The New York Times: Israel is making the same mistake that the United States made in Iraq
The New York Times said in an article by David French, that Israel is making the same mistake the US made in Iraq.
French wrote that after six months of the war in Gaza, he began to have a disturbing feeling that Israel is facing many of the challenges that the United States experienced in Iraq, and is making the same mistakes in Gaza.
French comments on a sentence contained in an article published by the New York Times last week, which stated that “the Israeli army’s storming of al Shifa Medical Complex again is nothing but the army’s attempt to uproot what it says is a renewed rebellion by Palestinian groups in northern Gaza”.
The renewed rebellion means that Israel is doing exactly what the United States did in the Iraq War, when it fought again on territory it supposedly seized.
French pointed out that the huge death toll and famine are a direct result of the war, and adds that the Israeli army won’t be able to win until it provides the basic needs of the people of the Gaza Strip, and this is what the United States learned from its wars abroad.
French believes that international attention has, so far, focused on Israel’s behavior in the war, where the issue has dominated whether Israel has adhered to the laws of war and its moral values in its battle against Hamas.
According to French, this issue can be answered when the dust of war settles – but the fate of the war can be decided after the end of the first combat phase, in which Israel faces a set of legal and moral obligations, and its obligations as an occupying power.
French explains that any effective and decisive military action not only leads to heavy losses against enemies, but also creates a vacuum.
French believes that removing Hamas from power is similar to the idea of “de-Baathification” in Iraq, which will lead to the destruction of civil services and remove all means of maintaining civil order.
French adds that until the Israeli army fills the emerging vacuum, either through its effective management, or through an administrative alliance, Hamas has a chance to come back again.
French continues by saying that filling the void must be done in a specific way that takes into account the safety and security of civilians and providing for their needs, and this is what the United States failed to do in its war in Iraq.
French spoke, “US forces, as well as Israeli forces, demonstrated an impressive and lethal ability in urban warfare, but they failed to maintain society or law and order; Hunger and thirst in Iraq weren’t in the headlines like Gaza; The US forces faced chaos in Iraq, which was the reason they lost the war”.
French believes that US President Biden’s approach paid off, in that he threatened Israel with practical steps, as it responded by opening the crossings and bringing in humanitarian aid, and at the same time he continued the process of supplying it with the weapons it needed to defeat Hamas and deter Hezbollah in the north.
French concluded his article, “moral duty to destroy Hamas as a military and administrative force remains, but it must not contradict the legal duty to provide protection and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and failure to do either of them means Israel facing its greatest defeat”.
