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How Gaza won their war so well
ANT KATZ
In dealing with violent anti-Semitism, Israel is severely challenged!
Eighteen months ago, the Israeli Government and the country’s huge NGO-sector (like JAFA and the WZO) came to a number of realisations which had massive implications for the country – and, more importantly – for all world Jewry.
I am personally aware of at least two initiatives that followed as I have attended two high-level conferences over the past seven months and been briefed on these.
Both involved Israel going through a massive change-of-life.
Israel had always seen the Diaspora as a pond to fish in for olim and chequebooks. They admit that. This is not to say that they were not proactive when required, like at Entebbe and Ethiopia, but in essence, for too long, Israel saw the Gola as being responsible for it.
RIGHT: Ant Katz
To be sure, that is how Israel was built. And when things are not broken, we don’t even think of the need to fix them. Changing circumstances and opportunities pass us by. It is human.
Then, the epiphany – Israel realised that it had become the big brother and that it was “sh” who had to take responsibility for the Jews in the Diaspora, and not the other way around.
Israel realised 18n months ago that all it was bigger, better, smarter, and more safe and stable than all the rest of world Jewry put together. It was time for Israel to become the parent and the Gola to become the child in this relationship.
One of their epiphanies, was that European Jewry was under renewed threat of violent anti-Semitism – and that France was at the centre of it all. Israelis don’t sit on their butts – so they formed task teams and jumped into action. Things really started to happen. They even went as far as taking out their old dusty file on an evacuation plan for French Jewry, blew off the dust and updated it.
They hastily convened emergency meetings on combating violent anti-Semitism and held three such conferences in a year – the first, of course (but incorrectly as it turned out) in the US, the second in France and the third, which probably would have been held in France, in Belgium in December. This was a well-placed move to show solidarity with the embattled Belgians, and, as I can attest, it was warmly welcomed.
But it hasn’t helped at all
So where have the world’s smartest people gone wrong? Why have things gone so far south, so quickly? Could they have done things differently? Could they not have at least in some small way turned things around over this period?
In reality, Israel was seemingly sucker-punched by Hamas in July. They found themselves being goaded into an operation which became a war, and it surely cannot be called anything else in hindsight, that they had no option but to fight. Their enemies knew what the outcome would be as they continued to goad the Israelis on by firing ever-more rockets from the rooftops of hospitals and inside UN schools.
Israel was forced to act against a blood-thirsty enemy. But the blood that Hamas and their handlers were thirsty for was not Israeli blood. It was the blood of their own. They knew full-well the impact that this would have on the lives and property of their own people. They knew the hardship it would bring in the short-term to their citizenry.
But this is an enemy that has always been prepared to play the long game; that is prepared to suffer if it suits the cause.
As every drop of Gazan blood was spilled, each building flattened, each picture going out of hungry and frightened children, the leaders, their handlers and the Muslim world in general rubbed their hands together in glee.
The war Gazans wanted to lose, big!
They had no desire to stop this happening – because they knew how it was being perceived in the so-called civilised world. And so they goaded even more, broke promises of ceasefires, allowed, nay, encouraged more of their own blood to spill and property to be destroyed.
Blood can be replaced by new births. Others would rebuild for them. They did not want to win the war physically. They couldn’t. So they chose to lose, and lose very, very big. They won exactly what they wanted to.
And they were ready, willing and able to capitalise on the post-apocalyptic situation. How and why? Because they had planned for that long before they starting goading, the war that they seemed to lose but actually won was simply a strategic part of a bigger plan.
A plan that involved their forcing Israeli’s hand, and then capitalising on their own people’s misery. Their strategic objective, which required them to continue to not cry uncle so they could lose so very, very badly – worked a treat for them. Because that was their strategy all along.
Even as the fighting continued they were mobilising around the world. Sympathy started to turn their way, but enough for them to stop losing. They hadn’t caused enough harm to themselves yet. Their strategic need required even more of their blood to be spilled, even more of their property to be destroyed, and the balance of death and destruction on their side of the fence to still be so much more “disproportionate”. And so they continued to goad. To force Israel’s hand.
