On October 7, 2023, Israel was massively bombarded with rockets from the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian terrorists from Hamas entered the country’s territory where they barbarically slaughtered more than a thousand of Israeli civilians in the bordering Jewish villages and towns. The Israeli armed forces (IDF) promptly responded to the intrusion of Hamas militants and launched a counter-terrorist operation. A real war began.
As of October 23, according to Hamas “Ministry of health” the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 5 087, amid increased Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas attacks. Women and children account for more than 62 percent of the dead, and more than 15 273 people were injured [we can neither confirm nor deny this figure – ed.].
A month has passed since the beginning of this war, and we decided to talk to political scientists and politicians about this topic. In particular, they found out what preceded the war, what the attitude was in the international community, and whose side Ukraine was on.
What is Hamas, and why did they attack?
Let’s start by noting that the history of the Palestinian conflict stretches back to the time of the emergence of Israel as such. The choice fell on the territory of Palestine (the Land of Israel, in the Jewish discourse), which is their historical homeland and on the territory of which, before our era, there was already a Jewish state ruled by King David. In 1919-1923, around 40 thousand Jews, inspired by Zionist views, returned to their historical homeland, created a new state and on May 14, 1948 achieved independence.
Of course, much later arrivals, the Arabs, who lived for a long time on the territory of modern Israel, did not like it not only from a territorial point of view, but also from a religious point of view. Opposite to the Jews, the Arabs that did not accept the UN 1947 partition plan in Palestine and attacked the newly born Jewish state. Because of this, various wars constantly broke out in the Middle East, which led to very tense relations between Israel and its Muslim Arab neighbor countries.
Against the background of dissatisfaction with the existing situation, such a party arose, and later the terrorist organization Hamas. This organization does not recognize the right to the existence of such a state as Israel and seeks to liberate not only the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River, “occupied” by Israel in 1967, but also exterminate all Jews on the territory between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea, including the sovereign Israeli state.
Hamas – militant Palestinian nationalist and Islamist movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that is dedicated to the establishment of an independent Islamic state in historical Palestine. Founded in 1987, Hamas opposed the secular approach of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rejected attempts to cede any part of Palestine, and embraced the use of violence, including acts of terrorism, as a means to achieve its goals.
We asked the international journalist and Middle East expert Anatoliy Maksymov to explain where the hostility of Hamas towards Israel came from.
“Hamas and Hezbollah pursue simple things – the destruction of Israel as a country and the Jews as a people. This is written in the charters of both organizations. This is the most radical expression of opposition to the policy pursued by Israel in the occupied territories. Hamas also says that the Israelis keep going up and desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third most important in Islam).”
Radical Islam is, of course, present in their vision of the world. It is he who pushes Hamas to such powerful attacks and terrorist attacks. All their propaganda is aimed at getting more civilians to become martyrs for the cause of Israel’s destruction, especially the youth (of whom there are most in Gaza and who have no prospects there except to flee, live under Hamas, or die, one way or another).
Hezbollah – is a Shiite Muslim political party and militant group based in Lebanon, where its extensive security apparatus, political organization, and social services network have fostered its reputation as “a state within a state.” Founded in the chaos of the fifteen-year Lebanese Civil War, the Iran-backed group is driven by its opposition to Israel and its resistance to Western influence in the Middle East.
With its history of carrying out global terrorist attacks, parts of Hezbollah – and in some cases the entire organization – have been designated as a terrorist group by the United States and many other countries.
He explained what is meant by “territories occupied by Israel”. It started almost 100 years ago, but precisely because Israel was allowed to create its own state in 1948, but the Arabs of Palestine (who never had their own) were not. The latter refer to it as the Nakba – the Catastrophe of Exile. However, “occupation” acquired modern features closer to our times.
“According to international law, Israel really occupied certain territories. This applies, first of all, to the West Bank of the Jordan River (a large area in the east of the country, close to the border with Jordan), East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights (which is already near Syria). This happened after Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War. At the same time, Israel seized control over the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula near Egypt, but eventually withdrew from these territories (from Gaza in 2005, two years later, Hamas seized power and force)”, – explained Maksymov.
So, the West Bank and part of the capital Jerusalem remained part of Israel. The first – as an occupied region, where Israel builds its settlements on Palestinian land and implements policies similar to apartheid [this thesis is disputed by the Israeli side – ed.], the second – was annexed in the 1980s (that is why Israel annually holds the provocation Day of (All) Jerusalem).
*According to UN Resolution No. 181 (1947), the city of Jerusalem was declared a corps separatum (Latin for “separate entity”), which enjoys a special international regime. It was not implemented because it was rejected by the Arab community.
The Hamas movement began as a political movement, which first engaged in cultural education and charity, and only then began to build up its strength until it seized power in the Gaza Strip. Maksimov explained what helped to gain such influence:
“Strangely enough, it is a mixture of terror, charity (because Hamas started as a purely pan-Arab charity organization) and the absence of at least some kind of competition. Initially, Hamas and Fatah (this is the party of the deceased Yasser Arafat, who signed the Oslo Accords) fought for power in the Sector. And Hamas had no decisive influence. But he gradually acquired it, becoming famous after suicide bombings. And eventually, this terrorist movement went into politics and won the elections to the PNA (Palestinian National Authority) parliament in 2006.”
