On Saturday October 7, 2023 Israel was attacked. It was Hamas, the terrorist group that's controlled Gaza since 2007, that invaded the Jewish homeland state. This was much more than rockets, something an all too frequent fact of life in Israel, as hundreds of men in death squads streamed over the border and proceeded to wantonly murder, rape and kidnap (with a small number of Americans among the casualties). Psychological warfare is part of this, as many of the atrocities were filmed and released by the perpetrators themselves, and the stories get worse by the day. As of today 1000 are dead, thousands wounded and still more being held hostage. It's all completely unspeakable and yet we must see and follow what's happening there.
As I like (and feel compelled) to do, I want to find and/or provide context one way or another. Predicting what comes next or even understanding all the disparate groups involved here can be a bit of a challenge. But we can learn quite a bit by looking to the past. I already know one thing for sure: Israel has regularly routed its opponents in war, and with the next one starting that's an important fact. Their record fighting, frequently with their own survival at sake, an island in a sea of enemies and besieged on multiple fronts, is one of the more impressive things I remember learning in high school history, even considering U.S. support.
For a refresher I pulled out that old history book (which I purchased myself after high school and college), R.R. Palmer's A History of the Modern World. I have the 8th Edition (1995). I'm borrowing one and a half paragraphs below, which explain the beginnings of the state of Israel more succinctly than I ever could and will save me a great deal of time on what is a difficult and complex topic.
'The whole question poignantly reemerged at the end of the Second World War when the homeless survivors of the Nazi Holocaust, which had all but wiped out the European Jews, sought out Palestine as a place of refuge and were turned away by the British in deference to Arab protests. The Arabs objected to the surrender, or partition, of land that they considered theirs because of Europe's persecution of the Jews. Britain, failing to work out a compromise, terminated its mandate and turned the matter over to the United Nations. In 1947 the UN divided Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab zone, and placed the city of Jerusalem under international control. The Arab states rejected the partition. In May 1948 the Zionist leaders, who had made preparations for independence and could count on strong American support, proclaimed the Republic of Israel. Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq refused to recognize the new state and went to war. The Arab armies invaded, but the Israelis (as the citizens of the new republic called themselves) won. At the cease-fire in 1949 Israel increased its original territory by about half and established its capital in West Jerusalem. But Jordan during the war annexed central Palestine, including the West Bank of the Jordan River, and assumed control of East Jerusalem, from which it barred Jewish worshippers. Tensions remained high.
The Arab states, unwilling to negotiate peace or recognize the existence of Israel, refused to absorb the half-million Palestinian refugees who had fled. To many Arabs Israel was a new form of Western expansion into the Middle East. The Israelis, on the other hand, saw themselves as creating a Jewish homeland so that persecuted Jews would never again be without a refuge. Jewish immigrants from anywhere in the diaspora were automatically entitled to citizenship.'
(Palmer p.942)
This covers the first of several wars I want to go through quickly, the 1948 Palestine War or the Israeli War of Independence. After the end of the British Mandate, Israel declared independence and fought the Arab League, facing armies from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. With the armistice in 1949 Israel controlled significantly more territory than they would've received under the planned UN Partition, Egypt controlled Gaza and (Trans)Jordan controlled the West Bank of the Jordan. These are referred to as the 'Green Line' or the (pre-)1967 borders. During the conflict 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced. Following the war, only over a few years, about the same number of Jews immigrated to Israel, doubling its population, many kicked out of the surrounding Arab countries. So much of what we still talk and argue about today with respect to Israel comes from this war: the very existence of the country, an unacceptable and non-negotiable outcome to many of its neighbors, the nature of Gaza and the West Bank, and so many homeless Palestinians.
The 1949 peace settlements were uneasy. In 1956, in what's called the Suez Crisis, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and Israel soon invaded the Sinai Peninsula. This was the response to an Egyptian threat to close vital shipping lanes, which would have devastating economic effects. Israel was stopped here through political pressure, importantly from the United States, though they did reopen the Straits of Tiran, a primary objective. In 1967 Egypt tried closing the straits again and it did not go well for them. This is called the Six Day War, because Israel dispatched Egypt (as well as late-joining Syria and Jordan) in less than a week, with the big blow coming through preemptive airstrikes before even UN peacekeepers had evacuated. The Sinai peninsula, Gaza, the West Bank and Golan Heights (from Syria) were all captured. Once again Israel took a lot more territory, though these areas remain highly controversial today (except Sinai where they later withdrew).
On the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in 1973, another Arab alliance led by Egypt and Syria attempted to return the favor and launched their own coordinated sneak attack, with Egypt marching into the Sinai and Syria into Golan Heights. It's remembered as the Yom Kippur War. Within days Israeli forces halted both advances and quickly made incursions into the invading countries. They were able to shell the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus. They crossed the Suez Canal and encircled an entire Egyptian army. It was Cold War tensions, since Egypt was associated with the USSR, that forced a ceasefire this time and the war was over in under three weeks. There were no real territorial changes but there were massive diplomatic results. It was soon afterward that Sinai was returned to Egypt, which became the first Arab country to recognize Israel's legitimacy in 1979. Perhaps even more importantly, this is when the formal Israeli-Palestinian peace process began.
Since the 1980s Israel has fought a couple wars in Lebanon, the first in 1982 was an attempt to secure its borders amid an assassination attempt and a number of skirmishes with civilian deaths. For 15 years (1985-2000) they held a Security Zone inside Lebanon territory during the country's civil war, coinciding with the rise of Hezbollah, a (terrorist) political party and paramilitary group, against whom they fought the second war in 2006.
Also since the 1980s there have been a number of conflicts with the Palestinians, especially in Gaza. The First Intifada (1987-1993) was a general uprising dealt with quite harshly. The Second Intifada (2000-2005) was even more violent, known for Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket strikes. It was during the First Intifada that Hamas was formed. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, they're a Palestinian nationalist organization intent on forming an Islamic state through the whole of Israel, a two-state solution is not acceptable ('From the river to the sea'). Known for use of human shields, hostage taking and violence against civilians, they've been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, the EU and others. In 2005 Israel left Gaza entirely, allowing the Palestinians to govern themselves there. Shortly afterward Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and entirely took over Gaza in 2007. There have been several more eruptions of violence and military action by Israel after 2007.
The long and the short of this is Israel has shown it will do what is necessary to protect its population, which of now is 9+ million (7+ million Jews). When threatened the country has demonstrated remarkable proficiency in war and has several times only been slowed by international political pressure. What they face, to this day, are groups set on holy war and the elimination of their state and their people.
Hamas showed what's most important to them with this attack (killing Israelis/Jews) and Israel must respond. Whatever happens, I agree with Noah Rothman at National Review, Israel's Retribution Will Be Righteous. Sometimes there are actually barbarians at the gates.
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