Today marks 1,000 days since 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel. That day saw the largest one-day loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. Hamas engaged in mass murder of civilians as well as combatants, mass murder of children as well as adults, widespread rape, and the kidnapping of hostages, while recording their crimes to share on social media.
Hamas’s ability to launch this surprise attack demonstrated a failure by the Israeli security establishment. It also demonstrated the strategic failure of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. For years, it allowed Arab states to funnel money to Hamas since it saw Hamas as a strategic counterweight to the Palestinian Authority. As long as the Palestinians were divided, any discussions about a permanent peace could be left to one side while Israel continued to build new settlements in the West Bank.
The horrors of 7 October 2023 could have jolted Israel into recognising that Netanyahu’s strategy had failed. On that day, Israel had the sympathy of the world and could have called upon Arab states (who mostly detest Hamas and want a two-state solution) to help Israel completely disarm Hamas without requiring all-out war.
Instead, Israel chose to fight what can only be described as a “war of revenge.” Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including vast numbers of women and children, have been killed and even more will have been severely wounded. There has been the obliteration of Gazan homes, hospitals, schools and universities. Neutral outsiders see an aim of making Gaza unliveable while far right Israeli government ministers talk about Palestinian expulsion and territorial annexation.
Endless war suits Netanyahu for many reasons. It delays his criminal trial for corruption; it allows him to avoid an official Israeli commission of enquiry into the failures leading to 7 October 2023; it avoids any discussion of a permanent peace; it allows settlement building to continue.
Against this bleak background, Liberal Democrats for Peace in the Middle East will mark the anniversary by re-dedicating ourselves to the cause of peace. We will continue to work with Jewish and Arab civil society organisations in Israel and Palestine. We will continue to work with like-minded organisations in the UK. We will continue to work with Liberal Democrat parliamentarians and other politicians who share our goals.