Israel’s strategic choice
On May 15, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a dramatic challenge to his own prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Speaking for the military he oversees, Gallant, a retired general, described to the Israeli public a glaring lack of strategy in Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip and pointed explicitly to the man responsible: Netanyahu.
He detailed how the security establishment had prepared plans for the “day after” Hamas was defeated in Gaza, only to be rebuffed by Netanyahu. The prime minister not only rejected these plans, famously ruling out the Palestinian Authority (PA) in its current form as a partner for governing Gaza after Hamas, but refused to deliberate any other alternatives. His chosen strategy, as usual, was no strategy.
Netanyahu’s non-strategy has failed even on its own terms. Without an alternative governing structure, Hamas can reconstitute itself, and already its militants have returned to previously cleared areas. Unless an alternative vision for Gaza’s governance is promoted, Israel could find itself conducting continued military operations for months or years to come. And without a humanitarian and diplomatic path forward, Israel cannot begin to mend the generational damage this war has done to Israel’s reputation among the publics in many parts of the world.
An alternative path forward
What might they have done instead? Israel’s leaders should have set a clear strategic vision for the future of a Gaza free from Hamas, and from this vision established operational goals. The vision would have not only spelled out who cannot rule Gaza, but who should. Given a menu of bad-to-terrible options, the choice is clear: The PA, with proper reform, or people close to it. This would have allowed Israel, the United States, the PA, and others to plan for the administration of civilian affairs in Gaza in the short and long term.
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