WhatsappIt is crunch time for Israel. While there are many disagreements regarding specifics on the war against Hamas and the other Gazan Jihadists, no one in the War Cabinet or the wider security cabinet disagree on the need for sending in the IDF to seize Rafah.
Sinwar and his Hamas comrades have continuously refused any sort of reasonable hostage deal forcing the IDF to take decisive action against the remaining organized Hamas battalions – almost all of which are located in Rafah, along with Sinwar and most likely the remaining living hostages.
The USA and the rest of the world has urged the IDF not to enter Rafah. They claim this is out of worry for civilians, but it is clear there is a deeper reason at play. After all, the USA has shown far less regard for civilian deaths than Israel has when it fought its wars against the Taliban, Iraq, and ISIS.
So what is going on?
Ramadan has always put Israel and also the West on the defensive. Muslims, including Jihadists have gotten a free pass on Ramadan to incite their communities to violence and to essentially hunt down Jews and even Christians and kill them. For the West all religions are the same. Those in the Middle East know this is a fallacy. The Biden administration and the Western world is facing an existential crisis that drills down to the core of their moral belief set.
An invasion into Rafah by the one and only Jewish State to finish off Hamas and kill Sinwar on Ramadan spells the end of bowing down to the Jihadist narrative. Defeating the armies of Jihad on the month that the first Jihad was launched effectively ends the psychological hegemony Islam has had over large parts of the Jewish State since its reestablishment.
Sinwar is banking on chaos and it very well may happen, but launching the final battle over Gaza on Ramadan is a message to the world: The Jewish people have returned to their Land and are not going anywhere ever again. The government of Israel must follow through and shake off the fear and anxiety Ramadan brings with it. Only by confronting the Jihadist armies that are at our gates can the Jewish state and its supporters around the world finally win.