Then seized power, essentially carrying out a military coup a year later. After driving Fatah and others to the West Bank. Since then, there has been a reign of terror, not much different (especially recently) from the “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria. Of course, many in the Gaza Strip hate Hamas. But to say it out loud is to be executed.
Despite the conflicts, there have been attempts to reach some kind of agreement between Palestinian leaders and Israel, but all of them have proved futile. The most famous is the agreement between the PLO (The Palestine Liberation Organization) and Israel in Oslo in 1993, which was never implemented. We asked an international journalist why it was not possible to reach an understanding between both sides of the conflict.
“Because no one was going to implement Oslo. Yitzhak Rabin, who signed them, was assassinated in 1995. And there soon began the era of Benjamin Netanyahu, who is criticized (and rightly so) for using endless “rounds” against Hamas in order to maintain power.
But the reason is deeper, actually. Both nations claim the land of Israel and Palestine for themselves. All, completely. And here either Israel will be thrown into the sea or the Palestinians will be finally expelled. The idea of “two countries for two peoples” is finally, it seems, buried.”
He believes that only if Israel withdraws from the occupied territories and all terror from both sides ceases, it can be considered again. But this will not happen in the near future, because the settler movement is too powerful socially and politically, and it is simply not profitable for Israel. And the Palestinians, represented by Hamas and the very weak PNA (that is, still Hamas) will not go for anything less than the destruction of Israel. It is currently a dead end.
Why did the war start exactly on October 7?
Italian journalist and military correspondent, who is working on a book about the Palestinian city of Jenin and the intifada, Francesca Borri told “Suspilnе” why this happened. In her opinion, this is an attempt to disrupt the process of normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“The real target of Hamas is not Tel Aviv, but Riyadh and the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Why? From the outside, this attack may look like a continuation of the third intifada. But I don’t think so, because the third intifada failed. Jenin after the invasion on 3 July went under “Islamic Jihad” – that was my last story from Jenin. So basically, Hamas was seen in Jenin for about two weeks. Hamas wanted to seize power in the West Bank,” – she said.
This thought seemed interesting to us. We asked Anatoliy Maksymov if Hamas really attacked Israel because of its reluctance to allow the normalization of its relations with Saudi Arabia. He answered:
“This is one of the reasons, because then Palestine could forget about the principle of “two countries for two peoples”, on which the Arab leaders stand. Now you can forget about normalization for a long time. But there are others: the activities of the far-right Israeli government in the construction and expansion of settlements in the West Bank and in Jerusalem. Settler aggression against local Palestinians. And since most of the Israel Defense Forces were concentrated in the north, Hamas saw an opportunity to attack the almost undefended south (also known as the “Gaza envelope” and Otef Azah). Plus, that day was Shabbat and a religious holiday. So most of the country planned to rest and celebrate.”
Director of the Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Program at the BESA Center in Bar-Ilan University Zeev Khanin also agreed that rapprochement with Saudi Arabia was one of the reasons for the war.
“Well, there were such hopes, but as we see, they have not come true at the moment. Hamas is a proxy of Iran, along with Hezbollah, the Assad regime in Syria, along with the Houthis in Yemen and others. It is clear that for them the formalization of this very Saudi-Israeli alliance under the auspices of the United States is a sharp knife. For them, this is an extremely undesirable development process, so they threw Hamas into an attack on Israel. It is clear that Hamas commits suicide, but on the other hand, they are still holding on to their second proxies,” – he said.
He added that their main ally and main instrument are the Houthis, but even more so in the eastern Mediterranean is Hezbollah of Lebanon, which is holding the entire state of Lebanon hostage. While there is such a slow-moving war on the Northern Front.
“It has not turned into a full-scale conflict, a full-scale war yet. The Lebanese government is afraid that if this happens to Lebanon, then the state will only be interested in archaeologists. It sure sounds sad, but we didn’t start it, did we? For now, they are keeping them in case the focus of attention is directed at Tehran itself, and one can not dismiss that as part of this process there might be an attempt to solve the problem of Iran’s nuclear program. In this case, they need Hezbollah in order to make Israel busy.”
Who helped Hamas attack Israel
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addressed his audience via video link as he paid tribute to Hezbollah fighters killed in southern Lebanon in recent weeks during clashes with the Israeli army. He called the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 “a great, blessed operation.”
A day after the attack of Hamas on Israel, the Lebanese military-political organization “Hezbollah” fired at Israeli positions on the border with the disputed Golan Heights. The militants fired a large number of rockets and grenades and hit Israeli positions in the disputed area, Hezbollah said, adding that their attack was a show of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
The Iranian government also openly supports the actions of Hamas. Tehran issued public warnings and sent a message to Israel through UN channels, in which it informed that it may intervene in the conflict if Israel continues the campaign to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Zeev Khanin continued his opinion and said that Iran’s participation in this military conflict was unavoidable.