Israel knew that their brethren in the Diaspora would pay a price. But what conceivable option did they have?
Where Israel failed…
Israel’s failure, and their failure to their brethren outside, was being ill-prepared for the post-apocalyptic environment. Like George Bush-the-second, he took Iraq and then seemed to wonder what to do with it. His father stopped short of Baghdad.
LEFT – how I see Jews and anti-Semites as they face off against each other now
He knew he couldn’t run the country any more than Israel could halt the hate-fest it had unwittingly and unwillingly caused in the Diaspora.
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I believe that:
- Israelis don’t seem to have a deep understanding of modern anti-Semitism because they don’t experience it;
- They seem to think of the US as the representatives of the Diaspora, but it is just not true;
- Every host nation is different, but the US is so much more different, in so many ways, that they maybe know less about world Jewry in general than Israel does;
- Jews are operating like a disparate group of small snails, all in their own little groups and sub-groups, while anti-Semites are as one giant octopus, with a single head and long and strong tentacles
- Something has to be done, and soon, and collectively. There is much, much more to come in this writing…
WZO Conference reads on SAJR.CO.ZA
14 Jan: ISRAELIS TRIED TO ENLIST FACEBOOK’S MARK ZUCKERBERG
ANT KATZ Israel was on the mark but got off to a slow start. Can they beat this disease?
05 Jan: 75% OF VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS GO UNREPORTED –WZO
EITAN BEHAR “Enough of anti-Semitic Violence! Increase legislation to combat anti-Semitism!”
31 Dec: ANTI-SEMITISM REARED ITS HEAD OPENLY IN 2014
ANT KATZ publishes details of hundreds of violent anti-Semitic attacks worldwide in 2014
23 Dec: BATTLEGROUND BELGIUM – HOTBED OF ANTI-SEMITISM
ANT KATZ details how over a million Euro-Jews are sitting on their shpielkes, and why
17 Dec: GERMAN JEWRY IS “SITTING ON THEIR SUITCASES”
GABRIEL GOLDBERG of German Fed – on how it feels like to be a Jew in Europe in 2014
17 Dec: DANGEROUS BUT WONDERFUL THING TO BE JEWISH
BARON KLENER, Survivor& head of Belgian Jewry, tells how tough it is on European Jews
10 Dec: EUROPEAN ANTI-SEMITISM HEADING BACK TO 30’S
Introduction to series on December conference of WZO attended & written by ANT KATZ
steve marks
Jan 15, 2015 at 10:56 am
‘Great piece, makes good sense to me’
Choni
Jan 15, 2015 at 4:43 pm
‘To in any way imply that Israel is the cause of world wide anti-Semetism is an insult to the ultimate sacrifice 22000 soldiers and 2000 men woman and children murdered by terrorists, made for our country.
\nDiaspora Jews have brought anti-Semtism on themselves long before the rebirth of Israel in 1948, and will continue to do so until they come to their senses, and leave their foreign homes.
\nBlaming Israel is a chillul Hashem. Exile is a curse and a punishment, and is the only cause of anti-Semitism.
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Hi Choni, Firstly, I made no such implication. Israel’s hand was forced, of that there is no question. It had to do what it had to do. I am certain that I made that quite clear. What I did say, was that a consequence of what Israel had to do had led to an increase in violent anti-Semitism. They are aware of that. Diaspora Jewry is aware of that. We don’t feel Israel had a choice and Israel, too, understand that there have been ramifications around the globe about what they had to do.
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The high-ranking and intellectual WZO team dealing with countering anti-Semitism has, for the most part, done a great job. They certainly don’t “blame” Israel as being the cause of what has happened. They do, however, accept the reality that we are seeing the consequences of Israel having done what she had to do.
