Israel may be formidable but it is not invincible. The successful invasion on Saturday by the terrorist army of Hamas shattered the reputation of Israel as a Middle East superpower.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for years blustered that he would destroy Hamas, wielding a defence force rated the fourth strongest in the world, behind only the US, China and Russia.
Yet guerilla Hamas soldiers on the weekend achieved what no one had thought possible. Without warning, they violated Israel’s security and suburban sanctity in a way hostile nation-states have long failed to do.
Under the cover of a hail of thousands of deadly missiles that overwhelmed Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome defences, invading Hamas militants freely roamed residential streets, seized dozens of Israeli civilians at will, and banked them in tunnels as coin for the negotiations that will follow.
It was “a day that will live in infamy” wrote former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas in Haaretz, deploying the same phrase used to damn Japan’s surprise strike on Pearl Harbour and al-Qaeda’s attacks on the US.
Israeli’s shock realisation of vulnerability will now galvanise its response. The immediate political effect is to unite the nation’s political parties while the country gropes toward a restored security.
Read the article by Peter Hartcher in The Sydney Morning Herald.