“Hamas has gone on the attack so far, and apparently not all the promises they received are fulfilled by Iran. For example, they were confident in Gaza that the Arab world would join right away. It didn’t work out. That’s why they have two messages from Gaza, one message – “Arab world, stand by us.” But you know this even for the people of the East, who gave everything away, here are these paintings from border settlements and Israeli settlements with cutting off heads in the style of the ISIS, cutting out unborn children from the bellies of pregnant women, and killing everyone in a row, that’s simple, and burning people in their houses … too much even for them. And the message to the Iranian bloc is we are fighters, we are the movement of Islamic resistance, we will fight to the end. Our task is not to live, but to die and kill the enemy.”
He gave a specific example:
“The other day, we showed a 47-minute film here, in which footage of Hamas itself was used on the one hand, and on the other hand by the surveillance cameras that were there. People can’t stand it, they can’t watch it. The Knesset (Israeli) Parliament Members, often cynical politicians, who saw everything there, including veterans of combat units, fainted there, this is impossible. This is not possible for the human brain to understand in a basic way. Those who are able to automatically support them are a certain part of the Western leftist Progressist circles, who have always been sure who is a good guy and who is a bad guy. Palestinians are good guys, Israelis are bad. And now, now, what to do with this dissonance in their heads? So, along with Holocaust denial, we got terrorism denial. That is, the denial of the Holocaust, and now also the denial of terrorism.
Well, from now on, everything goes along the same line as it has always been, and there are no surprises in this regard. The only thing is that, before the start of this war, the opinion in the Israeli establishment prevailed that it is still possible to deal with Hamas, that is, it does not matter what they say there, but the important thing is that they are not only a terrorist organization, they are also the government in Gaza, which must take care of 2 million people. In practice, even those who did not want to see it, notice it, they understand that for them the population is a consumable. They are needed as a source of replenishment of their combat units and a human shield.”
However, we should not forget about another player whose participation in this war is actively discussed by politicians. It is about Russia. For example, the Head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that Russia handed over trophy weapons from Ukraine to the Hamas group, mostly infantry weapons.
“It is a fact that the combat wing of Hamas is to a large extent, in addition to secondary weapons, armed with Russian brand weapons that were developed in Russia. For example, Gaza has a factory for the production of ammunition under a Russian license, but as for weapons, there are sniper rifles, Kalashnikov assault rifles, anti-tank systems, and so on, they could come either directly from Russia or from third countries or through third countries. We can’t prove it, we won’t disprove it. In the same way, we can neither prove nor disprove that the weapons received were, for example, trophy weapons that were captured by Russian troops on the Ukrainian front. As for Ukraine’s direct supply of weapons to Hamas, this is pure propaganda, nonsense that no one takes seriously,” – explained Zeev Khanin.
On October 7, 2023 the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, stated that the Hamas attack on Israel has the effect of diverting the attention of the world community from the war in Ukraine.
“Of course, this helps Russia and Russian aggression against Ukraine, it distracts the world’s attention,” – Duda emphasized.
We ask Zeev Khanin what potential benefits, along with the “distraction from Ukraine,” Russia could get from an Israeli war. He highlighted three points.
“The first moment, they say that the Russians provoked, stimulated or trained the attack of Hamas. On the first day, October 7, I assumed a level of planning of Hamas’s activities that the military wing of this group does not have, so it was assumed that Iran was involved in this. But there are also talks about that, about a certain Northern country. In practice, we are not sure that there was either direct instruction or direct interference by Russia in the attack by Hamas on the territory of Israel. But it says that actually the Russians organized it, we have no confirmation of this kind. This is most likely not the case.”
He explained that Russia received undoubted political, geopolitical, diplomatic and informational dividends. At first glance, she got it, but in the end it turned out to be much less than they could have expected. The first is that the attack by Hamas and the beginning of this war between Israel and the enclave of radical Islamic fundamentalists led by the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip initially seemed to stop or even torpedo the process of normalization of Israel’s relations with Saudi Arabia. It was assumed that in Moscow, it was probably met with satisfaction that the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which would have ended the century-old Arab-Israeli conflict, that would have been a worthy conclusion of the Abrahamic Agreement, was suspended.
Then those countries that are not yet included, Arab countries, would join the normalization process, and this would mean in the geopolitical context the completion of the formation of this tripartite union: Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia and its allies. The so-called Middle Eastern NATO. And this would be a very serious challenge to the Iranian bloc and its allies Russia and China, which is also now appearing in our region. Therefore, from Moscow’s point of view, this was a rather successful move that brought them certain dividends. We see today that if there were such hopes, they are not very justified, because the process of normalization of relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem has been postponed, but the military-political bloc is being formed anyway.
