The picture that came out of Beirut on Sunday morning was as carefully planned as the entire move that preceded it. Two sat opposite each other on fat armchairs. On the right is the host Hassan Nasrallah, and in front of him is his guest Ismail Haniyeh. On paper, Haniyeh is the number one man in Hamas in his sabbatical as head of the Political Bureau. But the more important figure rested in the armchair next to him. This is his deputy Salah al-Arouri. Al-Aaruri, a member of the military wing, is the operations man and the planning brain of the Hamas leadership abroad.
In the modest room sat other characters, interesting in themselves but less important. The camera caught smiles, and this is also the photo that was circulated among all those taken at the same time. The portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini looked over everyone from the wall.
Commander of the 91st Division during the night attacks in Lebanon (photo: IDF spokesperson)
They had good reason to smile. A few hours before, they successfully completed a planned military operation that challenged the Israeli security system. Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad conceived the plan and carried it out, each according to their role. It was simple and went well: attack Israel from three fronts one after the other. A limited, almost symbolic attack, which will cause noise and anxiety on the other side, but will not degenerate into a full war.
Last Thursday, on the eve of Passover, rocket barrages from Lebanon surprised the peace of the Israelis. According to the understanding of Israeli intelligence, the shooting was carried out by a Hamas apparatus operating from Lebanon, and therefore the punishment should fall on the leaders of Hamas and not on the Lebanese. The ministers of the political-security cabinet gathered for an emergency discussion, and at the end of it they decided to attack Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This is how the Air Force was sent to the night operation in Gaza.
The military arm of Hamas was ready. She responded by shooting at Sderot and the surrounding settlements. The night of fire in Gaza ended like the barrages from Lebanon – with no casualties on either side. But he prepared the ground for the third stage of their plan: firing from Syria. This is how a barrage of rockets was fired into the Moshav Mitzer area in the Golan Heights on Saturday night. Even then, no one on either side was hurt.
Once, during the second intifada, Hassan Nasrallah advised the Palestinians that there was no need to carry out an attack every day. One of these once every few days is enough. In the meantime, the Israelis are under a lot of stress anyway. They go on alert, close roads, search everywhere, and are under tremendous tension. By the same logic, it is not necessary for every rocket to kill. Such was the multi-frontal shooting last weekend. His goals, at this stage, were to create a broad consciousness on both sides. A consciousness intended to show the Arabs, and Israel as well, that there are those who stand firmly against it and exact a price from it.
This is why Hezbollah was silent after the shooting, and Hamas was silent. In order not to overheat the Israeli elite. They wanted to shoot and return home safely. The response fire from the Strip was also carried out by Hamas operatives in a measured manner, as the intensity of the IDF’s attacks. It was also originally not intended to kill.
The threefold aggression served several purposes for the factions. First of all, the “unity of the arenas”, a value that the top of Hamas came up with during the Wall Guard system in May 2021. According to this idea, all the Palestinian diasporas should act together, as if they were one army with wings and wings. Gaza will be linked to Al-Aqsa, Lebanon will be linked to Jenin, Nablus will be linked to Gaza. The Israeli Arabs will also contribute their part and harass the enforcement authorities in Israel in times of emergency, and when necessary the Jordanian street will also join.
The attack was planned in the weeks before the month of Ramadan to ride on it and the tensions on the Temple Mount. Some in Israel claim that it would have happened anyway. I’m not sure about that. Not because they didn’t want to, but because such attacks need legitimacy, so that they appear just in the eyes of the whole world. Israel fell into the trap that was set for them, thus providing them with the hoped-for qualification. For two nights, one after the other, the Jerusalem police forcefully dispersed Muslim strongholds in Al-Aqsa Mosque. The images that came out of there provided the perfect excuse for the planned response.
The Arab world of old
The Hamas leadership has been trying to promote the “unity of the arenas” for many years, not always successfully. But since Guardian of the Walls, she has gone on a wave. The goal is to arouse the pride of the masses and mobilize them for the campaign, each in his own way and from his place of residence. Until a few years ago, an uprising on the Temple Mount was handled by Israel within the borders of East Jerusalem. Today, such a prank could light up several arenas at the same time.
In the Pesach rocket attack, the factions climbed a level. Faster, higher, stronger. They not only demonstrated unity on the scene, but also made use of rocket weapons. And not in one or two arenas, but in three. And not months apart, but days or hours.
In this case, the unity of the arenas is not only Palestinian. Here again Palestinians and Lebanese return to fight shoulder to shoulder, like in the good 80s. Because Hezbollah, despite the silence, owns the house in southern Lebanon, and they opened the door to those who launched the rockets.
For them, there is also a historical aspect to this story. Arab countries once united for Palestine, but since then they seem to have abandoned it. And here, the lands of Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip returned to be used together in the days of struggle against the Zionists. Arab unity, Palestinian unity, and also a religious association for Jerusalem are expressed here. It’s all symbolic, but for them, this is just the beginning.
A tank convoy in the Yom Kippur War (Photo: David Rubinger, editor-in-chief)
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Many Israelis that this war has recently come to their minds, because of the internal tensions that are taking place these days. But wars used to be different. They were conducted at the front, away from population concentrations. Today’s wars are much more primitive. The enemy is not a country, but some military entity, or individuals, and the battlefield is the home front. The enemy is neither armor nor air forces, but a knife-wielding civilian or simple artillery. The Bekaa Valley was replaced by the Bekaa roads, the Matala crossing was replaced by Dizengoff Street, and the Syrian outposts in the Golan were replaced by the Hawara checkpoint and the Gilboa crossing. Even the propaganda broadcasts have undergone a transformation. Since the citizen is also a fighter, and the main street is a fighting sector, the picture of Nasrallah and al-Arouri is meant to do what the radio slogans of the past did. To convey messages of unity and cohesion, to strengthen and widen the cracks in the enemy.
Israel is wrong if it thinks that the rocket attack was a one-off. They will try this mechanism again when the time comes, and the more our internal weakness increases, the more they will press the gas. The color returned to their cheeks after years in which the Palestinian issue was abandoned, and organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, along with the Iranians, became lepers and warmongers. These days they are returning to the field with renewed strength, and Israel is the one that is slowly and gradually cornered.
The countries of the region follow the political crisis in Israel with great interest. Some fatten an offering; Others have difficulty deciphering what is happening and are waiting for the picture to clear up. This crisis is taking place at a time when the White House has also fallen into a weakness in foreign relations, thus prompting Saudi Arabia, an ally of Washington and Jerusalem, to show great interest in Iran. The rapprochement between them brought color back to the cheeks of the entire Iranian camp and planted a lot of encouragement in it after years of dangers. Precisely at this time, Israel decides to re-examine the idea of the melting pot on which its existence is founded. Al-Aruri, Sanwar, Nasrallah and their friends saw all this very well. See, and decide to dare.
The writer is the commentator on Arab affairs of Gali IDF