Israel’s journey from victim to aggressor – World’s view shifts amidst ongoing genocide in Gaza

More than eight months after the Israeli invasion followed by the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, and the killing of more than 37,000 Palestinians mostly children and women as a result of the Israeli military invasion, international sympathy for Israel has diminished, and it has begun to live in what resembles political isolation. However, the Israelis who lost people in the Hamas attack see this invasion and genocide from another perspective. 

When it attempted to “eliminate Hamas,” which was behind the attack, Israel became involved in the longest military conflict since the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, according to a report by Foreign Policy magazine.

Commenting on the current situation and the world’s view of Israel, Shira Efron, director of research at the Israel Policy Forum, told the magazine that Israel started this as Ukraine, and after seven months the world’s view of it has changed from a “victim to an aggressor.”

Existential Necessity

On the other hand, the Israelis view this military invasion of Gaza with different eyes and describe it in terms completely different from what prevails in the rest of the world, as many of them see the campaign in Gaza as an “existential necessity,” according to the magazine’s words.

“For us, it is a war that will never be repeated,” said Avner Golov, vice president of research and alliances at the Tel Aviv-based think tank Mind Israel. 

He added, “My generation now faces a question I never thought I would face, which is whether it is possible for a Jewish state to exist in the hostile Middle East.” He went on to stress considering the genocide of Palestinians, “We need to make sure that the answer is yes.” 

Despite global attention turning to Gaza, Israel took October 7 as an opportunity to invade the remaining Palestinian region – the Gaza Strip.  

The Foreign Policy magazine speculates that there is a possibility that the world may forget or even deny the “bloodshed” resulting from the Israeli military invasion of Gaza followed by a clear genocide of Palestinians in the region. 

In a country with a population of more than 9.5 million, almost everyone is brainwashed to justify the killings of children and women in Gaza by the Israeli armed forces. 

Earlier, The Eastern Herald reported the reason for the invasion of Gaza, as the last round of negotiations in Cairo aimed at brokering a ceasefire to halt Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in genocide and ethnic cleansing of millions of Palestinians, ended without resolution, further deepening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Despite intensive discussions, Israel’s rejection of proposed terms for a ceasefire agreement and its subsequent ground invasion in Rafah indicate a calculated strategy to maintain leverage.

Brainwashing in Israel

Travelers arriving at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport see large images of all hostages on biometric passport scanners, ATMs, and an array of posters lining the ramp up to passport control. 

120 hostages, 249 days.
Does this seem normal to anyone?

Bring them HOME, now! pic.twitter.com/GoAi99baxK

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) June 11, 2024

Hamas carried out its attack while Israel was experiencing its deepest political crisis in decades due to judicial reform proposed by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which critics fear will impact the country’s independent judiciary.  

Changing perceptions in Israel

Although Israelis rallied together in the wake of the Hamas attack, this did not translate into support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On the contrary, frustration mounted over the government’s failure to secure the freedom of the hostages or offer practical military measures out of the war. 

There was no increase in the government’s approval ratings following October 7, said Shmuel Rosner, a researcher at the Jewish People’s Policy Institute, which conducts weekly polls of Israeli public opinion.

“There has never been a case in which a country was attacked by another country or a terrorist organization, and in which the country’s leadership did not gain one iota of progress in the opinion polls,” Shmuel Rosner said.

Opinion polls, conducted in the period following the Hamas attack by the Israel Democracy Institute and the Tel Aviv University Peace Index, indicate that Israeli positions towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become more extreme than at any time in recent memory. 

Although thousands of demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv to demand the release of hostages held by Hamas, only 10% of Israelis in an Israeli Democracy Institute poll said they would support stopping the invasion in order to exchange hostages. 

Meanwhile, 44.3% of Israelis said they want the government to negotiate the immediate release of the hostages without stopping the invasion of the remaining Palestinian region. 

Infact, Israel’s intellectuals like Yossi Michelberg, an associate fellow at Chatham House who specializes in writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, told TIME magazine that while many Israelis want the hostages to return to their homes, they are also concerned that the release of Palestinian prisoners will lead to more attacks like the one that committed in October.

A Pew Research Center poll conducted in March and early April found that nearly 40% of Israelis believe their country’s military invasion of Gaza was correct, while just over a third believe it did not go far enough. 

The poll showed sharp divisions in the way Israeli Jews and Arabs view the war. 

Gaza war is Netanyahu’s war

Nearly 75% of Israeli Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the country’s population, see the Israeli military invasion of Gaza as going too far, compared to 4% of Jews.

“I just came back from Canada and the United States, and I saw that even very smart people have embraced this thing that the Gaza war is Netanyahu’s war,” said Einat Wilf, a former Knesset member who served as a foreign policy official.

She added, “It’s Netanyahu’s fault. I think he’s largely responsible for doing this so badly… But the war? It’s our people’s war.”

Even before the ICC prosecutor called for the Israeli prime minister’s arrest, Israelis were concerned about their country’s global image. 

Nearly six in ten said in a poll conducted this spring that Israel is not respected around the world. 

In addition, most Israelis feel that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are common and that both types of bias are on the rise globally, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Center on Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/BringThemHome23/status/1800213065696411899

The majority of Israeli respondents, 58%, say that Israel is not respected around the world, including 15% who say that it is “not respected at all.” 

A smaller percentage of Israelis (40%) say that Israel is respected internationally, including 9% who say it is highly respected. 

Israelis who identify as left-wing are particularly likely to say that their country is not respected internationally. 

Two-thirds of Israelis on the left hold this view, including about a quarter (27%) who say Israel is not respected at all abroad.