Israel

Palestinians gathering near an airstrike crater in Rafah, Gaza, February 2024. Mohammed Salem / Reuters

In February, Israeli military intelligence reportedly informed the country’s leaders that Hamas will survive as a terrorist group after the war. Despite this assessment, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to declare that there will be “total victory” over Hamas, and that it will take “months, not years” to achieve.

In part, this is because October 7 changed Israel, inflicting trauma and hardening Israelis’ belief that they cannot live with Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip. Israel’s air and ground campaign into Gaza seemed designed to root Hamas out—a daunting task given its extensive labyrinth of tunnels and its cynical use of the entire population of the strip as its shield.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israeli soldiers standing near the border with Gaza, March 2024. Ammar Awad / Reuters.

Since Hamas’s October 7 attack, Israel has found itself embroiled in a multi-front war for the first time in nearly 60 years. It is fighting in Gaza, countering armed groups in the West Bank, and facing missile strikes from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Israel seems less safe than most Israelis assumed it to be on October 6—and its leadership must now reshape the country’s national security policies accordingly.

For the moment, Israel’s priorities are to secure the release of the remaining hostages, eliminate Hamas’s military capabilities, and ensure the safe return of hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens to their communities in both the north and south of the country.…  Seguir leyendo »

How Oct. 7 is forcing Jews to reckon with Israel

Since the 2023 Hamas-Israel war broke out, almost no subject has garnered more global attention than Israel. For many Jews, both outside and inside Israel, the Gaza conflict feels pivotal. Since Oct. 7, Jews everywhere, whether sympathetic to Israel or critical or some combination, have found they have no choice but to deal with Israel’s impact and significance on their lives and feelings — whether they want to or not. This experience calls for a new account of what Israel means for being a Jew today.

To avoid oversimplifying would take a whole book — and in fact this essay is drawn from a book about being a Jew today that I’ve been writing for the past three years and thinking about most of my adult life.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tel Aviv, Israel, February 2024. Dylan Martinez / Reuters

After more than four months of war in Gaza, two starkly different but equally accurate portraits of Israel have emerged. On the one hand, the war has showcased the tactical prowess of the Israel Defense Forces, inspired a high degree of unity among its troops, and promoted a sense of solidarity among Israeli citizens, who remain collectively traumatized by the barbarous October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas. On the other hand, the war has revealed the staggering strategic incompetence of the Israeli government and an astonishing leadership vacuum at the top. Members of the ruling coalition have dragged their feet on critical decisions, failed to cooperate with each other in navigating the war, attacked the IDF’s senior ranks, and appeared embarrassingly indifferent and unfocused when it comes to managing relations with Israel’s most important ally, the United States.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israel’s Rafah offensive: a tipping point for US support?

President Joe Biden’s patience with Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip is wearing thin.Only days after describing the conduct of Israel’s response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks on October 7 as “over the top”, the US president made a specific and immediate demand on Monday.

The military operation planned for Rafah, a city along the border with Egypt where 1.5mn people — more than half of Gaza’s population — have sought sanctuary after being forced from their homes, “should not proceed”, Biden said, without a “credible plan” to ensure the people there are not in harm’s way. They are “exposed and vulnerable”, the president added.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israel’s Fragile Democratic Future

In normal times, thousands of people would have poured into the streets to celebrate the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a central piece of the Netanyahu government’s plan to cripple democracy. The so called reform had triggered immense, constant protests for months.

Alas, since the horrific Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza, celebration would have felt grotesque. But the all-consuming conflict should not be allowed to obscure the fact that the struggle for democracy in Israel continues.

In a single decision handed down on Jan. 1, the court ruled on two issues. The first concerned an overarching principle: The court affirmed that it could overrule even constitutional measures if they violated core democratic principles.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israel’s Self-Destruction

One bright day in April 1956, Moshe Dayan, the one-eyed chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), drove south to Nahal Oz, a recently established kibbutz near the border of the Gaza Strip. Dayan came to attend the funeral of 21-year-old Roi Rotberg, who had been murdered the previous morning by Palestinians while he was patrolling the fields on horseback. The killers dragged Rotberg’s body to the other side of the border, where it was found mutilated, its eyes poked out. The result was nationwide shock and agony.

If Dayan had been speaking in modern-day Israel, he would have used his eulogy largely to blast the horrible cruelty of Rotberg’s killers.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ori Wagenstein, the author's daughter, with her mother, Shiri Weissner, in Tel Aviv in November. (Oded Wagenstein)

Few sounds are more haunting than the wail of a siren signaling an impending missile attack. Every passing motorcycle becomes a jolt to the heart. More chilling still is the explosion that follows.

