Tunnel network forms premise of Netanyahu’s threats against Gaza

Recent announcements by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) that Hamas is rebuilding the border tunnel network have led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue belligerent statements promising more brutality against the Palestinians in Gaza. Collaboration between Israel, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and Egypt, which ensures and enforces Gaza’s isolation, seems to be the prologue for yet another premeditated military offensive.

According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu told a conference of Israeli diplomats on 31 January, “We are working methodically and calmly against all threats, including threats from Hamas, both with defensive and offensive measures. And of course, in the event we are attacked from tunnels in the Gaza Strip, we will act very forcefully against Hamas, and with much more force than Operation Protective Edge.”

Given the excessive destruction wrought by Israel in its 2014 massacre, any action more forceful than that could be translated as meaning the annihilation of Gaza. Netanyahu also declared that such a move would have “international backing”, claiming that the world understands Israel’s alleged “security” concerns and would condone its brutality.

The tunnel network is a practical manifestation of the anti-colonial struggle. Despite opposition and threats, the tunnels constitute the Palestinians’ use of land for legitimate resistance to the occupation both in a military sense and to serve as a last resort to ensure that those in the besieged territory do not succumb to the deprivation enforced by Israel upon the enclave.

Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog added his voice to the growing criticism of Netanyahu’s government, stating that it “must instruct the IDF to bomb the tunnels and destroy this threat.” Retired Major General Yom-Tov Samia, the former head of the IDF’s Southern Command, told Army Radio that, “Israel’s security strategy over the past 25 years has shifted from initiated action against terror groups to passive defence.”

One common characteristic of Israeli rhetoric is that all alleged criticism is nothing short of a sinister parody. Israel has clearly shifted tactics as regards its colonial expansion and violence. However, the shift is in line with its manipulation of international law, while also being cautious enough to remain within the mainstream parameters of issues such as the definition of genocide, for example. It is preferable for Israel to prolong its complete expansion, as doing so would generate economic prosperity as well as ensure the “legitimacy” of regurgitated laments regarding “security”. Hence, Israel is in no hurry to eliminate the tunnel network completely, as it would constitute the self-inflicted loss of a lucrative security narrative.

Furthermore, the heightened emphasis upon the tunnel network should be considered within the context of the Jerusalem Intifada, as well as the incidents leading up to Operation Protective Edge in 2014. In both scenarios, Israel has used and is using events in the occupied West Bank to justify a premeditated massacre in Gaza. Hamas and other resistance movements have been reluctant to involve themselves in the current uprising, thus leaving the people to their own devices, including falling prey to a lack of organisation and strategy. Nevertheless, the mere existence of the tunnels will provide Israel with a premise, however erroneous and illogical, to use twisted reasoning to explain why Gaza should be obliterated completely. Not only would this entail a high but apparently — and disgracefully — acceptable percentage of civilian victims, but also a perpetually displaced population and a land grab of yet more Palestinian territory under the guise of “security” concerns. This is ethnic cleansing at its worst.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.