by Daniel J. Samet
Israel’s Security Cabinet has decided to take control of Gaza City, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Aug. 10 that Israel will not attempt to “occupy Gaza.”
The United States should support Israel’s move. American interests require no less.
In 2005, the last time Israel left Gaza, the results were calamitous. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon devised a plan to withdrawal Israelis from the territory, which President George W. Bush lauded as “a bold and historic initiative that can make an important contribution to peace.”
The reverse occurred. Hamas took power, purged its rival Fatah, immiserated the population, drove women indoors, tossed men from rooftops and terrorized Israel with rockets. Israel’s pre-2005 occupation of Gaza, however flawed, was much preferable to the horror that followed.
Israeli control of Gaza City is the only way to defeat Hamas
Washington cannot let Hamas, which has American blood on its hands, stay in power. Designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997, Hamas butchered numerous Americans during the Second Intifada in Israel.
It then killed more than 40 Americans on Oct. 7, 2023, and took a dozen Americans captive. Hamas threatens not only Israel but also the United States.
Israeli control of Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold, is the only feasible way forward.
The 22 countries of the Arab League, which recently backed a resolution declaring that “Hamas must end its rule in Gaza,” are unwilling to assume responsibility for the territory. They do not want to take refugees and provide little investment for the direct benefit of ordinary Gazans.
Only with Hamas destroyed and a new administration built can Gazans have a better future.
Washington should extend political support for Israel’s actions. It should also continue selling weapons to Jerusalem. It should let Israel finish the job without counterproductive interference.
Trump, US can’t afford to restrain Israel
Only one man can stop the Israelis: President Donald Trump. He heads the only country on Earth with enough leverage to forestall Israel’s expansion of the war.
Indeed, past American presidents have stopped Israeli military operations. Joe Biden forced a ceasefire on the Israelis amid their 2021 clashes with Hamas. In 2006, an exasperated George W. Bush urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to wrap up Israel’s war in Lebanon after fighting dragged on for weeks. Ronald Reagan did the same to Prime Minister Menachem Begin when his invasion of the country foundered. This time, however, Trump should resist restraining the Israelis.
Trump certainly has the backbone to disregard the international outrage that is sure to ensue. Criticism from global elites has not deterred the president from implementing necessary changes in foreign policy. In his first term, he was mocked for insisting that NATO members meet their defense spending obligations and that Germany’s dependence on Russian energy was geostrategic madness. Events vindicated Trump’s position. The same regarding China, whose commercial depredations were tolerated before Trump denounced them.
The chattering classes at home and abroad will cry foul at the reoccupation of Gaza, but their vision would leave Hamas in power and precipitate another Oct. 7. Trump will brook none of this insanity.
Unlike many other Western leaders, Trump’s Middle East strategy is premised on common sense. He knows that a friendly country like Israel cannot be expected to live cheek by jowl with maniacal jihadists who want to kill every Jew on the planet, including in the United States. Israeli control of Gaza will make the best of a terrible situation.
Israel must win this war to bring lasting peace
Despite what his detractors allege, Trump is anti-war. He loathes bloodshed. Yet to secure the peace that Trump desires, Israel first needs to win this war.
Israel need not be in Gaza in perpetuity. After bringing their populations to their knees, America occupied both Germany and Japan before remaking them into responsible, self-governing countries. A similar outcome in Gaza is not out of the question.
Supporting Israel will pay dividends for Washington elsewhere. A Taiwan increasingly threatened by China will see that the United States stands by its friends, even when the going gets tough. Russia will see that it cannot subjugate all of Ukraine without paying an immense price.
“In war there is no substitute for victory,” said Gen. Douglas MacArthur, one of Trump’s heroes. Today, anything less than full Israeli victory in Gaza will be a loss for the United States.