I awoke to a siren at 6:29 a.m. on Oct. 7 in my home in central Israel, marking the beginning of Hamas’s murderous attack. I scooped up my 2-year-old daughter, Ori, from bed, and we sought refuge in a bomb shelter, her eyes betraying a profound fear.

Israel’s promise has been that we would be protected, that it is the safest place for our children. Life here has always been challenging, with soaring living costs, societal divides and periodic wars.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Man Who Could Unseat Netanyahu

Just over 100 days ago, Benny Gantz was the leader of a small Israeli opposition party. Now, in a shared office inside a nondescript building within the Defense Ministry compound in Tel Aviv, Mr. Gantz is helping lead Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza as a member of the war cabinet formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr. Gantz spends his days poring over operational plans, not just of the ongoing campaign in Gaza but also of contingencies for a war that may erupt with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite organization, on Israel’s northern border.

But the most complex challenge facing Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

A protester lifts a placard during a rally demanding the release of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October, outside the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on January 15, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

In the aftermath of 7 October, the common mantra in Israeli politics is that things can neither go back to how they were the previous day, nor should they. To a large extent this is correct, not only in terms of relations between Israelis and Palestinians, but also regarding the domestic scene in both societies.

However, the underlying predicaments remain the same, except that now they are more severe and need to be resolved more urgently. They must also be addressed in a far more challenging context, following the horrendous Hamas terrorist attack that has shredded Israel’s security strategy towards that Islamist movement, and in the midst of the gravest political, constitutional, and domestic crisis in Israel’s history.…  Seguir leyendo »

«Accuser l'État juif de génocide, c'est franchir un seuil moral», a déclaré mercredi à l'Assemblée nationale le nouveau ministre des Affaires étrangères, Stéphane Séjourné. Il a raison. C'est précisément ce seuil moral qui a été franchi par l'Afrique du Sud, soutenue par des pays tels que le Venezuela, la Turquie, l'Afghanistan et l'Algérie, en accusant Israël de génocide devant la Cour internationale de justice. Ironie de l'histoire, c'est cette même Afrique du Sud qui avait refusé en 2015 de remettre l'ancien président soudanais Omar al-Bashir, inculpé pour génocide et crimes contre l'humanité, à la Cour pénale internationale. C'est également cette Afrique du Sud qui soutient régulièrement des autocrates tels que Nicolas Maduro ou Vladimir Poutine et qui a accueilli à plusieurs reprises des leaders du Hamas à Pretoria, le dernier échange dont le public a été informé ayant eu lieu le 17 octobre entre la cheffe de la diplomatie, Naledi Pandor, et le leader du Hamas, Ismaël Haniyeh.…  Seguir leyendo »

Lors du procès des Einsatzgruppen, qui se déroula de septembre 1947 à avril 1948, le général SS Otto Ohlendorf relativisa les crimes qu’il avait commis dans le sud de l’Ukraine, soit l’extermination de 90.000 Juifs, dont de nombreux enfants, en les mettant en perspective avec les milliers d’enfants allemands tués lors du bombardement de Dresde. S’insurgeant contre une telle comparaison morale, l’un des juges américains répondit qu’un bombardement relevait d’une tactique militaire dont le corollaire inévitable était la mort de civils qui n’avaient pas été individualisés.

Il était clair que le meurtre intentionnel de civils pour ce qu’ils étaient (des Juifs) ne pouvait se comparer aux pertes involontaires de vies civiles lors d’une action de combat.…  Seguir leyendo »

Sudáfrica ha planteado una demanda contra Israel ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia por incitar presuntamente al genocidio en Gaza y, a sabiendas de que no habrá sentencia sobre el particular al menos en dos años, ha pedido que con carácter previo, en unos días, el tribunal ordene a Tel Aviv que detenga los operaciones militares en ese enclave -en respuesta al ataque terrorista de Hamás del pasado 7 de octubre-, que se han cobrado más de 23.000 vidas.

Para el Estado judío, proclamado en 1948 tras los horrores del Holocausto, es doloroso e inquietante verse acusado de cometer tal crimen.…  Seguir leyendo »

El aplazamiento de la democracia israelí

Esta semana la Corte Suprema de Israel se pronunció sobre dos importantes proyectos de ley, impulsados como parte de una reforma judicial por el gobierno de extrema derecha del primer ministro Benjamín Netanyahu. La decisión de rechazar el primero y demorar la activación del segundo hasta después de las próximas elecciones presidenciales implicó una victoria histórica para las fuerzas democráticas del país.

