In a report published a few days ago, the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth (1) called for lowering Israeli expectations regarding the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, because complete victory has become unexpected, especially with the increasing pressure of the American administration on the occupation due to the huge numbers of civilian casualties. Meanwhile, John Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, published a comment entitled “Israel May Lose” (2) in which he noted that “although most of the discussions since the start of the war in Gaza have assumed “Israel will prevail in the end due to its military superiority, and the possibility of defeating Israel has become possible with the passage of time.” Alterman pointed out that the Palestinian resistance’s concept of victory goes beyond simply winning one battle or another towards achieving long-term political results, and for this the resistance does not need force as much as it needs steadfastness, which the resistance applies perfectly as it seeks to use Israel’s power against it.
The Tai Sapaki…the ability to balance and exhaust the enemy
Alterman presents two main ideas that stand by the Palestinian resistance in light of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, which are “steadfastness” and “employing the opponent’s power to its advantage.” The two ideas go back in some way to a famous combat sport, “Judo,” as balance is the decisive factor in achieving victory in judo matches, unlike other combat sports.
The word “Judo” means “the soft or easy method” in reference to the basic principle of the game, which is to use the opponent’s strength against him and adapt well to variables. For example, during the match, the judo player moves in a circular manner (Tie Sapake), while keeping the feet above the ground during his crawl-like movement, while the legs remain spread during the defensive position (Gegu Tie), which It keeps the center of gravity close to the ground and contributes to maintaining balance. If the attacker exerts pressure, the defender can step aside in the course of his circular movement, contenting himself with placing his foot in front of the rushing opponent in a way that leads to the latter’s imbalance and fall.
The Japanese founder of the game, “Jigoro Kano” (3), was a frail boy whose weight did not exceed 45 kilograms. He often suffered from the tyranny and bullying of his classmates when he was a student at the “Ikui Jigoku” school, which led him to take an interest in the martial art of “Jiu-Jitsu.” But Kano’s attempts to join training circles were always rejected, due to his lack of appropriate physical strength, until he found what he was looking for in the Japanese teacher, Hachinosuke Fukuda, who represented a unique combination of two different Jiu-Jitsu schools. With the death of Fukuda, his family asked Jigoro to succeed him as head of the Fukuda Dojo, due to the dedication he had shown during his training period. At the same time, and in the context of his constant pursuit of development, Jigoro joined a new training circle under the supervision of an expert. Another “jujitsu” is the Japanese “Masatomo Iso”.
“Jigoro” worked to improve his knowledge derived from the various schools of “Jiu-Jitsu” until he invented judo techniques and methods of destabilizing and throwing the opponent. His school quickly gained interest and spread within Japan. In 1889, while he was on his way to Europe on a study tour, he gave a judo demonstration on board a passenger ship, most of which were non-Japanese. During their sailing across the Indian Ocean, the passengers were greatly astonished when a small man like “Jigoro” was able to offer a huge discount. On the ground with ease; Thus, judo became known outside the shores of Japan, just as the world learned about Palestine when the little boy threw a stone at a tank.
Kozushi…the fall of the raging bull
Taking a look at the defensive movement carried out by the Qassam Brigades leads us to link it to the Tai Sabaki circular movement. The issue is not limited to the nature of urban warfare, which imposes rotation from one house to another, in a way that exhausts the attacker and distracts him. Rather, it extends to the movement of the resistance during hit-and-run operations through defensive points (4) that can take different forms, provided that the attacker does not cross them or It wraps through it easily. In addition, a complex network of tunnels provides the resistance with the ability to surprise the enemy by obstructing the front or rear.
From the first moments of the morning of October 7, with the breach of the Gaza envelope by resistance fighters, everyone expected Israel’s reaction to be violent after being humiliated in an unprecedented way. Of course, the Qassam Brigades were aware in advance that the occupation army would charge like a raging bull for the purpose of revenge. And save face, and in return, it must be steadfast and defend in the appropriate manner (5). This dynamic relationship between attack and defense is explained by the Prussian military historian and theorist Carl von Clausewitz in his famous book “On War,” in which he believes that defense has the advantage during combat because preserving territory is easier than seizing it.
