This will be a long war. ‘Never again’ was not a suggestion.
ABC News reported on Thursday afternoon that Israel’s war cabinet has given the “green light” for the invasion of the Gaza Strip, according to a statement provided by Israeli economy minister Nir Barkat. Israeli ground forces are expected to move into Gaza and proceed with what Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has indicated will be a war to overthrow its Hamas-led regime.
The invasion of the Strip by Israeli Defense Forces may be only hours away. Earlier on Thursday, while visiting Israeli troops amassing along the border with Gaza, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant told the country’s soldiers to steel themselves for combat. “Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” Gallant said. “I promise you.”
The news that the invasion of Gaza is imminent coincides with President Joe Biden’s prime-time address to the nation tonight from the Oval Office. The president is expected to ask Congress to approve a multibillion-dollar package of support for America’s partners in Israel and Ukraine. It’s reasonable to assume that the president will make the case to the nation that the two conflicts are connected insofar as they are both challenges to the American-led geopolitical order and that the U.S. must either support its partners on the front lines of that conflict or prepare for the day when it involves the United States directly.
The risk of a conflagration in the Middle East resulting from Israel’s ground war in Gaza is already pronounced, and it is not assured that the United States can maintain its present remove from that conflict. The Iranian proxy group Hezbollah has signaled its willingness to open up a second front against Israel once its forces become entangled in operations inside the Strip — an outcome the U.S. and Israel have sought to deter by refusing to recognize the flimsy distinctions between Hezbollah and its sponsors in Tehran.
Hezbollah is known to operate “sleeper agents” around the world, including inside the United States. One such asset was charged with planning to “execute terrorism around New York” as recently as in 2019. A broader regional conflict may trigger attacks inside the United States, necessitating a direct American response. In the last week alone, U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria have been attacked by unmanned drones, one of which produced “minor injuries.” Earlier today, a U.S. destroyer “intercepted several missiles” fired from Yemen and reportedly directed toward Israel. “Drones and rockets targeted on Thursday evening the Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S. and other international forces in western Iraq, and multiple blasts were heard inside the base,” Reuters reported this afternoon. The whole region is already active, and Israel’s ground war has not yet even begun. More provocations targeting the U.S. and its interests should be anticipated.
The days and weeks ahead for Israel will be difficult even in the absence of direct engagement with Hezbollah. The efforts to clear Gaza’s extensive and unmapped tunnel networks will be hard-fought. Clearing the densely populated Strip of Hamas terrorists will be a bloody affair. Neutralizing the staging areas, munitions depots, and planning centers located in or near civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and mosques, will be reflexively condemned by international institutions and the Western press.
This will be a long war, and the resolve to support Israel’s effort to dissolve the genocidal organization responsible for the October 7 massacre will be tested. But the events of that day left Israel no choice. “Never again” was not a suggestion.