Addendum: Mondoweiss thinks upon the unequal nature of the latest Israeli attack on Gaza. All of the 49 (including 17 children) dead were Palestinian, Israelis suffered, at worst, a few scratches from shrapnel. 460 Palestinians were wounded. Being an “Open Air Prison” meant that the people of Gaza had nowhere to go where they could take shelter or to get out of the way of falling bombs. It’s of some interest that American and Israeli media both shied away from an explicit description of the attack or of the results.
Below are specific reasons for this particular attack. Are they important or is the motivation more general?
As Efraim Inbar and Eitan Shamir first approvingly put it in a 2014 article for the Jerusalem Post, Israeli strategists see the wars as “mowing the grass” in a lengthy struggle of attrition in which a political solution is unlikely.
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The military wing of the Islamic Jihad organization is called the al-Quds Brigades. On August 5th, Israel announced that it was taking preemptive action against “threatening movements” near the Israeli border. Two leaders from Islamic Jihad were killed, whereupon the organization launched a series of rockets against Israel. With the Iron Dome anti-missile system, very few rockets got through and injuries were minimal.
KinderUSA reports that they had to cancel two projects until they could safely restore them. The Palestinian Music Festival for the children will be rescheduled.
The motivation for Israel to attack Gaza at this time? Mondoweiss is convinced that the attack has everything to do with the upcoming Israeli elections.
And he then added, “Israel is going the extra mile to provoke factions in #Gaza. Something reeks here.”
That “something” is the widespread view that Prime Minister Yair Lapid is instigating the conflict to improve his chances in the upcoming November Israeli elections.
It’s an interesting argument from silence that the US media doesn’t want to mention the upcoming Israeli election where the former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is competing with the current Prime Minister to regain the top spot. Sure enough, Haaretz says that Lapid’s attack on Gaza has boosted his poll numbers. Very interestingly, despite Gaza’s inability to effectively respond militarily, only 57% of Israelis believe that Lapid “won” the latest conflict with Gaza.
So life will go on for Palestinians. What does that mean? Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live under a system where Israeli permission is needed for any kind of travel outside their borders. How do Israelis receive “bribes,” a means of favors that Palestinians can trade for the ability to travel? Information on neighbors. Another valuable item that Palestinians can surrender is their West Bank address in return for one in Gaza. The Israeli “permit regime” makes attendance at weddings and funerals, at best, an extremely frustrating experience.
So, did Israel “win” this latest conflict? Palestinians certainly think so.
The world press largely followed the Israeli narrative, giving credit to Israeli lies that it was Palestinian fire that killed its child-victims. Israel succeeded in calculating and limiting the actions it initiated, as Hamas was both bribed and bullied into staying on the sidelines and Egypt quickly moved in to suggest a ceasefire once Israel felt satisfied.
The conflict in May of 2021 brought Palestinians together. The West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem all felt they were on the same side and Israel was on the other. Now however, Palestinians feel split up and separated.