“This is not because the Saudis became Zionists and not because they loved the Jews and Israelis there, but because it is in their interests. They understand that the Arab-Israeli conflict is half a percent of the problems of the Middle East, and the main challenge is Iran and its allies, and they cannot close the perimeter of Middle Eastern security without Israel. Antony Blinken, his activity here in the Middle East, is no less than his activity in Washington. Visits by officials from Riyadh, statements from the UAE, such as “Israel is not a colonial project, don’t invent it”, “Judaism and Christianity originated here in the Middle East, so Israelis are at home and don’t need to invent anything.” We have not heard such a pro-Israel statement from the Arab side since the time of Emir Abdullah, that is, since 1920, since the end of World War I. So, in this sense, I think, Moscow did not receive the big dividends it expected,” – Zeev Khanin explained.
The second point is the hope that the new hot spot in the Middle East will shift the focus of the world’s attention from the Russian war against Ukraine to the Middle Eastern war – the war between Israel and Hamas, which can turn into a regional conflict, and then a world war, and so on.
“But the world war is still going on, just not in the form we are used to. And therefore the Americans will have to choose where to direct military and humanitarian resources. At the first glance it may be at the expense of Ukraine, but it seems to me that this hope is also not very justified, judging by the events in Washington. It seems that Biden is ready to sell Congress and sell aid not only to Israel, but also much more significant financial aid to Ukraine. Although the Republicans object there, they are not against the aid to Ukraine, but they demand the creation of a mechanism that will control these supplies, financial and other tranches to Ukraine, to be sure that this aid is targeted. But in this case, I believe that Russian hopes in this regard are also not justified.”
The third is that they assume it is a diplomatic win.
“You probably paid attention to Putin’s statement, to Lavrov’s statement that all they see here in the Middle East is the failure of American diplomacy. That the Americans monopolized the Middle East political process, the peace process, that all their ideas collapsed, but if they had listened to Russia, everything would have been fine there. But all this was met in Israel with some surprise, because Russia did not offer any creative ideas during the entire period of its sponsorship in this Middle Eastern quartet of mediators, except for the same obsessive mantras about two states for two peoples, which had already exhausted itself totally, as we see. So, in this sense, I don’t see any special benefits received by Moscow”, – concluded Khanin.
The split among politicians: why the reaction of Europe and the USA is not clear-cut
Firstly, the beginning of the war was perceived ambiguously by Western society. Both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel rallies began almost immediately. For example, 15,000 people gathered in the Republic Square in the capital of France in support of the Palestinian people, the action was sanctioned by the Paris Police Prefecture. Their slogan was, “Macron gives Israel a license to kill.”
Zeev Khanin explained why the Palestinians received such ideological support:
“There are two sources of these pro-Palestinian and anti-Semitic actions. The primary source is the channels of influence of radical organizations, radical Islamist regimes – that is, through local emigrant communities. And not only recent immigrants, but also those who are already there for the 2nd and 3rd generation. All that is there is a return to the roots of Islam in the form of the ideology of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic state. In this sense, it was enough to simply press a button.
Second, of course, no one has canceled classical anti-Semitism either. In the countries of the Western world, it is not openly, as it was before, centuries ago. Now it is a latent form. From time to time it breaks through to the surface in the form of anti-Semitism. And when there is a reason, this classic anti-Semitism goes from a latent state to an active one. They say, “The IDF is shooting at anyone, without sorting out those involved and those not involved,” and so on. Firstly, this is not true, and secondly, Hamas is engaged in war crimes.”
He added that they keep the civilian population as human shields, they have placed their headquarters under hospitals, ammunition depots in mosques, and militant barracks and firing points in schools, which, by the way, are financed by the UN. They need the population, they don’t let it go, despite all the appeals of Israel, they try to detain as many people as possible so that they don’t go to the south of the Sector, because they need mountains of corpses, they have to present it, it’s a tool for them. As one of the leaders of Hamas put it: “These stupid Zionists thought that we were interested in the population”, let Israel think about the population, as the occupying party, as they believe. Although Israel left there 18 years ago, in 2005, until the last centimeter, it continued to supply electricity, water, humanitarian goods, and treat the sick. They say that let the UN and the international community deal with everything else, and our task is to destroy the Zionist establishment, as they call Israel.
“This is something that, in the eyes of the classic anti-Israel, anti-Zionist discourse of the ultra-left or progressive circles, as well as the ultra-right in a certain sense, she simply snatched it from their hands. These people who see all these pictures are a challenge to their worldview. They were monopolists in the field of human rights, humanism, and so on, and suddenly it turns out that their protégés are arranging this. I understand that their brains are boiling, and they try to explain it anyway. But all the same, Israel is to blame for these very crimes of the Zionists. Otherwise, these people will have to admit that they have betrayed these values all their lives, which are part of their worldview.”
German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze, said on October 8, 2023 that Germany has suspended financial aid programs for Palestine and will probably cancel them altogether due to the Hamas attack on Israel. And the very next day, the European Commission announced a similar decision.
However, later, based on the results of the Cooperation Council of the EU and the countries of the Persian Gulf, EU High Representative Josep Borrell stated that the European Union will continue to provide financial support to Palestine, in particular, to provide humanitarian aid and ensure the implementation of development programs.
