Ebrahim Moosa | Palestine Information Network
December 2023
Despite lofty claims that its Occupation army is ready to continue the onslaught on Gaza for years to come, basic analysis, along with even simpler logic, reveals much of the Israeli regime’s bluster and declarations of military success in Gaza to ring shallow.
In his book, The Myths of Zionism, John Rose tells of a force ever destined to gnaw at the Israeli State’s claim to legitimacy and its sense of security. “In truth,” Rose writes, “the shadow of the Palestinian refugee was destined to haunt Israel forever, physically, politically, morally, psychologically and ultimately militarily.”
Says Louis Allday, “it is impossible to understand Gaza without knowing that 247 villages in Southern Palestine were ethnically cleansed by Zionist forces in 1948, and the refugees from those villages were then forced into a concentration camp that came to be known as the Gaza Strip.”
Of Gaza’s population today, two thirds, or 1.7 million residents are considered refugees. It is the cry for freedom emanating from these refugees, and their resistance – against all the odds – which now represents the central thrust towards the liberation of Palestine, and the nucleus of Israeli woes.
After two months of genocidal carpet bombing of Gaza, Apartheid Israel militarily has few achievements to show. “It is not remotely clear what success Israel has achieved in its declared goal of dismantling Hamas,” said David Horovitz, editor of the Times of Israel. “Indeed, it remains unclear what “dismantling Hamas” entails and how practicable it is.”
Resistance groups have, particularly since the Israeli ground invasion began in the last week of October, shared a steady stream of videos documenting feisty combat with the invading army.
Helmet camera footage recorded by Palestinian fighters have shown fierce urban battles as the fighters hit tanks, armored troop carriers, bulldozers and Israeli military positions inside buildings in the Gaza Strip.
And when the Israeli army began its ground operations in southern Gaza on December 4, Palestinian Resistance in the north emerged even stronger than the early days of the war.
There is also a second war to take note of. As the Palestine Chronicle reports, amidst its military failings in Gaza, the Israeli State is concurrently facing financial ruin.
Estimations cited by Al-Jazeera say that Israel could lose anywhere between $51 to $60 billion if the war continues for eight months.
Israel has summoned nearly 400 000 reserve soldiers for its war effort. The direct cost of these soldiers, according to Israel’s own estimations, is $1.3 billion a month. The weekly losses to the Israeli economy resulting from this recruitment is $1.2 billion. Then, there is the actual cost of the war, estimated at $260 million a day. Bloomberg reported that this daily cost is constantly increasing, which will put yet more pressure on the Israeli budget.
The war has also come with a serious emotional toll for Israelis. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz recently reported on a study conducted one month after October 7 that showed how one in three Israelis were exhibiting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. An ‘Emotional First Aid’ hotline has processed over 50 000 calls from Israelis, with most coming from persons who were not even direct victims of Palestinian resistance operations.
“No one in the country is sleeping,” Israeli therapist Galit Feldman was quoted as saying. “Patients tell me, ‘I’m not sleeping,’ or ‘I fall asleep and wake up with a nightmare’”.
On the internal political front, hearings in the corruption trial against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have resumed after a two month pause. Netanyahu continues to do all he can to fight for his political future, and remains deeply unpopular among Israelis. A November poll found that less than 4 percent of the Jewish Israeli public believed Netanyahu to be a reliable source of information on the ongoing war. An even more recent poll by Israeli Channel 13 shows that 41% of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign after the war, whilst 31% demand that he should resign immediately.
At a heated meeting held on December 5 between representatives of Israelis held in Gaza and the Zionist war cabinet, the fault-lines plaguing Israeli society were on full display. There was chaos and yelling, with families of Israeli prisoners telling Israeli leaders they want all their loved ones to come home. A mother of a hostage shouted at war minister Yoav Gallant, “I’m not prepared to sacrifice my son for your career or for those of any of the elites here. Really not. My son did not volunteer to die for the homeland.”
Indeed, as the war deepens, and the body bags of Israeli soldiers pile up, the haunting shadow of the Palestinian refugee is being acutely felt all over Israeli society. To paraphrase Israeli commentator Gideon Levy, “the crimes are accumulating and the goals are receding.”