El primero de los proyectos de ley hubiera eliminado el poder de la Corte Suprema para bloquear decisiones gubernamentales «extremadamente irrazonables». El segundo proyecto de ley —a medida de Netanyahu, que actualmente enfrenta cargos judiciales por corrupción— procuraba impedir que el fiscal general lo inhabilitara para ocupar el cargo si intentaba interferir con el proceso penal, y estipulaba que solo se podía declarar incapacitado al primer ministro por razones de salud.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ultra Orthodox Jews opposed to Zionism protest on the National Mall in Washington on Nov. 14. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

In December, amid catastrophic bloodshed in Gaza, the House of Representatives resolved that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism”. The vote was 311 to 14, with 92 members voting present, reflecting a consensus among American political elites that opposition to Zionism is equivalent to the conspiratorial hatred of Jews. If the resolution itself had no immediate practical consequences, the consensus behind it did. The lopsided vote reflected the U.S. government’s absolute diplomatic, military and ideological support of Israel as that state, under the leadership of the most right-wing government in its history, was pursuing a campaign in response to the terrorist attack of Oct.…  Seguir leyendo »

J ’avais perdu la page de la Bible où le prophète Samuel avertissait les anciens d’Israël des dangers du pouvoir politique. Ma Bible était restée longtemps ouverte à cet endroit, alors, d’un geste hasardeux, j’ai passé ma main sur les feuilles, espérant trouver une pliure dans le livre. Quelques secondes suffirent pour retrouver la page : « Apprends-leur comment gouvernera le roi qui régnera sur eux. » (Ier livre de Samuel 8, 9.) Samuel dit au peuple : « Il prendra vos fils pour les affecter à ses chars et à sa cavalerie et ils courront devant son char. » (8, 11.)…  Seguir leyendo »

Tropas israelíes, entre los escombros durante una intervención en Gaza. IDF Reuters

Han pasado casi tres meses desde el 7 de octubre y, en algunos aspectos, la realidad israelí no ha cambiado demasiado. El país vive en estado de guerra, pero la contestación en las calles al primer ministro no ha cesado. Quien se presentó frente a los israelíes como Mister Security (el señor de la seguridad), ahora es visto como el primer ministro que no pudo evitar el mayor ataque terrorista de la historia de Israel.

De nada sirvieron las advertencias que le hicieron los servicios de seguridad. Ni la información que le transmitió la Inteligencia egipcia una semana antes del atentado.…  Seguir leyendo »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking to a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, December 2023. Ronen Zvulun / Reuters.

In the months before Hamas’s heinous October 7 attacks, Israeli society was more polarized than ever before. Efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government to ram through antidemocratic reforms had provoked the largest and most sustained protests the country had ever seen. By this past summer, polls indicated that 45 percent of the public thought that the country was on the brink of a violent civil war.

Since then, the attacks and the subsequent government decision to launch an all-out campaign against Hamas have united Israelis behind the war. Thus, they have shown overwhelming support for the twin goals of returning the hostages and toppling the terrorist regime in the Gaza Strip.…  Seguir leyendo »

Cuando escribo este artículo, el Ejército de Israel ha bombardeado por enésima vez los campos de refugiados del sur de Gaza. Los bombardeos de Israel, en represalia al ataque terrorista y los secuestros perpetrados por Hamás el 7 de octubre, han originado ya cerca de 20.000 muertos palestinas y palestinos civiles, un 70 % mujeres y menores. Han muerto centenares de palestinos a manos de soldados israelíes en la otra zona de Palestina, Cisjordania. Puede afirmarse que la reacción israelí está siendo absolutamente desproporcionada. Estas terribles cifras lo son de crímenes de guerra según prescribe el IV Convenio de Ginebra. Las acciones de Israel (y de Hamás) deberían ser denunciadas ante el Tribunal Penal Internacional.…  Seguir leyendo »

Familiares de ciudadanos israelíes secuestrados por Hamás se manifiestan en Tel Aviv.ABIR SULTAN (EFE)

Cultivar el conocimiento de lo complejo de forma entretenida (”¿Quieres comprender la guerra en Oriente Próximo?, ¡mira estas series!, o ¡mira estos videos!”) y dejar que el argumento crítico lo elabore el algoritmo o el contenido en redes da frutos preocupantes, especialmente porque vivimos insertos en una madeja de identidades culturales, políticas y religiosas más enredada que nunca. Sin embargo, mostramos negligencia y vehemencia para desenvolvernos en la maraña.

No es difícil comprender que “judío” e “israelí” no es lo mismo, que alguien puede sentirse judío a partir de una identidad religiosa (”judaísmo”) o de una identidad cultural que procede del entorno familiar (”judeidad”), que dentro y fuera de Israel hay judíos creyentes y ateos en abundancia, y que muchos tienen o más bien tenían hasta el 7 de octubre esta dimensión de su identidad como algo íntimo y familiar.…  Seguir leyendo »