The price was high, the return is priceless: How the war on Gaza unmasked Israel

Ever since 7 October 2023, a painful question has haunted every soul. Was the immense price paid by Palestinians worth it? For months, this question was a hushed whisper. Today, it has become a deafening scream echoing from every pulpit. And there is only one group of people with the moral authority and painful credentials to answer it: the people of Gaza themselves.

In the first few days of the war, when the death toll was in the hundreds, the West and parts of the Arab world lamented the casualties but still found a way to justify Israel’s “right to defend itself.” The sympathy was genuine. But as the number of the dead soared into the tens of thousands, as children were pulverised under rubble and hospitals became mass graves, that sympathy evaporated. It was replaced by a revulsion so profound it moved millions of people worldwide. As sympathy with Israel plummeted, outrage against Netanyahu’s killing machine engulfed the world. 

Israel lost the world and gained nothing

The history of every conquered people is a history of paying a heavy price. No colonial power has ever willingly granted freedom. Freedom is seized in blood, destruction, torture, and starvation. Writers like me, sitting in air-conditioned rooms, tapping away at our keyboards, feel the shame of posing such questions, for it is not we who are killed, not our parents, our children, our families. But this is the world we live in. The people of Gaza paid the price, and only they can answer the agonising question.

What did Israel gain from this rampage? Israel has lost the world. It has lost the entire population of Western Europe, the global public opinion, and a sizable segment of the American people. Only a few reluctant Western governments, Germany foremost among them, are the last holdouts, clinging to a narrative on the verge of dying. No amount of money, PR spin, or polished grassroots campaigns will ever be enough to revive a reputation that has been dragged through humiliation and shame. 

Say goodbye to antisemitism

But Israel’s most profound loss is not its loss of reputation as a liberal democracy. It is the blunting of its most formidable weapon. For 80 years, Israel wielded a deadly sword that hung by a thin thread over the necks of anyone who dared to challenge its actions: the fearsome charge of antisemitism. Presidents, prime ministers, academics, authors—they all trembled, fearing they would be labelled. But not anymore. The fear has evaporated. The sword has been blunted, broken, and buried in the sands of Gaza. That infamous charge, now, generates laughter, scorn, and mockery. The game is over, and the charge no longer scares anyone. In a twisted, dark way, the war in Gaza has liberated the world from the fear of antisemitism.

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An image shattered, forever

In the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel vanquished Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in six days, it called itself invincible. Drunk with victory, hubris and arrogance went to its head. Israel never thought for a second that a small group of ragtag fighters wearing slippers and carrying RPGs could storm its borders, paralyse its forces for several critical days, load more than 200 Israeli prisoners onto motorcycles and cars, and fight its army to a standstill for two years. That aura of invincibility is forever shattered. Neighbouring Arab countries, watching Hamas outsmarting the Israeli army, are asking themselves, “Is this the same Israel that beat us in 1948, 1956, and 1967? This paper tiger army, we can certainly beat in a future war. Hamas has shown us the way.” The Arabs are taking one long shower and scrubbing away their fear and self-doubt. In their innermost monologue, they are thanking Hamas for liberating them from their inferiority complex.

As the Israeli killing machine continues, Israel’s moral standing has not just plummeted; it has been buried much deeper than the Empire State Building. And no amount of time will reverse it. It is finished and gone. All of this is because a built-in hatred of Palestinians drove this killing machine to its current quagmire. This hatred manifested in soldiers taking selfies while destroying homes and the horrifying UN report of mass graves in Gaza, in which Palestinian victims were reportedly found stripped naked with their hands tied. 

So, how do you answer the heart-rending question? Is the horrendous cost paid by the people of Gaza worth it, even when there is no concrete evidence of any tangible gains—no Israeli withdrawal, no ceasefire, no aid coming in, no medicine, nothing? No writer has a mandate from the tormented people of Gaza to answer the question on their behalf. Trump has dangled the most tempting inducements in front of the starving people of Gaza to leave for better lives anywhere they wish. They rejected his offer with incomparable poise and answered him in poetry: 

We shall root ourselves in our native ground Where our ancestors’ whispers still resound  From this sacred earth, we shall not depart for Palestine lives in every beating heart

When the final chapter of Palestinian history is written, historians will agree on one irrefutable fact. The liberation of Palestine began on 7 October 2023. They will choose one person who played an incomparable role in dismantling Israel; that person would be Benjamin Netanyahu. And in a strange, ironic, and convoluted way, Palestinians, while cursing him day and night for the death, suffering, and devastation he inflicted on them, will thank Netanyahu for his stupidity, his bloodthirsty megalomania, his arrogance, and for destroying Israel’s image in the world, forever. 

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