Israel must walk a fine line between destroying Hamas and starting a much wider war

Analysis: While strong rhetoric is helpful for Israel’s PM to secure his own political base, he also provides cover to his (and the West’s) enemies who may be looking for an excuse to jump into the fight.

Israel has left no doubt that it sees its fight against Hamas as a war not just for its own survival, but also for civilisation.

“Israel’s fight is your fight,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, before making a reference to the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes.

“There is a time for peace and a time for war – a war for our common future.”

On one level, Netanyahu is absolutely correct.

Hamas must be eliminated and Israel’s security re-established.

Friends and families of those taken hostage by Hamas gather to call for their return on October 31, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

But Netanyahu has another problem.

He must do this without the fight turning into a regional conflagration that could draw in Iran, the US, and other powers into a much wider and much more catastrophic conflict.

While the rhetoric is helpful in securing his own political base, he also provides cover to Israel’s (and the West’s) enemies who may be looking for an excuse to jump into the fight.

A person carrying a gun, with his arm around a woman walks past a spray painted sign that reads "Destroy Hamas" on October 30, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Picture: Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Such talk helps to distract from the backdrop of his own security forces’ failure to prevent the atrocities of October 7, but it also gives an excuse to the mullahs in Tehran and Turkish dictator Mehmet Erdogan to rev up their own domestic bases.

US President Joe Biden has a few things to consider as war rages on the Gaza strip. Picture: AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wearing a scarf with the Palestinian and Turkish flags. Picture: AFP

Likewise, Netanyahu is correct responsibility for civilian casualties lies entirely with the bloodthirsty Islamists who control Gaza and are happy to martyr their own for the cameras.

The US has been, so far, happy for Israel to take care of business as it sees fit.

But Joe Biden as well is compromised on two levels.

One, his administration, and that of Barack Obama, have until very recently worked to legitimatize Hamas’s sponsors in Iran. It’s also worth noting that Iran is stepping up its own attacks on US troops stationed in Syria and Iraq.

And two, much like Labor in Australia, America’s Democrats are facing a revolt from Arab-American voters angered at the party’s traditional (if waning) support for Israel.

The challenge for the West – Israel and the US – is to resecure the peace without creating a much wider war.