Aqueix article publicat per Michael Oren al Yedioth Ahronoth el proppassat 11-S resumeix la diferent percepció i conseqüències dels atacs gihadistes perpetrats per Al Qaeda l’11 de setembre del 2001 i per Hamàs el 7 d’octubre del 2023, i llança un advertiment final: la contenció occidental impedeix la victòria d’Israel i és el preludi de nous atacs encara més greus.
In aftermath of 9/11 and October 7, US and Israel faced jihadist terror attacks, highlighting differing global responses; while America pursued military action against al-Qaeda, Israel’s war with Hamas revealed contrasting international perceptions and diplomatic engagements.
Twenty-three years today, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial aircraft and crashed them into the Pentagon, a field in rural Pennsylvania, and the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed.
Nearly a year ago, Hamas terrorists attacked the State of Israel. The 1,200 Israelis beheaded, burned, mutilated and raped were the proportional equivalent of 40,000 Americans. The United States retaliated with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—countries thousands of miles away—and Israel invaded the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The two events—9/11 and October 7—were similar in multiple ways. Like al-Qaeda, Hamas is a Sunni Jihadist organization that sanctifies mass violence to conquer the Middle East, and eventually the world, for radical Islam. Both are recognized as terrorist groups by the U.S. and most of the Western world. But there, tragically, the similarities end.
While America’s wars resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, the United States was never once accused of committing genocide. Israel, which has reduced the civilian-to-combatant fatality ratio to a quarter of what it was in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been accused by its own American ally of indiscriminately bombing Gaza and killing “far too many Palestinians.” U.S. officials routinely cite Hamas’s casualty figures that make no distinction between civilians and terrorists. That would be similar to claiming that, on 9/11, 3,019 people died.
The United States never once considered negotiating with al-Qaeda but, on the contrary, hunted down and eventually killed its leader, Osama Bin Laden. By contrast, the U.S. has engaged in prolonged and detailed talks with Hamas, often treating it as a legitimate and honest negotiator.
Al-Qaeda, it must be said, took no American hostages, while Hamas dragged more than 250 Israelis into monstrous captivity. Yet, even if al-Qaeda had taken prisoners, the U.S. would most likely not have refrained from waging war or offered a long-term ceasefire in exchange for their release.
These differences between 9/11 and October 7 would no doubt prevent many Americans from seeing the parallels between the two events. Eventually, though, they may. By not insisting, as they once did, that Hamas must be destroyed but rather demanding that war immediately end, American officials are unwittingly giving a victory to Jihadism. The result could be another, and possibly more catastrophic, 9/11.
Post Scriptum, 3 d’octubre del 2024.
Michael Oren el proppassat 29 de setembre a The Times of Israel: “Turning the tide of war. Israel’s ‘Midway’ moment”.
For Israelis, October 7 will forever be a day that will live in agony. No military success, however stunning, can ever mitigate that pain. Nevertheless, Israel’s massive counterstrike against Hezbollah, eliminating Hassan Nasrallah, its senior leadership, and much of its missile capabilities, proves that Israel’s deterrence power can still be restored. Accomplishing that, though, will require Israel to continue the fight and resist international, and especially US, calls for a ceasefire. As America’s own history proves, persistence in war, even after initial setbacks, can ultimately lead to triumph.
America’s entry into World War II began in 1941 with Japan’s disastrous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The American Civil War opened in 1861 with the humiliating rebel bombardment of Fort Sumter. America’s independence war from Great Britain, launched in 1776, met with a string of battlefield failures. In each case, though, US forces eventually rebounded and achieved the historic triumphs that all but erased their earlier defeats. By winning a decisive victory over Hezbollah, Israel can do the same.
Beyond the massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251 more, Hamas’s onslaught of October 7 ravaged the perception of Israeli power. That impression was essential to deterring Iran and its terrorist proxies and helped convince Arab countries to make peace. Israel’s image as a military powerhouse strengthened our international standing, stimulated our economy, and advanced our efforts to integrate into the region.
October 7 all but obliterated that image. Though the IDF subsequently fought valiantly and, by most professional estimates, effectively, it failed to resuscitate its reputation. The fact that Hamas, though seriously degraded, remains undefeated after more than eleven months of intense combat has further diminished that stature.
Where was the army that defeated four Arab forces in six days in 1967 – so the world asked – or that recovered from the surprise Syrian and Egyptian attacks of 1973 to threaten both Cairo and Damascus? Where was the military that rescued hostages from Entebbe in 1976 or, in 1981, destroyed the Iraqi nuclear plant?
Such questions, by casting doubt on both our defensive and offensive capabilities, impaired Israel’s security. Compounding that damage was the IDF׳s failure over those same eleven months to stem Hezbollah’s daily bombardment of northern Israel. Rather than deterring Hezbollah, Israel’s limited retaliations only emboldened the terrorists to intensify their rocket and drone fire. Instead of power, Israel projected fecklessness and a fear of a broader engagement.
Then, finally, Israel reacted. Recalling the “aroused democracy” once described by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Israel brilliantly and fiercely struck back at Hezbollah, killing dozens of its commanders and destroying thousands of its missiles. Friday’s devastating bombing in Beirut, and Nasrallah’s death, left the organization effectively leaderless. Though the terrorists have yet to unleash the full brunt of their most lethal and accurate rockets, their image has been irreparably tarnished.
For that reason, alone, Israel must not agree to a ceasefire that will allow Hezbollah to rearm and rebuild its command structure. In contrast to Gaza where Israel’s stated goal is to destroy Hamas and free the hostages, in Lebanon, the objective is to vastly reduce Hezbollah’s ability as a fighting force and drive it north of the Litani River. A ceasefire that enables Hezbollah to remain deployed along our northern border and resume daily firing at our citizens will not enable tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes.
The specter of a costlier conflict with Iran looms, of course, along with tensions with a White House desperate to deescalate at any price. Still, the dangers of failing to continue our counteroffensive against Hezbollah far outweigh those of waging one. At stake is not only the salvation of Israel’s north but its ability to achieve long-term peace and security in the Middle East – in short, to survive.
Six months after Pearl Harbor, at the Battle of Midway, US forces turned the tide against Imperial Japan. Similarly, after roundly defeating the rebels at Gettysburg in 1863, the Union marched on to victory. And not until their triumph at Yorktown, a full seven years after breaking from Britain, was American independence guaranteed.
This is Israel’s Midway moment. In Lebanon, Israel can have its Gettysburg and its Yorktown. The alternatives are the examples of Iraq and Afghanistan, America’s most recent wars that ended inconclusively with ignominious withdrawals. Israel, fighting an existential war on our own borders, must not go that route. Rather, by resisting pressure for a ceasefire that leaves Hezbollah unbowed, Israel can fully restore our deterrence power and regain our regional preeminence. The pain and the trauma of October 7 will surely endure, but the image of an Israel both willing and able to defend itself must never again be questioned.
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