[News] Hamas is intact, so has Israel lost?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Hamas is intact, so has Israel lost?

Six months after Al-Aqsa Flood, Israel has made little progress in
eradicating Hamas or its capabilities, and its Gaza war only fueled and
expanded support for resistance. Tel Aviv has miscalculated badly; you
can't fight ideology with guns.

Xavier Villar <https://thecradle.co/authors/xavier-villar>

MAR 25, 2024 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/hamas-is-intact-so-has-israel-lost
(Photo Credit: The Cradle)

Six months into Israel's blitzkrieg on Gaza, the occupation state's
military intelligence has reluctantly acknowledged what many had suspected:
achieving a decisive victory over Hamas is an unattainable goal. Despite
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's initial rhetoric of total annihilation,
the reality on the ground speaks differently.

Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel's national security, had previously declared
that nothing short of 'total victory
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/14/israel-hamas-gaza-war/>'
would suffice. Yet, as military Spokesperson Daniel Hagari conceded on 18
March, Hamas continues to persist, regrouping – he alleges – around
Al-Shifa hospital in the northern Strip.

As US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan pointed out
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/us-says-hamas-return-to-shifa-hospital-shows-need-for-a-viable-alternative-to-control-gaza/>
last
week: "Israel cleared Shifa once. Hamas came back into Shifa, which raises
questions about how to ensure a sustainable campaign against Hamas so that
it cannot regenerate, cannot retake territory."

*Mission impossible *

>From a political standpoint, this suggests that the occupation army can
neither eradicate the Palestinian resistance movement nor assert control
over the besieged territory.

Reserve General Itzhak Brik, who has previously criticized
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240224-total-chaos-among-israeli-military-ranks-in-gaza-former-army-general/>
the
"total chaos" among the ranks of Israeli soldiers in Gaza, has long warned
that "the complete destruction of Hamas is not feasible, and Benjamin
Netanyahu's statements regarding this matter are only intended to deceive
others."

Tel Aviv's failure to dismantle Hamas's extensive tunnel network further
highlights the inadequacy of its military efforts. Israeli authorities have
confirmed that around 80 percent of Hamas' tunnel system remains intact
despite months of airstrikes and ground operations.

This network, according to Iranian defense ministry officials
<https://www.isna.ir/news/1402102719322/%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%86%D9%84-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B3-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%B3-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%A7>
speaking
on condition of anonymity, is estimated to stretch for between 350 to 450
miles – an astonishing feat, given that Gaza's longest point is 25 miles.
Two officials also assessed that there are close to 5,700 separate shafts
leading to these tunnels.

Israeli boasts of repeatedly bombing Hamas tunnels ring untrue in light of
these discoveries. Even advanced munitions like GBU-28 'deep penetration'
bombs have proven to be ineffective against the tunnels' depth and
complexity.

The evidence of Israel's inability to break through Hamas defenses
continues to mount. In a 12 March speech, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei revealed that he had received a message from the Palestinian
resistance saying that "90 percent of our capabilities are intact."

According to US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, the
Israeli army was at most able to destroy less than a third
<https://nypost.com/2024/03/10/world-news/us-senate-intelligence-chair-says-eliminating-all-of-hamas-is-not-a-realistic-goal/>
of
the Hamas tunnel network, adding: "The idea that you're going to eliminate
every Hamas fighter, I don't think is a realistic goal."

It's abundantly clear that Israel's stated objective of destroying Hamas
has not been achieved, nor will it be in the future. Even the *Wall Street
Journal*
<https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-thinks-it-could-win-gaza-war-with-israel-6254a8c6>,
in a 29 February article lauding the occupation army's successful strikes
on Hamas forces, acknowledged that "Israel is still far from its declared
war aim of eliminating Hamas as a significant military and political
entity."

Israel's failures can be analyzed from two distinct perspectives. Firstly,
Hamas's form of military resistance is asymmetrical, allowing it to inflict
damage on a much larger adversary without bearing significant casualties.

Understanding the necessity to safeguard its dual political-military
structure, Hamas organizes military operations into independent cells under
the authority of the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Secondly, Hamas consists of not only a fighting force but an ideology
deeply rooted in the Palestinian struggle for national liberation within
the Islamic notion of jihad <https://www.britannica.com/topic/jihad> – or
"meritorious effort." The potency of this anti-colonial movement, and
particularly its broad, entrenched popularity among the people, renders
eradicating it a near-impossible task.