“I want to deny certain false information, for example, that Germany intends to cancel support for the Palestinian Authority. The German minister clearly stated that this is not true at all, that Germany will continue to provide such assistance, of course, following further developments. One part of our joint declaration is the importance of humanitarian and development aid. It has already been clarified that there will be no suspension of payments in the financing of Palestine from the European Commission,” – Borrell said.
We became interested in asking Zeev Khanin whether it would really be legitimate to end financial aid to Palestine, if the EU really dared to do so. We also asked to clarify the situation with humanitarian aid provided by other countries.
“I do not know to what extent this is a violation of international law, because this assistance was voluntary, they were not obliged to provide it. They believed that they deliver in order to, firstly, satisfy humanitarian needs. Secondly, they believed that this assistance would help to structure some kind of stability and would gradually involve this population in some kind of negotiation process and lead them to normalization in the end. They believed that there would be no friendship between Israel and, let’s say, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, but it would help to maintain a regime of peaceful coexistence indefinitely. Well, how was it between the Soviet bloc and the Western bloc during the Cold War. This is an extremely wrong approach and Western governments have understood it,” – he said.
He explained that the de facto team of Mahmoud Abbas (Head of the Palestinian National Administration – ed.), which formally recognizes, so to speak, a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is interested not so much in the creation of its own state as in the destruction of a foreign one. Therefore, the story is very simple. Even the substantial part of current supplies to the Gaza Strip end up in the hands of Hamas. Not to mention supplies to the Gaza Strip. Talk about the fact that, let’s say, now humanitarian aid will be delivered and it will not fall into the hands of Hamas, but this is one big stupid joke. Those who even slightly understand what is happening there and how this system is built, that nothing happens there without Hamas, perfectly understand that it falls into their hands.
“The day before yesterday [October 31, 2023 – ed.] information was published, a conversation between the director of a clinic, one of the clinics in Gaza, with a representative of the headquarters of the military wing of Hamas, who came to get fuel at this clinic. This clinic claims that they do not have fuel and therefore do not generate electricity and the like. They receive ego as part of humanitarian aid. And immediately all this is poured into the tanks of mechanisms and machines that are used by Hamas for military purposes,” – he added.
In addition to the reaction of society, the reaction among politicians to this war was also very ambivalent. For comparison, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that he does not consider the Palestinian group Hamas a terrorist organization and emphasized that it is a “liberation group of mujahideen that is fighting for the protection of its lands and citizens.” Already on November 4, 2023 he said that he was severing all contacts with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who fully supports Israel and its right to self-defense. She also harshly criticized Iran for its desire to sow “violence and chaos” in the Middle East.
We asked Zeev Khanin why there was such a split in views among politicians on this issue. He explained that what concerns Europe is clear there – politicians take public opinion into account. Loud presence of a very strong pro-Arab lobby there, including the lobby that supports the most extremist organizations. No one has canceled the latent anti-Semitism of individual European politicians, whether they are led by them or not. As for the Russian-Ukrainian war, everything is understandable with them, it all fits into their peace system. Who is a good guy, who is a bad guy. Russia has always been the bad guy. All those who oppose Russia are good guys. Everything is complicated in the Middle East. For ten years, Israel was perceived as a colonial project by many of them, which is actually not true. That is, it is not true in the genetic, political, and historical sense of the word.
“As for Mr. Erdoğan, his so-called neo-Ottoman ambitions lead him from time to time into another system of cognitive dissonance. On the one hand, Israel is still one of Turkey’s largest economic partners. On the other hand, Mr. Erdoğan recalls that in general his regime, his party, is the local Turkish version of the Muslim brothers. And he starts uttering all sorts of words there in the hope that supporting this symbolically important topic for the Arab-Muslim world will bring him additional points, additional authority there. More than 10 years ago, this led to the fact that he threw into the trash everything that was built between Israel and Turkey during the time of Kemal Atatürk and David Ben-Gurion. Before the beginning of the 2000s, Israel and Turkey were the closest allies in the region.
In Erdoğan’s concept, Turkey’s dominance will be restored in the countries that used to be part of the Ottoman Empire. For this he had to wave the Palestinian flag there and quarrel with Israel. This concept failed. Then Mr. Erdogan decided that he was the leader of the Turkic world. And for this he needed to make peace with Israel. Here, so to speak, an hour ago, relations seemed to be normalized. Partly. But in Israel they doubted that he was serious. And indeed, now Mr. Erdogan believes that he is the leader of the crescent against the cross and the Magen of David. That is, he positions himself as the leader of the Eastern world, so to speak, of the Islamic world against this Jewish-Christian civilization,” – the professor emphasized.
On October 28, 2023 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustainable humanitarian ceasefire” between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. The resolution also calls for “continuous, adequate and unimpeded” provision of vital goods and services to civilians trapped in the enclave.
