Does Israel Aim to Defeat Hamas or Grow It?

Israel has publicly announced that its goal in its war on Gaza was to defeat Hamas and kill the terrorists behind the October 7 incursion. But judging from experts in the field of counterinsurgency opining over the war, the question rises: Does Israel aim to defeat Hamas or grow it? Or provide the impetus for the rise of an alternative to Hamas that may pause a higher level of threats against Israel.

In an article for CNN, Professor Robert A. Pape, whose tenure at the University of Chicago’s Project on Security and Threats, writes that the history of conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbors does not bode well for Israel. It does no lead to its publicly stated goal.

Meanwhile, killing Arabs is worth its cost.

LET US RECAP THAT HISTORY

Pape goes into details of such history by stating that when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to kill PLO operatives, the incursion helped create Hezbollah, a far more dangerous terror threat.

Between 1990 and 2005, Israel maintained its chokehold on both Gaza and the West Bank, which increased the terror acts against its presence. Eventually, Israel had to abandon Gaza.

Then in 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon to eradicate Hezbollah. Instead, it made the organization even stronger, and Israel left Lebanon without accomplishing its goals. Hezbollah, to this day, still rides on the tails of that victory to recruit more fighters willing to die for the cause.

Pape is asking whether history is repeating itself with the incursion and destruction of Gaza, citing a phenomenon security experts call “counterinsurgency mathematics”, which fuels more terror than an invasion could abet it.

So, we are asking an essential question: Does Israel aim to defeat Hamas, or grow a stronger terrorist organization? Ridiculous, you say? Well, hear us out.

How else can Israel get more aid, more sympathy, and more flexibility to execute its larger goal of increasing its footprint through forced migration of Arabs? If all is quiet on the battle fronts, the bells of peace would sound to the detriment of the extremists in Israel. They believe Israel has no modern borders because Jews roamed past the Jordan River some 2,000 years ago.

Meanwhile, killing Arabs is worth its cost. Not only it is an act of revenge, but it will help Israel in the future, as terror rises, to demand more, and to get more from the international communities.

Does Israel Aim to Defeat Hamas or Grow It?