Prelude: How The Myth of Israel Drowned in The Al-Aqsa Flood

An Introduction to a Three Part Series on the Death of the Israeli Ideal

For more than a year, the Israeli occupation has wreaked havoc across the Arab world, indulging in a nihilistic murder-spree, blood-drunk on the children of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. While it is hard to look at the death tolls and the destruction and say that Israel lost in any sense and indeed the present may appear quite good for the war-mongering regional power, but the hysterics will fade and Israel will find itself militarily antiquated and deserted by those it needs to survive.

While the collapsing ceasefire talks may lead to a renewal in the fighting, the Battle of Al-Aqsa flood, launched by Hamas and its Resistance allies on October 7th, 2023 and concluding with the signing of the Ceasefire in Doha, has shattered the myth of Israeli invincibility.

This three part series will explore the different fronts the opened across the war; while not exhaustive, the list as follows broadly covers all the places that the Occupation and its allies found their armor (figurative and literal) pierced:

The Sands Of Gaza:

While Israeli and American society, and even the IDF command, were shocked by images of thousands of fighters emerging from the tunnels to celebrate, those who had followed the conflict from the perspective of the resistance were less so. Thanks to Al-Qassam, Sarya Al-Quds and Abu Ali Mustafa brigades’ insistence on producing their own combat footage, it was very clear that the IDF was getting their shit absolutely rocked in the field. Refusing to leave their tanks, refusing to enter tunnels and unfamiliar with a landscape they themselves turned into a guerilla nightmare, the soldiers of the IDF spent 15 months as prey to the tactically innovative and elusive Resistance fighters. While the IDF is hardly opposed to such tactics, the total destruction of Gaza was (at least partially) an attempt to get around the fact that the IDF just did not have what it takes to fight the Resistance, who’s members rarely- if ever- appear in the Israeli’s own combat footage. Long gone is the image of the commandos slipping hostages out of Entebe or the hyper-competent warriors of the 6-day war, instead the IDF limped out of Gaza naked to the world as the army of mangled, underwear-pillaging, cry baby TikTok-dancing, child-murdering genocidaires that they truly are.

The sands of Gaza will swallow you, O scum of nations.

The War for the North:

While there is much to be said on the short, medium and long-term consequences of Hezbollah’s immense losses through their support front, ultimately the problem for Israel remains that their northern settlements are deserted, with huge swathes of the Northern Settler population flatly refusing to return. Hezbollah’s destruction of the idea that the settlers could be kept safe is no small thing. It is the idea that the Israeli government can guarantee your life and safety that keeps the settlers flowing into Israel, keeping its fragile economy and its even more fragile politics from degrading. Smashing surveillance equipment, blowing up tanks and settlers homes and industry and raining missiles and drones down on Israel-proper dealt permanent material and psychological damage to the Israeli government’s ability to sell the idea of superior Jewish safety in its northern reaches.

The Closing of the Red Sea:

Most glaringly in Israel’s failure to achieve military victory on any front of their war was the total failure of Israel, the United States or any of their coalition partners to break the Ansarallah government of Yemen (informally the Houthis) blockade on commercial shipping through the Red Sea. While it was an international embarrassment for the imperial powers that this impoverished country, itself the victim of a decade of genocidal bombing at the hands of the Gulf states, it cost the Israeli economy dearly. Yes, prestige was damaged and American naval supremacy challenged, but for Israel, the true cost was shown when Eliat port, one of Israel’s most crucial cargo ports, was bankrupted by the blockade. Israel lost an incredible amount of money as a result of the Ansarallah blockade and the future of international shipping to Israel will forever have this experience priced-in to the decision making and insurance rates of anyone who wants to do business with the genocidal occupation. Nevermind when they started dropping missiles into Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion airport.

In the most ironic rewrite of David and Goliath one could conceive of, Israel now finds itself with all of the military might of the United States and its fascistic devotion to conquest, toppled over by powers significantly smaller and poorer than itself. While I am not so sure that the collapse of the Israeli state is coming any day now, the still-fresh wounds accrued over the last 15 months will never truly heal and will scar into terrible reminders of all the ways that the Israeli sword could not cut through the tenacity and power of the Resistance.

In the upcoming series, I will focus not only on Israel’s military defeats, but the chaos it causes their immensely delicate and volatile domestic politics. I’m not going to ascribe a timetable here, but I hope to have the three parts out fairly soon.