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I refer you to the ANTI-SEMITISM STATS 2014 story, and specifically to the ADL list at the bottom of that story, where it is clear how the July events (for which, I stress again, I have heard no Jewish person anywhere suggesting Israel had any other choice than to act as they did) significantly increased the violent anti-Semitic acts worldwide. That is undeniable. But, again, it was a consequence and not a cause.
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I have clearly stated my belief that Hamas forced Israel’s hand and that Hamas was are the guilty party in all this.
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Melanie Phillips’ incredible lecture: “Diaspora Jewry, paying the price for Gaza” is also clear on this point. “The intractable problem of Gaza has been exacerbated by the meddling incomprehension of a western world that just doesn’t grasp how ISLAMIST FANATICS play by entirely different rules.\” That was said before Protective Edge played out, but expressed the same notion. Israel has to act as she does. Hamas forces her to, and then plays the world for fools. Hamas and their masters and cronies are the “cause” that stoke the flames of violent anti-Semitic acts worldwide.
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ANT KATZ online.editor@sajr.co.za
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Stanley Friedman
Jan 16, 2015 at 6:23 am
‘Hi Ant, You are right ↪ ????%!
‘
Choni
Jan 16, 2015 at 7:40 am
‘Ant, So what exactly is the purpose of your column?
Maybe the answer will be more clear in the second half.’
Denis Solomons
Jan 16, 2015 at 8:35 am
‘A miss-leading title; Gaza never won the war !
‘
nat cheiman
Jan 16, 2015 at 12:56 pm
‘The world is in turmoil because of radical Islam. Not so with Israel. There are many incidents in Europe and USA that go unreported because they are onto these savages.
Not so in Israel. The jews deal with these issues and sometimes the rest of the world doesn’t like it. Europe will learn quickly that it should not throw stones if they live in glass houses. I do not believe Israel is worse off because of Gaza. Gazans are worse off.On top of it all, Europe will learn from the Israeli’s how to deal with barbarism. There always was anti Semitism and always will be. All that the Gaza war has done is to create an excuse for anti semites . All the non jews that I have as friends and associates, know what the global problem is and the species of human being that commits these atrocities. These despicable people are not liked at all. Remember, that Christians understand that they are not free to practice their religions in Muslim countries. They are free in Israel. The Gaza war was good for Israel and the next Gaza war will be too.
Thugs must be taught a lesson and a lesson they WILL LEARN .’
Ant Katz
Jan 18, 2015 at 4:15 am
‘Hi Dennis, thanks for your comment. What I am proffering is that Hamas achieved the strategic aims it set out to achieve. In Spades!
I’m suggesting that this was never a military campaign by Hamas, but rather that the military component was a small part of their bigger strategy, the propaganda war it set out to achieve – and this it certainly won… that they wanted to lose the war and that they wanted do do so badly.
By thus doing, and (as it can, surely, only have anticipated), this was achieved at the expense of a considerable loss of blood and property to its own citizens to boot. For this, these leaders should face the ICC on murder charges, knowingly and unnecessarily having put in place a strategy that killed their own people’
My reasoning will become apparent in my op-ed #2.
Ant Katz’
ANT KATZ
Jan 18, 2015 at 5:04 am
‘Hi Nat, thanks, too, for your very valid point. Israel is in a very different position
\nto the diaspora and I hope that nothing I have written here indicates
\notherwise. And Israel was forced to take the steps she did (in chess one calls
\nit the ‘tempo’, where the gains the tempo by limiting the other party’s reaction to a small window of options to deal with an imminent threat).
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\nWhen you say: “I do not believe Israel is worse off because of
\nGaza. Gazans are worse off”, I couldn’t agree with you more.
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\nMy op-ed doesn’t touch on or dispute the post-war well-being of Israelis and Gazans, not at all. Of course it is radicalised, meshugenas Islamists who are at fault. There is no dissention between us on that point.
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\nBut Israel is left with huge debt and Gaza lies in blooded ruins.
