It’s easy to note the parallels between Hamas’ attack on Israel and the 1973 Yom Kippur war. This war, too, can lead to a similar outcome.
Now, as then, Israel seems to have been taken almost wholly by surprise by an enemy whose capabilities it appears to have badly underestimated. Now, as then, Israelis have sustained losses – at least 250 dead, over 1000 wounded and dozens of hostages taken in just the first few hours of fighting, according to– that go far beyond anything they have suffered in recent years.
There are parallels on the Arab side, too. Like Egypt’s and Syria’s in 1973, Hamas’ aims in this war almost surely have strategic purposes that go beyond killing, maiming andHamas is attacking Israeli civilians in a way that is clearly calculated to provoke a devastating Israeli response, one that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises is coming.
Hamas’ control of Gaza has hopelessly divided Palestinian politics. It has provided a modicum of stability in Gaza itself by way of despotic intolerance for domestic dissent. It has served as an advertisement to Israelis as to why they can’t afford to relinquish the West Bank to Palestinian control, lest it become another Gaza. And it has done all this at an acceptable price in Israeli lives.
Israel has a clear interest not just in punishing Hamas but also in ending its rule for good. But how can it do so without either allowing it to descend into anarchy or reoccupying the territory, which Israel doesn’t want?Despite its anti-Israel public rhetoric, Saudi Arabia has long distrusted Hamas because of its close military ties to Iran. Egypt sees Hamas as the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, which it ruthlessly suppresses at home.
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