...and the Walls come Crumbling Down

 

The WSJ Editorial Board, "War Returns to the Middle East"

Hamas’s surprise attack is a reminder of Israel’s existential peril—and the growing risk to U.S. allies.

The scenes of Israeli civilians gunned down in the streets, children and grandmothers taken hostage, and Palestinians cheering it all are awful to behold. But behold the world must because Saturday’s assault from Gaza shows the reality of the global disorder that is expanding by the month. Israel is on the front lines, but all of the democratic world is a target.

The scale and initial success of the attack puncture many illusions. One is that Israel is secure in its rough neighborhood. The Jewish state may have technological superiority, but it is still threatened by implacable enemies north, south and east.

The surprise assault was clearly in the planning for months and seems timed for the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. That it took Israeli troops hours to reach some of the towns overrun by armed Palestinian militants suggests that even Israelis underestimated the threat. There will be a reckoning about the intelligence failure once the crisis is past.

Another myth busted is that Palestinians will live in peace with Israel if they get a state of their own. Not as long as Hamas and Islamic Jihad can terrorize and dominate Palestinians. Israel ceded Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005, but Hamas took over in 2007 and assassinates anyone in the territory who challenges its goal of expelling the Jews from all of Israel.

And please no more condemnation of Israel’s “blockade” or “occupation.” Israel has been allowing 17,000 Gazans to work in Israel each day and would like to allow more. Western critics of Israel don’t live in range of Hamas or Hezbollah rockets supplied by Iran. They don’t have to fear that their grandparents may be dragged from their homes and imprisoned in a Hamas basement to be traded if they aren’t murdered. No Israeli government can afford to give up control of more territory that could become a launching point for Hamas attacks.

🇮🇱 || Estava acontecendo uma festa no kibbutz de Urim, em Israel, antes do Hamas invadir a faixa de Gaza. Os combatentes abriram fogo contra os participantes da festa, matando e ferindo várias pessoas. pic.twitter.com/DQsUxfpd0O

— World Events 🌎 (@Eventomund) October 7, 2023

Terrorists from Gaza attacked an outdoor party near Kibbutz Urim in Southern Israel.

Attendees recount harrowing moments of gunfire, with many still in hiding.

Concerns grow about potential casualties. #IsraelNews #GazaTerror | 📸: Walla #OperationIronSwords… pic.twitter.com/yUM2M9PSWz

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) October 7, 2023

Israel faces some difficult choices in the days ahead. A return to the status quo before Saturday’s assault would seem to be intolerable. Hamas would be able to rearm, rebuild its tunnels, and wait to attack again.

But an Israeli invasion of Gaza and reinstatement of Israeli control would be costly in lives and risk that Hezbollah would open a second front in Lebanon. Iran-backed Hezbollah has stockpiled tens of thousands of missiles. A new buffer zone of several miles between Gaza and Israel is another mooted option.

The response is Israel’s to make, and it deserves the West’s support. “My administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” President Biden said on Saturday, and we’re glad to hear it.

But the temptation at the White House will be to give Israel a week or so to respond with a free hand, and then lean on the Netanyahu government to stand down. That is always the U.S. pattern, but it shouldn’t be this time. And if a wider war breaks out, the U.S. will have to provide Israel with the arms and diplomatic support necessary to destroy Hamas and the military capacity of Hezbollah.

The assault also underscores the continuing malevolence of Iran. The government in Tehran cheered on the attacks, and it has provided the rockets and weapons for Hamas. It may have encouraged the timing as well, hoping the war will block any near-term chance of a rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Biden Administration’s failure to enforce oil sanctions against Iran, as well as its payment of $6 billion for U.S. hostages, looks even more misguided after this bloody weekend.

The attacks on Israel, horrible as they are, at least provide some moral clarity about the stakes in the Middle East. One side seeks the destruction of Israel and the Jews. The other arms itself to protect its citizens and state from that destruction. The internal Israeli debates over its Supreme Court look trivial next to the threat to Israel’s existence.

The assault on America’s closest Middle East ally is also a warning about how dangerous the world is becoming. As U.S. power and will recede, bad actors feel empowered to fill the vacuum. American isolationists on the right and left may wish to look away, but the U.S. can’t dodge the consequences.

Refugees from socialist failure in the Americas are flooding over the U.S. border, and sooner or later the U.S. will become a military target. The consequences of post-Cold War complacency are coming fast and furious.