Just a day
after the 50 years anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, an unprecedented attack
in the annals of Israeli history unfolded as Jews observed one of the holiest
days of the Simchat Torah. HAMAS terrorists from Gaza attacked Israel by air,
land and sea. The infiltrators breached the Southern border and launched one of
the deadliest attacks. Declaring “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”, HAMAS fired 5000
rockets toward Israel in 20 minutes. The operation was named so, to detest the
raids by Israeli forces on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
This provided a cover fire to the infiltrators. Even the near-perfect
Iron Dome with a 90 percent success rate was overwhelmed by the rockets fired
from the Salvo rocket launcher.
Unlike the
Yom Kippur War, where Israelis fought back against the coalition of Arab armies
led by Egypt and Syrian armies, on October 7 shocked Israelis were woken up by
a macabre of savagery waged by non-military jihadi groups. The infiltrators made
their way in droves boring holes into the $1 billion impregnable border
fortified with numerous sensors, cameras, and security mechanisms. Entering the
Israeli towns and villages, the terrorists conducted door to door searches
killing every person on their way. They brutally raped Jewish women, mutilated their
bodies and paraded the corpses. Those who weren’t killed including children,
elderly people and some women were dragged by their hair were transported back
to Gaza as hostages. Contrary to a conventional war, which is waged across
borders, the infiltrators made their way into the territory and unleashed
mayhem that is unthinkable, inhuman and barbaric killing hundreds of hapless
innocent people.
The
infiltrators estimated to be over 1000 and armed to the teeth went on a killing
spree and as many as 250 bodies were recovered from the site of a Music
festival alone held at the Gaza border. As per some reports over 700 people
were killed and 2000 were injured in the first two days. These numbers far
exceeded the loss of life suffered during the worst day of the Yom Kippur War.
This unprecedented travesty will forever be etched in the memories of Israelis
who prided themselves in their strong military and start of art intelligence
agencies. The grave and abysmal intelligence failure has let down the country.
Located in a
conflict-prone arena and surrounded by hostile neighbours, Israel has built
strong deterrent mechanisms and a formidable, battle-hardened enemy to
resoundingly drive away collaborative and collusive attacks. But the latest
attack by HAMAS has demolished Israel’s reputation as the most powerful state
in the Middle East. The collective conscious is now gripped by a “feeling of
national humiliation, vulnerability and fear provoked by the attack”.
Hours after
the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “Operation Iron Swords”
and in a video message announced, “we are at war, and we will win..Our enemy
will pay a price the type of which it has never known”.
HAMAS
attack, replete with all hallmarks of terror has left behind a trail of
barbarity that has no place in the civilised world. This targeted violence has
brought back the memories of 9/11 and 26/11, the latter in terms of the mode of
attack. The perpetrators of both these attacks had a similar mission- terrorise
people, severely disable the national security system, stoke fear, create
instability, and chaos, and instill a feeling of vulnerability.
Along with
these factors, the dastardly HAMAS attack has vehemently underscored their covenant
(preamble)- “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will
obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it”1
with jihad as their guiding force as stated in Article 15- “the day that
enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every
Moslem.”
HAMAS
espousal of jihad shouldn’t be a surprise given its genesis as the offshoot of
the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). HAMAS is the short form of Harkat al-Muqawama
al-Islamiya, an Islamic Resistance Movement that was formally established in
Gaza as MB’s political arm in 1987 following the outbreak of the first
Intifada. Initially, it vied to compete with Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which
violently resisted Israel. Since the 1990s HAMAS military wing Izz al-din
al-Qassam Brigades launched aerial attacks on Israel from Gaza.
In line with
article 13 of its charter, “initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions
and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the
Islamic Resistance Movement, abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed
against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is
part of its religion” HAMAS rejected the Oslo Accords and resorted to
violent methods and spearheaded the second intifada from 2000-2005. HAMAS
charter ostensibly precludes all alternatives for a peaceful resolution
including negotiations, concessions or adjustments. No wonder, HAMAS flouted
the ceasefire agreements at will and peace was elusive. The Palestine issue is
theological for HAMAS and by extension, Jihad is their duty.
After Israel
vacated the Gaza Strip in 2005, HAMAS won a majority of seats in the Palestine
Authority (PA) legislature and became the de facto authority of Gaza in 2006.