Clausewitz points out that the offensive rush may negatively affect the quality of logistics and supply lines, and in return, the defender enjoys shorter supply lines and higher morale (which applies to the Qassam Brigades). The military realizes that an uncalculated rush will necessarily lead to gaps, as is the case in the sport of judo, when the attacker abandons his caution and his feet move away from the ground for a moment, but that moment is what the defender is waiting for in order to put his foot in his opponent’s leg and throw him to the ground, taking advantage of his imbalance. This is what judo players call “Kuzushi,” and it is also what Clausewitz expressed when he said: “It is the time when the flashing sword of vengeance can be raised and the greatest moment of defense can be provided.”
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The curse of excessive power
Even if we move away from military tactics, we will find that the vision of the Palestinian resistance is consistent with the principle of Clausewitz, who saw war in its essence as an extension of politics and one of its rounds. From this perspective, it seems that all the excessive force directed by the occupation against the Gaza Strip is ultimately working against Israel in the long term. First of all, the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation and the brutal Israeli war that followed led to the return of the Palestinian issue to the forefront, and increased global demands for the establishment of a Palestinian state (6).
Not only that, as Emile Hakim (7), Director of Regional Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, points out, the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation shattered Israel’s perceptions of its strength and the efficiency of its security services and political leaders. Emil asserts that October 7 demonstrated the mistake of successive Israeli governments when they thought they could “besiege the Palestinian crisis and reduce or ignore it while seeking expansion in the West Bank, regional integration, and normalization with Arab countries.” What John Alterman (8) summarizes by saying: “Hamas does not see victory in one year or five years, but rather by engaging in decades of struggle that increases Palestinian solidarity and increases Israel’s isolation.”
As the war continues and the occupation army flounders between resistance ambushes in Gaza, this isolation and loss of confidence increases, and the state of confusion in Israel intensifies. Perhaps the most prominent evidence is what media reports (9) showed about the link between the activation of the “Hannibal Protocol” and the increasing number of Israeli deaths, as the protocol allows the killing of Israeli prisoners in order to avoid entering into negotiations and giving up something in exchange for their recovery. Reports (10) specify the incident of the Israeli Air Force targeting a festival. A musical was held in the Gaza Strip on October 7, an incident that the occupation attributed responsibility to the resistance before Israeli police investigations revealed that the targeting came from an Apache plane belonging to the Israeli Air Force (11).
In the same context, Western support for the occupying state is diminishing with growing popular pressure (12), which prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to demand an end to the war, in addition to the explicit support from countries of the so-called “Global South” for Palestinian rights, and stripping Israel of Its false claims about being a peace-seeking democracy. Thus, every daily steadfastness of the resistance has become a means of removing stains from the face of Israel and strengthening the Palestinian existence, which reminds us of the iconic saying of the martyr journalist Sherine Abu Aqla: “She needs to take a long breath… keep morale high.”
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Sources:
2) Israel Could Lose, John Alterman, Center for strategies and international studies, 7 Nov.
3) The life of Jigoro Kano, Judo Channel.
5) Israel’s Ground War Against Hamas: What to Know, Max Boot, Council of foreign relations, 23 Oct. 2023.
6) How the War in Gaza Is Reshaping Geopolitics, Bharat Bhushan, The wire.
7) The Gaza War and the Region, Emile Hokayem, Tylor and Francis, 4 Dec. 2023.
8) Source No. 2
9) Israel carried out mass killing of own people under ‘Hannibal Directive’: Reports, Press TV, 27 Nov. 2023.
10) Israel admits it killed its own at Nova music festival, The Cradle, 19 Nov. 2023.
12) France: Two thousand demonstrators in Paris demand an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza, France 24, November 3, 2023.
