The ‘day after’ chorus was always singing out of tune
The fall of the Assad regime highlights the foolishness and true motive of those accusing Netanyahu of not having a plan for a post-Hamas Gaza.
By Ruthie Blum
JNS
Dec 9, 2024
Israelis protest in Tel Aviv against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government, Sep 1, 2024
The fall of the 54-year Assad regime in Syria (the last 24 of which have been ruled by Hafez’s son, Bashar) isn’t the only major event in the Middle East that took the world by surprise. On the contrary, jaw-dropping developments have been rife in the region for the past 14 and a half months.
Despite all the signs during the period leading up to the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, for instance—including specific warnings passed on to the general staff of the military—the massacre was missed by the very forces charged with preventing such occurrences.
That the rapes, beheadings, immolations and abductions perpetrated that day were the worst atrocities committed against Jews since the Holocaust made the launching of “Swords of Iron” imperative. And let’s be real: The extent of the horrors provided the so-called “legitimacy” for Israel to launch the war that’s still going on today.
Not that Jerusalem ever should have needed justification to wipe out Hamas. Yet until Oct. 7, operations undertaken by Israel Defense Forces in the terrorist enclave were all short and incomplete, to put it mildly. Worse, with each ceasefire, Hamas and auxiliary monsters grew richer and more emboldened.
This was due to a combination of international backing and Israel’s conseptzia that Hamas was deterred—that fear of the IDF, work permits for Gazans and a policy of containment regarding weekly riots at the border were doing the job of keeping the peace. Or at least maintaining an illusion of quiet.
The shock on that fateful Simchat Torah, then, was all the more severe. The response of the public to the trauma has been varied with many two-state-solution fantasists feeling betrayed by the Palestinians; realists disillusioned with the right-wing coalition they’d supported; and oppositionists doubling down on their attempts to oust the government.
The latter hasn’t budged in its focus on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the embodiment of all ills. Though the slogans shifted somewhat—from outrage over judicial-reform intent to “bring them home now” wrath—the message that Netanyahu is a dictator who doesn’t care about the hostages is identical.
The vile accusations are voiced by a vocal minority who has most of the media both egging on and echoing its sentiment. Thankfully, the noise hasn’t distracted Netanyahu from his determination to secure a definitive victory over Israel’s enemies.
Meanwhile, one miraculous maneuver after another has persuaded the bulk of the populace that he’s been playing three-dimensional chess with stunning aplomb.
Among the achievements that restored faith and pride in Israeli prowess are: the elimination of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh, Salah al-Arouri and Marwan Issa; the taking out of Hezbollah head honcho Hassan Nasrallah and all of his top-tier henchmen; the literal and figurative kick in the pants of thousands of Hezbollah terrorists in the beeper and walkie-talkie affair; and the debilitating, unhindered strike on military targets in Tehran.
Even Netanyahu’s detractors at home and abroad had trouble muffling their gasps of admiration.
Which brings us to the ceasefire in Lebanon. Initially arousing anger among those who considered it an act of capitulation—just as Israel was making genuine headway, no less—the pause turned out to be a wise move.
In the first place, fears that Netanyahu’s vow not to let a single Hezbollah violation slide have been allayed. Since Nov. 27, when the ceasefire went into effect, the IDF has been continuing vigilantly to thwart the movement of terrorists and weapons in Lebanon.
Secondly, the deal severed Israel’s northern and southern fronts, thus isolating Hamas from Hezbollah—its fellow Iranian proxy, which entered the fray on Oct. 8, 2023. From the day after the massacre, Hezbollah kept its word not to stop firing rockets, missiles and drones at the Jewish state until it withdrew all troops from Gaza and left Hamas in power.
With Hezbollah out of that particular picture and Iran licking its wounds, Hamas—on the verge of virtual disintegration—is suddenly on its own. This about-face by a severely battered Hezbollah has opened the door to a release of the 100 hostages still in captivity in Gaza.
The collapse of Alawite rule in Syria might not have been anticipated, even by Netanyahu. But there’s no denying that it was a consequence of all of the above, set in motion by Sinwar’s delusions of demolishing Israel, once and for all.
As a radical Islamist well-versed in Hebrew texts, he ought to have realized that such designs on Jews ultimately backfire. Indeed, as God has shown the Jewish people’s would-be annihilators, it is they, not the Jews, who end up on the dust heap of history. Sinwar certainly did—literally.
None of the above has prevented the “anybody but Bibi” choir from insisting that Netanyahu entered the war without a plan for the “day after.” Nor have the members of this dwindling group let up on their calls for some Palestinian entity (perhaps, as U.S. President Joe Biden referred to it, a “revitalized Palestinian Authority) to take the reins in Gaza when Hamas is defeated.
Ironically, these are the exact same people who’ve been insisting since Oct. 7 that Hamas is an “idea” that can never be defeated. They’re the characters who poke fun at the very notion of “victory,” let alone “total victory.”
It’s difficult under the current circumstances to talk about having the last laugh, since the hostages haven’t been released; soldiers are dying every day on the battlefield; and Iran is racing to obtain nuclear warheads before Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
But a bit of guilty pleasure in the form of schadenfreude, if not tasteful, is definitely warranted.
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