The ousted, incumbent Fatah, the political rival that dominates PLO (Palestine
Liberation Organisation) has become the sole power in the West Bank. While
Fatah has renounced violence, HAMAS unwavering hostility created a split in the
Palestine Authority and turned Gaza into a veritable terror hub.
As opposed
to a conventional war where concessions could change drastically change the
course and subdue a conflict over a period of time, the hostility inspired and
driven by jihadi ideology can have no recourse. For over 75 years, India has
been at the receiving end of asymmetric jihadi warfare with Pakistan deploying
unconventional methods to destabilise military superior India. State-sponsored
terrorism has been Pakistan’s policy towards India. By nurturing, patronising
and supporting terrorism, Pakistan has weaponised terrorism and effectively
leveraged it against the global superpowers as well. The world woke up to the
disasters of terrorism only when this asymmetric warfare reached its shores and
claimed innocent lives.
Over a
period of time, global conflicts have been transitioning to asymmetric warfare
and unconventional strategies to deal with rivals. Emulating Pakistan’s terror
template countries started raising militia and coopting radical Islamist terror
groups to settle scores with adversaries. Alongside, these countries in cahoots
with elitist liberal groups set a stage for propagating the ‘oppression
theories’ and ‘victimhood’ narrative to justify any and every kind
of brutality committed by these militia and terror outfits. Any discourse that
conformed to this liberal opinion was deemed politically correct and that which
questioned the incongruencies is remonstrated as bigoted and discriminatory.
Now, things have come to such a pass, that condemnation of jihadi terror
activities is berated as Islamophobia.
The devasting
reports trickling in from Israel of over 40 beheaded babies, of a woman whose
womb was torn open causing the slow death of the unborn baby, pictures of
children burnt alive, and recovery of over 100 bodies in Kibbutz in Southern
Israel by HAMAS is unarguably raising suspicions about their stated objective
of liberation of Palestine State. Does this inhuman savagery even fall under
the category of retributive actions? This is not a simple attack. This is
jihadi Islam.
Whitewashing
this barbaric manslaughter, 31 Harvard Student Organisations have held Israel “entirely
responsible” for HAMAS brutal attack. In fact, several thousands of
pro-Palestine groups have marched out in support of these attacks across major
cities in the world and a pro-Palestine group shouted “gas the Jews” staging
in front of the Syndey Opera House. Is this barbarity, resistance by any
stretch of the imagination? Does suffering an alleged ‘oppression” bestow a
free pass to unleash a mass homicide? By drawing a depraved equivalence, the
liberals are deliberately mainstreaming the butchery of the terror outfits.
This
monstrosity has to be called out. The attack against Israel by HAMAS is a
terror attack. Just as the US has adopted a no holds barred approach post 9/11
and launched a global war against terror, Israel has every right to defend
itself. Finally, the statement by al-Qassam brigade, “every targeting of our
people without warning will be met with the execution of one of the civilian
hostages”, reminiscent of ISIS- Jihadi John executions has removed the
remotest doubts about the jihadi doctrine of HAMAS.
HAMAS attack
on Israel has many lessons for the World. Nations can no longer afford to have
a laid-back approach towards jihadi Islam that is slowly finding a base in
democratic countries. While these attacks have irreversibly jolted the
contemporary geopolitical matrix, PM Modi’s unequivocal support to Israel which
has caused some consternation can be traced to India’s zero-tolerance for
terror. Though the commentariat intends to read too much into this statement
with analysts attributing it to India’s renewed strategic alignment with Israel
in the wake of I2U2 and IMEC, India has been at the forefront in leading a war
against terror.
Hours after
the attack PM Modi tweeted, “deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks
in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims and their
families. We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour”.
Indeed, PM Modi’s statement expressing solidarity to Israel today which reads-
“people of India stand firmly with Israel in this difficult hour. India
strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations”, echoes India’s commitment to extricating terror.
The issue of
terrorism has been India’s global agenda and India’s solidarity with Israel which
hems with Western countries and “clearly out of step with countries in the
global South” (as remarked by an expert) is entirely necessary for
India’s national interests. India and Israel face similar threats. PM Modi’s
statement is an indirect assertion of India’s right to defend if targeted by
any group/entity. These attacks should serve as a wakeup for the World to call
the bluff of the perpetual victimhood narrative and the unquestionable jihadi
Islam that is now spreading across the World and threatening to destabilise
nations.
The
21st-century civilised world has many institutional mechanisms to resolve
longstanding disputes and rivalries. It would be inane to seek solutions for
them in the 7th-century politico-military enterprise.
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