World focus on Gaza, but another conflict may soon explode
It is not by chance that the highest-ranking Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps official killed by Israel so far in this conflict was operating out of Damascus.
It is not by chance that the highest-ranking Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps official killed by Israel so far in this conflict was operating out of Damascus.
Israel’s war in Gaza has been under way for three months and is at a hinge point. Speaking to Inquirer, IDF soldiers describe a constantly shifting and confusing battlescape.
The crucial factor is now time. The IDF still needs one or two months to complete the encircling of Hamas’s forces in southern Gaza.
Competing priorities for Israel on saving its hostages, destroying Hamas and maintaining Western support must be weighed as the IDF advances into Gaza City.
As the world’s attention remains fixed on the narrow and dusty strip strip to Israel’s southwest, a far larger and potentially more consequential mobilisation is taking place.
As we begin a long conflict, the confused picture is assuming a clearer shape. Israel, both state and society, is facing one of its greatest challenges.
Israel treated Hamas as though it had abandoned its core outlook, was deterred, and was therefore ready, de facto, to more or less live and let live. Neglect and then disaster duly followed.
In contrast to the situation 20 years ago, this terror wave is not an organised insurgency. It appears rather to be the work of self-directed and self-motivated individuals.
The speed and ferocity of the invasion has caught both Ukrainians and outside observers by surprise.
While Israeli Jews are gathered under a single political authority, the Arab population is divided into four distinct groups with no unity of purpose.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/jonathan-spyer/page/2