“The UN should not be taken seriously. The only functioning body there is the Security Council, responsible adults sit there, so to speak, and consider the situation in the world on a global scale. It is clear that there are different interests. Russia and China submit an anti-Israeli resolution, which is torpedoed by Western countries. The USA and its allies submit a pro-Israel resolution, and it is torpedoed by Russia and China. But there is a completely different game. The UN General Assembly is an organization that is obsessed with Israel. There they will vote for anything, including the fact that the sun rises in the west, if it will cause at least some harm to Israel. Therefore, it is impossible to treat it seriously. And in fact, the demand now for a humanitarian pause in de-escalation, the cessation of hostilities is cooperation with the aggressor,” – Zeev Khanin.
The subject of the entry of third countries into this war was actively discussed in the media, both on the part of pro-Palestinian forces and pro-Israeli forces. For example, the official representative of the Israeli government, Ariel Bulshtein, said that the US military may take part in the war between Israel and Hamas if the situation escalates. In his opinion, the deployment of its military by the United States in the Middle East is an obvious signal for the Iranian regime
“Joe Biden and US representatives have made it clear that they will not sit idly by in such a scenario. The words of the US president say that if Iran openly engages in a military confrontation on the side of Hamas, the US will not stand aside from this battle between good and evil,” – noted Ariel Bulstein.
We asked Anatoly Maksymov whether the intervention of third countries, such as Iran, Turkey or the USA, could change the course of the war and how. He answered:
“Iran is now launching its proxy forces against Israel and the US one by one. First it was Hamas, then militants from Iraq and Syria (by the way, cooperation between Hamas and ISIS is not excluded), then the Houthis from Yemen. Hezbollah remains in Lebanon, but everything is difficult here. If there weren’t two US navies standing next to Lebanon, I think they would have tried. But in the current situation, any escalation on this front will be met with a double blow from Israel and the States.
Therefore, “Hezbollah” calculates everything very carefully and limits itself to a gradual increase in attacks with the help of missiles and drones, without (yet) crossing the border. And, in fact, I don’t think they will dare to do that anytime soon. Because such a war will undermine their popularity (this is not the Second Lebanese War in 2006, when they were heroes). Lebanon is in a much worse situation security-wise and economically. This is not to say that attacks by Palestinian factions and Hezbollah do not cost them dearly. “Hezbollah has lost 60 fighters on the southern border since October 7, but the number is clearly higher.”
He explained that if the US intervention does take place, the main focus will not be on Lebanon, because Israel is capable of delivering pinpoint strikes there. No, the focus will be on Iran itself, and they will bomb it. The Americans have already promised to strike if anyone else on earth tries to join the conflict.
“For Turkey and President Erdogan, this is more of a trick for the upcoming local elections in such big cities as Istanbul, Ankara, Trabzon, Bursa. We need to mobilize our nuclear electorate of Islamists. But in reality, Turkey is not happy to see Hamas leaders in its country anymore. Because speaking from high stands is one thing, but real actions are quite another,” – concluded Maksymov.
Ukraine supported Israel: what can be learned
Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, emphasized the broad support that Israel has received in Ukraine since the beginning of the war against Hamas and praised the government and Ukrainians for their unequivocal condemnation of Hamas.
“We are working with various members of the Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, to promote a declaration that recognizes Hamas as a terrorist organization. Given the fact that more than 20 Ukrainian citizens have died and two are being held hostage, there is a strong possibility that Ukraine will decide to formally recognize Hamas and, perhaps, Hezbollah as terrorist organizations,” – Brodsky said.
It is also worth noting that Ukraine is one of the few countries in Europe where there have been no large demonstrations in support of the Palestinians or Hamas. She also abstained from voting for the UN resolution on the temporary truce in Israel, which we have already discussed above.
We contacted Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Eugene W Korniychuk, and asked why exactly we expressed such unconditional support for Israel.
“From the first days of the massive terrorist attack, Ukraine took an unequivocal position in support of the right of the people of Israel to self-defense and the protection of their independence. Apparently, this is what my colleague Brodsky meant. When voting at the UN, we abstained against the anti-Israel resolution. We spoke with our ambassador to the UN, Kislytsia, before this vote. The decision was taken by the top political leadership, I believe it is balanced. Unfortunately, even if we had voted against this resolution, and not abstained, it would still have passed by the number of votes. Unexpectedly, the resolution was supported by Israel’s natural partners, such as France and Spain.
This is more than a resolution. This decision is about Israel’s right to use force to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Therefore, it seems to me that most of the countries of the civilized world should either support Israel, oppose this resolution, or at least abstain. But this is a sign for the Israeli top leadership, if you saw the boycott and protests expressed by the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli ambassador to the UN against the actions of the General Assembly, etc. I think that it is still worth thinking about what exactly is being done wrong, because, of course, Israel is currently defending its independence,” – he said.
He said that it can be debated for a long time whether the Israeli side is fully following the rules of war. But added:
“I am not an expert in this field, but certainly any independent country has the right to use force to defend its territorial integrity. This is what makes us close countries, because we do the same thing.”
On October 11, 2023 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was one of the first to call on world leaders to go to Israel as a sign of support.
“We are in a state of war, so we understand what terrorist attacks mean, such victims, tragedies (as now in Israel – ed.). I have a recommendation, so to speak, to world leaders. I remember the first days of our full-scale war. It started with terrorist attacks with Belarusian missiles, then the Russian army, and it was the biggest tragedy that we had. So many dead people and deaths, so many. And so it was very important not to be alone. Very important.” – he said.
