WarSclerotic

Is Mohammed Deif alive or dead? This question kept the citizens of Israel and the residents of Gaza busy yesterday. Each side was waiting for a different sign: in Gaza, that he was alive, and in Israel that he was dead. Even if Hamas’ continued existence doesn’t depend on the fate of the terrorist with nine lives, who (until yesterday?) had already survived four attempts on his life, every military operational and intelligence success like this has a real influence in our Middle East.

Some have vilified the tactic of targeted assassinations. But maybe we should remember that the assassination of senior Hamas official Salah Shahadeh (2002) and in particular the assassinations of Abed al-Aziz a-Rantisi and Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin a few weeks apart in 2004 made a significant contribution to preventing the suicide bombings Hamas carried out in Israeli cities during the Second Intifada. Targeted assassinations also carry an element of retribution, and most of all make it clear to the head of the serpent that he is the number one target. True, civilians pay the price. In this case, too, Hamas should realize that it is responsible for their deaths.

Hamas suffered a serious blow in Operation Protective Edge, whether or not it was a draw and even if they are still shooting at us 45 days after it started. The shooting doesn’t speak to a victory, but rather to defeat on the military as well as the diplomatic stage. This battle demands patience. It is not the enemy’s strength that makes it complicated, but the asymmetry of the fight, both in terms of the two sides’ forces and their values, how they view civilian lives.

Join the West

While headlines here were devoted to Hamas’ renewed rocket fire on Israel and the resumption of fighting in Gaza, the Western world was busy with the horrific execution of American journalist James Foley, who disappeared in Syria two years ago. In the footage, a young jihadist with a British accent makes threats to U.S. President Barack Obama and avenges the American bombings against ISIS (the Islamic State) by slitting Foley’s throat on camera.

This is shocking. Sickening. Frightening. Every European, American, Australian citizen — any citizen of the West — should have finally realized yesterday that we are in the middle of a battle between jihadist terrorism and the West. The war on Israel is just part of a bigger one. The West, which criticizes us, needs to understand that we are the same front. The knife that cut off Foley’s head wants to cut off the head of the West, not just Israel. The West still doesn’t get it. But even if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a general criticism of the resumed fighting in Gaza yesterday, rather than placing the blame on Hamas, which had violated a cease-fire for the 11th time, there is no need to be afraid of involving the international community in the crisis so long as we take the initiative rather than being dragged along.

In 2005, we were feeling comfortable and we wanted 70 international inspectors placed at the Rafah border crossing. The U.N. Security Council helped Israel reach a decision that limited Hezbollah in southern Lebanon (1701). Today, Israel wants international money to rebuild the Strip and to aid the Palestinian Authority in general. Agreements are reached through international mediation, just as Gaza will be demilitarized thanks to international intervention. There is no need to be frightened of the scarecrow known as the “international community,” but we need to know how to conduct ourselves when dealing with it, because it wants to decrease the room we have to maneuver and damage Israel’s legitimacy to defend itself.

Lately we’ve been hearing more and more from analysts and politicians about the international conference that, together with Saudi Arabia, will get us out of the Gaza mess. Saudi Arabia? Who said it would be willing to participate? The Saudis have made their cooperation conditional upon Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 borders. Is anyone willing to give the Saudis this boon for a promise of nothing? We should also remember that in the time of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israel was willing to sit down and discuss the Saudi plan. Does anyone recall the Saudi “enthusiasm”? But everyone is an expert and everyone has solutions. The military, and also — mainly — the diplomatic reality is a little more complicated.

So one piece of advice for the advisers: Before we visit Saudi Arabia, we have to win in Gaza.