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\nUnder the global microscope, the Gazan leadership, and, I cannot repeat this enough, has come out looking rosy (as in: “Shame, the poor Gazens”; and “Israel offends
\nhuman rights, it kills civilian women and children”). Both Hamas and Israel have
\naccrued huge debts from this operation. Gaza will be be rebuilt for them by others – Hamas knows that, Hamas was playing to a world stage here.
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\nI, suggest this to have been the strategy of the thugs who head Hamas and their masters, at the expense of their own people – and the blame has to be placed squarely on their shoulders.
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\nIsrael, however, is better off in some respects, and worse I others. They suffered a considerable cost of having to acquire and replace domestic and foreign weaponry,
\nwhich it will be paying off for many years to come. And, while their injury and death-toll was moderately low, the incredible number of traumatised Israelis will require years and years of treatment. Some will even carry their emotional burden for life.
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\nThat said, the various components of the IDF, police, MDA and other state organisations has not had a ‘live drill’ of this magnitude since the 1971 Yom Kippur War. They have been restructuring their tactics and forces for some years. Whereas they were previously primarily configured to face conventional armies, they have been
\nchanging their focus to deal with militants who are not under the wing of a state per se.
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\nThis recent war must have been a great learning curve for the IDF, to test their latest weapons-systems and personnel on the one hand, while having a chance to evaluate their enemies’ at the same time.
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\nYou say: “The Gaza war was good for Israel and the next Gaza war will be too. Thugs must be taught a lesson and a lesson they WILL LEARN”.
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\nOf course, on the battlefield, you are quite correct. Israel came out on top. But I hasten to make a seminal final point: This op-ed is not about the Israel/Hamas engagement. It is, sadly, about the collateral huge increase of anti-Semitism in the diaspora.
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\nI use the word ‘collateral’ as (while I wouldn’t put it past them), I am postulating that
\nHamas’ strategy all along was to damage Israel’s global image and enhance the
\nparable of how Israel “kills Palestinian women and children” in a willy-nilly, uncaring manner.
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\nThis, I am sure you will agree, worked very well for them outside Israel (never mind their women and children had to die to make the point). This is borne out by the fact
\nthat the PA has achieved much world sympathy anti-Israel protests have become more frequent and larger; and that acts of violent anti-Semitism have increased considerably.
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\nAnt Katz
‘
Choni
Jan 18, 2015 at 7:25 am
‘Wrong …
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\nSorry, Choni, completely omitted because you are boring us all with the same old, same old. Please stop spamming as we have neither the time and patience for it, and our users regularly complain about it. If you do not have an interest in anyone else having the right to an opinion, please do not read them – or at least do not comment on them unless you have something to contribute beyond your three stock answers. If you really disagree with someone, tell them why – instead simply insulting their opinion.
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\nANT KATZ, online.editor.co.za
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nat cheiman
Jan 18, 2015 at 11:31 am
‘Hi Ant, of course you are correct in asserting that there was collateral damage to jews and Israel. Perhaps in my enthusiasm, I overlooked the fact that generally, in the diaspora, many people hate or dislike jews. It may also be that people dislike muslims and arabs but jews are easier to dislike because we don’t bomb or have jihads etc. So YES!!! everytime Israel retaliates, Europe and especially the Scandinavian countries become vocal about DISPROPORTIONATE use of force. Never mind that Jews die and are savagely killed. Off the record, I truly wish I could attend a decent military college so that I can full understand the use of disproportionate force during warfare. And also learn how other countries would react if someone fired rockets at their cities. However, I deviate. Whether or not there is a settlement in Gaza and whether or not ABBAS recognizes Israels right to exist, The world will always dislike the Jews. We are a people that will forever have to watch our backs. Unfortunate but true.
Win or lose, Israel has a huge propaganda mountain to climb.
I think, by the way, the Israeli’s need to employ media friendly/clever types whenever there is a crisis because guys like Peter Lerner and the Ozzie guy, in my opinion just don’t cut it. ‘