However, according to the latest information as of November 7, Zelenskyy’s trip to Israel is at risk due to the leak of information about his visit.
(photo credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO)
However, despite Ukraine’s unquestionable support for Israel, the Ukrainian media began to raise questions about whether the war in Israel would affect the amount of aid from international partners to Ukraine. But despite the fears, the White House presented a request for about $106 billion in additional national security funding, which includes money for Israel and Ukraine, as well as investments in the Indo-Pacific region, humanitarian aid and border security measures.
Biden himself said the following:
“We cannot and will not allow terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin to win. I refuse to allow it. In such moments we must remember who we are. We are the United States of America. And there is nothing we cannot do if we do it together.”
Zeev Khanin also said that he does not see the current situation as an obstacle to the continuation of financial support to Ukraine.
“I think we can unequivocally say “no”. The USA understands very well that these are two different fronts of one and the same war. So I don’t think that this will in any way affect the supply of weapons to Ukraine. I don’t know how true this is, but there are rumors that all this will happen as part of this ambitious, large program of rearmament of the American army. And what is now in service will be delivered to Ukraine, the Baltic countries, and the countries of the eastern flank of NATO. Will it happen there after some time, or is it happening immediately? Well, of course, I am not competent to answer this question,” – he explained.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense reported that on October 19, 2023 Israel received the first batch of armored vehicles from the United States. According to The Times of Israel, this batch of armored vehicles is part of a larger purchase of ₪400 million (€70.3 million) aimed at strengthening the equipment of the Israel Defense Forces.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Normandy and several destroyers to be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean. Steps have also been taken to strengthen the US Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter squadrons in the region.
We asked Eugene W Korniychuk what is the reason for such rapid military assistance from the US to Israel and why it differs from cooperation with Ukraine.
“The obligations of the USA towards Israel differ from the obligations that the USA has towards Ukraine. Of course, we can talk about obligations under the Budapest Memorandum, for example, which the USA and other countries provided. As a lawyer, I read this assistance for myself as the fulfillment by the USA, Britain and other countries of their obligations under the Budapest Memorandum. But Israel, unlike Ukraine, had clear agreements with the United States, which were developed over decades, which concern both the provision of weapons and the provision of aviation, support for ammunition, warehouses that belong to the United States with military equipment and weapons, they are located on the territory Israel, and financial aid.
That is, it is the subject of separate, legal, clear and binding agreements, which have been worked out for decades by various US administrations and Israeli governments. Unfortunately, we did not have such obligations. They were not written out clearly enough and are now interpreted in different ways. Therefore, this explains why we do not receive systematic and unambiguous US aid in the form that Israel receives today,” – he explained.
In his opinion, in this sense, we should take as an example the agreements that existed and, I think, even deepen them, because this is also not enough. Israel is not a NATO country, and the decision was made by consensus of the Israeli establishment, based on the fact that Israel knowingly did not want to send its soldiers to hot spots where NATO troops sent theirs. He did not participate in many conflicts in which NATO participated, in particular Iran or Afghanistan, where there were so-called joint forces. But Israel has, accordingly, other security guarantees that are quite powerful.
“I think that after this massive terrorist attack, this danger that remains with Israel now, Israel will think in the future how to further strengthen their security guarantees that are written, that are legally binding on both sides with the United States. This does not mean that it will apply to join NATO, or demand that American troops protect it on its territory. The exchange of military technology, the joint production of many modern weapons systems, additional financial assistance, these are all things that currently exist and can be expanded. It is all written on paper, and it is quite clear and unambiguous, so it is not subject to any misinterpretation. This is what we must do ourselves, immediately.
Well, and among other things, it is worth mentioning that the biggest guarantee of Israel’s security is the powerful pro-Israel, Jewish lobby in the USA. Both in Congress, and in the White House, in the Senate. It exists, both among Republicans and among Democrats, which constantly works in favor of Israel. In my opinion, we lack this, but I know that our top political leadership is also working on it. In particular, in order to create and operate on a completely different level, to demand better human importance, from the US as the country that provides us with the most important assistance. On the other hand, if you look at conditional financial indicators, it seems that even the countries of the European Union give a little more help than the USA”, – concluded the ambassador of Ukraine.
Zeev Khanin only added the following:
“The F-16 and F-35 are in service with Israel as part of the strategic partnership. Israel is the first in the list of US allies outside NATO. The military strategic partnership of this level has lasted for more than 40 years. Israel is one of the largest suppliers of military developments for the USA – our famous air defense systems, iron domes, Arrow Heads and so on were developed by Israel, but to a large extent are produced in the USA. The USA is now mostly supplying what is needed quickly – this is ammunition. It doesn’t matter what kind of right-wing or left-wing government is in Israel, and it doesn’t matter what republican or democratic administration is in the USA. Well, we can add to this, of course, that Israel for America is not just another ally, it is part of their system of values and Protestant ideology. The restoration of the Jewish presence in the Holy Land is part of the American identity”.