In contrast to the Fatah-led, US–Israeli-backed Palestinian Authority's
(PA) acceptance of self-government with numerous constraints – exemplified
by the Oslo Accords – Hamas's rejection of such agreements reflects its
steadfast opposition to Israel's colonial vision and offers an
attractive alternative
political stance <https://thecradle.co/articles-id/1110>.

*Assessing war as a tool of politics *

In short, threats to annihilate Hamas and destroy Gaza are futile. From the
rational perspective of the Palestinian resistance group, it is understood
that the consequences would be far more severe if they were to submit to
Israel's demands.

This same logic of resistance, which is fundamental, is shared by the
overwhelming majority of Hamas followers, including secular ones.
Furthermore, the logic of anti-colonial resistance is passed down from one
generation to the next, and the genocidal dynamics of Zionism only serve to
perpetuate this same logic.

The acknowledged failure of Zionism's pursuit of 'total victory' over Hamas
must be comprehended from a political perspective. As long as Israel's
colonial occupation persists in its objectives of displacement and conquest
in Palestine, the ideology of resistance, epitomized by Hamas today, will
maintain its dominance among the colonized.

Polls conducted among Palestinians corroborate this analysis. A survey
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-shows-soaring-support-for-hamas-in-west-bank-as-90-say-abbas-should-resign/#:~:text=The%20poll%20found%20that%2072,57%25%20in%20Gaza%20backing%20it.>
by
the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in December 2023
indicates growing support for Hamas across all occupied Palestinian
territories, alongside stunningly diminished support for the PA.

The data further reveals widespread endorsement of Hamas' actions,
including the 7 October resistance operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and a
significant demand for the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas, the PA's president.

The statement from the Former Deputy Chairman of the Israeli National
Security Council, acknowledging that "there are no military solutions to
the conflicts Israel is engaged in, particularly in the southern region,"
confirms the political blindness of the current Israeli status quo.

*Understanding the Axis of Resistance *

It is important to note that, at times, it is assumed that an ideology may
be subordinate to a set of political interests, which could lead to that
ideology modifying its political objectives at some point. However, this is
not the case with Hamas, nor is it when analyzing the reasons for Hezbollah
and Iran's opposition to Israel.

Neither Hamas nor the rest of the members of the Axis of Resistance can be
threatened or bombed into submission, as these autonomous groups have their own
political agenda
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/14/irans-axis-of-resistance-is-a-potent-coalition-but-a-risky-strategy>
that
they consider non-negotiable even in the face of Israel's genocidal
campaign. As Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah emphasized
repeatedly in a 16 February
<https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/16/720189/Lebanon-Hezbollah-Israeli-regime-pay-with-blood-civilians>
televised
speech:

We are before two choices – resistance or surrender – and the price of
surrender … means submission, humiliation, slavery, and disdain for our
elders, our children, our honor, and our wealth … The price of surrender in
Lebanon meant Israel's political and economic hegemony over our country.

To illustrate, consider Iran's steadfast commitment to Palestine despite
the internal risks it poses to Iranian national security in confronting
both the US and Israel. Yet, these risks and threats hold no sway over
Tehran's regional political strategy, which is rooted firmly in its
revolutionary vision.

This marks a fundamental difference with classic western military
coalitions created ad hoc by like-minded states to combat a common threat
without long-term commitments. The "collapse
<https://www.saba.ye/en/news3290999.htm>" of the lackluster US-led
coalition aimed at countering Yemen's anti-Israel naval operations in the
Red Sea is a case in point.

In contrast, the Axis of Resistance is more than just a coalition of
groups; it is anchored by an anti-colonial ideology that shares
non-negotiable objectives but allows for different strategies to achieve
them.

In other words, all the groups that comprise the Axis of Resistance –
whether Sunni, Shia, Arab, non-Arab, secular, or Islamist – are capable of
reaching occasional agreements and disagreements using the same language of
the anti-colonial Islamic tradition.

As the war on Gaza has raged for half of a year, the unprecedented toll on
Palestinian lives and infrastructure has been devastating. Despite some
tactical advances by the occupation forces, it's becoming increasingly
clear that Israel is headed towards a strategic defeat
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/23833>.

Its failure to achieve its objectives contrasts sharply with the unwavering
resolve of the Palestinian resistance, bolstered by a regional alliance
united in its uncompromising stance against the occupation state.
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