Israel has not yet recovered from the shock of the operation it was subjected to on the 7th of last October. It is also exposed to continuous rocket fire and its army’s losses are on the rise. What challenges does it face after a month of fighting?
A question that the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post tried to answer by discussing 5 major challenges that Israel is currently facing, a month after the beginning of its war with the Islamic Resistance Movement (agitation).
First, the erosion of diplomatic support
The day after Hamas infiltrated Israel and killed 1,400 Israelis, politicians from across the Western world expressed their condemnation of that incident and pledged unwavering support for the State of Israel, but 30 days later, with Israel continuing to bomb Gaza strip The resulting killing of thousands of civilians began to increase allied pressure on Israel to force it to accept a humanitarian truce called for by the American President. joe biden Who “condemned the tragedy” to which the residents of Gaza are exposed.
The newspaper believes that the reason for this shift in the American position is the increasing pressure from American Muslim voters who expressed their intention to abstain from voting in the 2024 elections due to the strong support that Biden provides to Israel in the wake of the Hamas operation.
This is also because young American voters are more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israel, with a recent Harvard University poll finding that nearly half of respondents (48%) say they side with Hamas rather than Israel in this conflict, and the same percentage say they They strongly disagree with Biden’s pro-Israel policy.
Second: Anti-Semitism is at its most extreme
The Jerusalem Post says that anti-Jewish actions have increased at an unprecedented rate, with online calls for violence against Israel, Zionists and Jews reaching 1,200%, according to a report issued last month by the Internet Anti-Semitism Monitoring System (ACMS).
In this context, she mentioned that a rabbi was killed in front of her home in Detroit, a Jewish woman was stabbed in France and a swastika was drawn on her door, a crowd in Dagestan stormed an airport searching for Jews who were on board a plane, and Israel warned its citizens against traveling abroad.
Third, Israel is experiencing collective trauma
Even before Hamas infiltrated Israel, a study published in the Journal of International Psychiatry found that up to 27% of Jewish Israeli children in some areas of the country had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
A study conducted by Tel Aviv University in Tel Hai in 2021 showed that the level of personal resilience among citizens constantly decreased throughout the period of the Covid-19 pandemic and continued to decline, most notably during the wave of fighting with Hamas in 2021.
“The current conflict will undoubtedly affect Israelis emotionally for decades and perhaps generations to come,” the newspaper’s health and science correspondent, Judy Siegel, wrote.
Fourth, Israel is facing an economic recession
Leading economists have predicted that the Israeli economy is on the verge of sliding into recession as the conflict continues and more than 360,000 reservists currently called into service are diverted from their regular jobs.
Last week, 300 leading economists made the demand in a letter to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu His Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, ordered the immediate suspension of all non-essential expenditures in the state budget and a comprehensive re-evaluation of spending priorities, to address the very imminent economic crisis.
The letter said, “The severe blow that Israel received requires a radical change in the order of national priorities and a massive transfer of budgets to address the damage caused by the war, assist the victims, and rehabilitate the state.”
Fifthly, Israel is involved in an endless war
As Israel enters another week of its war on Gaza, it does not seem, according to the newspaper, that there is a clear end to the game, and although the idea of “destroying Hamas” may seem attractive, the practical application of achieving this goal and the possible consequences remain unclear, as the newspaper says that Hamas Deeply integrated into Gaza’s social and civic life, it enjoys broad support in West Bank.
In addition, the newspaper states that Hamas is holding more than 240 Israelis and foreign citizens “hostage” in Gaza, and Israel said it is committed to securing their release.
The newspaper added that Hamas reported on Saturday that more than 60 “hostages” were missing due to Israeli air strikes in Gaza. If this is true, the newspaper says, the escalating ground invasion could endanger the lives of these hostages and complicate achieving the desired goal, and even if Hamas is dismantled, who can guarantee us that another anti-Israel movement will not emerge? The newspaper’s mouthpiece asks.
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