“The last time such a number of Jews were killed during the day was only during the Holocaust in Auschwitz”
As of November 6, 2023 it is known that the Israel Defense Forces have surrounded Gaza. It was also possible to eliminate the commander of one of the Hamas regiments. IDF representatives reported that Israel managed to reach the coast of Gaza. Military personnel struck about 50 Hamas facilities, including outposts, military positions, and underground infrastructure. The IDF added that they would not stop firing.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed that it was possible to divide Gaza into two parts and take control of the Hamas military camp. Observation points, training grounds and underground tunnels of terrorists were located in it.
As of October 23, the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 5,087, amid increased Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas attacks. Women and children account for more than 62 percent of the dead, and more than 15,273 people were injured
“In this very massacre, which they (Hamas) organized in border settlements, the last time such a number of Jews were killed during the day was only during the Holocaust in Auschwitz. And if you divide it by time, it is even more than the German fascists managed to kill in an hour. Even in Babi Yar, this was not the case, in such volumes during such a short time,” – commented Zeev Khanin.
During military operations in the Gaza Strip on October 10, the UN declared that the blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called what is happening an “explosive situation in a powder keg” and called on influential states to “defuse” the situation. “We know what this can lead to – the deaths of Israelis and Palestinians and the untold suffering inflicted on both communities,” he said in a statement. He called on all parties to abide by international humanitarian law and stop attacks targeting civilians and objects.
To this Zeev Khanin responded quite critically and said:
“International law, the Geneva Conventions and so on – there are clearly defined rules for waging war and who is to blame and who is not to blame. What are war crimes? Using the civilian population as a human shield is a war crime. Using civilian objects for military purposes is a war crime.
Therefore, the party that is at war with the subject who uses such tactics, if they cause damage to the civilian population, then they are not to blame, but those who use the civilian population are to blame. So, from the point of view of international law, Hamas is an organization that is responsible for war crimes. And not a single specialist, even an extremely negative attitude towards Israel, can present Israel with anything, everything else is propaganda.”
Back on October 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to use the “full power” of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to destroy the capabilities of Hamas. In his opinion, this will help prevent similar tragedies in the future.
We asked Zeev Khanin what options he sees for ending the war now and whether it is possible to destroy Hamas as an idea.
“We have a long discussion on this issue, a lot is being written. This means that there is no answer. What is clear is that Hamas should no longer be there. That is, if earlier the concept was such that it is possible to somehow coexist with them. It is now clear that we are not talking about anything less than the dismantling of this regime and the liquidation, in the full sense of the word, of the military and political leadership. And we don’t know what will happen the next day. We will figure it out the next day.
Hamas as an idea is alive, yes. You may be surprised, but there are more resources for its preservation and reproduction today in Western countries than in the Middle East. Because if we are talking about moderate pro-Western Arab regimes, then for them a similar ideology, Islamist radicalism, has ceased to be a lightning rod and has become a factor that poses a colossal threat to the stability of their regime. Therefore, they say aloud: “Yes. De-escalation. Israel commits war crimes there. Yes, stop immediately.” And under the table they say to the Israelis: “Don’t even think about it. Go to the end,” – he answered.
His answer was supplemented by Anatoliy Maksymov:
“This is quite difficult to do, because Hamas has infiltrated almost every house in Gaza (80% of them are mined and/or have tunnels under them). Unfortunately, Hamas is the most popular movement among Palestinians in the absence of a strong alternative. The PNA (Palestinian Authority) is very weak and has almost no influence on life in the Sector, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007. As an organization, they can in theory be destroyed by killing most of the commanders. However, it must be understood: more than 2 million people live in Gaza, more than half of them are children and teenagers who grew up on Hamas propaganda. It will be very difficult to change their outlook and deradicalize them”.
Due to the fear of terrorist infiltrations and flows of refugees, no Arab country has yet spoken out in favor of taking Palestinians in. Even Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
“Hamas is primarily an idea. The idea of armed resistance to Israel and the destruction of its statehood. So she lives both on the West Bank of the Jordan River (again, due to the total toothlessness of the PNA) and in neighboring states. If the Palestinians are expelled, the idea will live on in refugee camps, as happened with the Islamic State. Now it is resuming its activities. Not to mention that this would be a severe violation of international law (although Israel is not used to it). Many Arab countries publicly condemn Israel, but privately wish it victory. However, they don’t want to deal with the consequences later, but they will,” – commented Anatoliy.
Therefore, the topic of the war between Israel and Hamas is still relevant in the world media space due to open terrorism and the threat of escalation. Our material has collected the main thoughts and events at the moment, but as in any other war, everything can change in a short time. We examined the international reaction to these tragic events, which divided society and politicians guided by their beliefs into two groups. They found out that there are some third countries that even really like this war – Russia, Iran, Lebanon, etc. And besides, it turned out that Ukraine showed the greatest solidarity and sympathy for the events in Israel, in some way due to the similarity of our situations.
Tetiana Stelmakh
