world.
A similar plan was necessary in Japan.
After the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, one of the biggest mistakes they made was that they did not have a clear understanding of success and failure.
The U.S. had no "day after" plans.
As a result, Iraq fell into horrendous disarray.
The U.S. pulled out and a huge vacuum was left.
Yes, Sadaam Hussein and his sons were defeated.
All the players in that famous deck of cards were, to use the euphemism, dispatched or captured. But what happens next is essential.
Israel’s war to destroy Hamas means going into Gaza for an extended period of time.
That means plenty of destruction. Again, think post World War II Germany and Japan.
Think Dresden — probably 25,000 Germans were killed.
It also means that Israel has an obligation for the next stages of this war, the rebuilding of Gaza or, at least, organizing the process together with other, like-minded states.
It means creating a coalition of nations that reject terror.
Israel will not shun its obligation.
It is not, even in the aftermath of all that was done to the state, to the people, to the Israeli spirit, the Israeli way.
Israel has a global conscious, it always has.
Even when their most formidable enemies do not.
Micah Halpern is a political and foreign affairs commentator. He founded "The Micah Report" and hosts "Thinking Out Loud with Micah Halpern," a weekly TV program, and "My Chopp," a daily radio spot. Follow him on Twitter @MicahHalpern. Read Micah Halpern's Reports — More Here.
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