Described as a “partial achievement.” Will the raids on Gaza resolve the Israeli election battle?

Occupied Jerusalem - In

parallel with the promotion of the Israeli government headed by Yair Lapid, to achieve its goals of the military operation against the Gaza Strip, which affected military leaders from the "Al-Quds Brigades", the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, an internal debate is prevailing over the assessment of the attack and what it achieved politically and militarily.

Despite the wide support among the Israelis for the war on Gaza, there is a difference in attitudes regarding achieving the goals of the operation, which the occupation called “breaking of the dawn”, as what was accomplished is described as “partial success” and not “victory” due to the indecisiveness on the Gaza front, as well as by The fears that accompanied the political and military levels throughout the operation are the scenario of being dragged into a comprehensive and long-term confrontation in the event that Hamas joins the battle.

Analysts unanimously agree that the military operation against the Gaza Strip was cloudy, especially with the reduction of the ceiling of targets, to avoid failure and internal criticism during the course of the battles.

Observers believe that the "achieved goals" and despite the Israeli society's unanimous support for the aggression on Gaza have not been reflected in the balance of political forces and the results of the elections scheduled for the end of the year, according to opinion polls that showed the rapprochement between the camp of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the so-called "change camp", which is witnessing a hidden competition over His presidency is between the interim prime minister (Lapid) and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

The Israeli bombing of the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip left 46 Palestinian martyrs and dozens wounded (Anatolia)

"Partial Accomplishment"

And in light of the Lapid government’s “bragging” about the military operation in Gaza achieving its goals, military and security expert Rafe’ Abu Tarif says, “At the military level, it can be said that the operation achieved its goals by assassinating military leaders from the Islamic Jihad movement, but this is called a partial success and not a decisive victory or a victory.” ".

And the military expert believes, in his talk to Al Jazeera Net, that the Jihad movement has limited military strength and capabilities compared to Hamas and is not the decision-maker and sovereignty in the Gaza Strip, but it confronted the military operation and was able to bombard the Israeli depth "and it was clear that if Hamas entered the battle, the war would have been fierce, and accordingly Israel chose to keep the campaign short for fear of being drawn into an all-out war."

He explained that despite Israel's partial achievement, the reality on the ground indicates that Tel Aviv has failed on a civilian side, as the bombing left dozens of Palestinian civilian casualties and hundreds of wounded, including children, women and the elderly.

Less criticism

Despite the internal controversy in Israel regarding the assessment of the battle and its political motives related to the Knesset elections that will take place on November 1, Abu Tarif says, "The army has achieved an achievement by launching a military operation in agreement and harmony between the political and security levels, and in this they are proud."

The expert in military and security affairs believes that this consensus prevented criticism of the political or even military level during the course of the military campaign, in contrast to previous military operations in the Gaza Strip, similar to what happened with Netanyahu, who faced sharp criticism during Operation “Guardian of the Fences” in May 2021.

He pointed out that Israel deliberately created a kind of ambiguity about the types of threats posed by the Jihad movement before and during the military campaign, in order to mobilize Israeli public opinion and instill a spirit of optimism for success at the military and political levels.

The leaders of the occupation army and the government follow the aggression on the Gaza Strip (Israeli press)

chapter equation

In his assessment of the results of the aggression on Gaza, writer and political analyst Suleiman Abu Irsheid believes that Israel, since its failure to achieve the declared goals of the war on Lebanon in 2006, and the accompanying repercussions on the political and partisan map and the rise of Netanyahu’s camp, “deliberately sets modest goals so that the features of its defeat will not be revealed.” And its failure to resolve the battle, specifically on the Gaza front."

Abu Irsheid said, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the recent attack on Gaza was a military success in the eyes of Israeli researchers, but it was not considered a victory even by the recognition of the Israeli side, which attributed the "success of the operation" to not incurring deaths or heavy losses in infrastructure.

He also refers to the Israelis' celebration of the military operation, believing that it enabled the establishment of the separation between Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the trend towards establishing the formula for the exclusivity of a specific resistance faction of Palestine, after this equation was established between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and this is what they consider a great achievement.

Employing the attack in the election battle

On the political level and the electoral goal of the aggression on Gaza, Abu Irsheid said, "The prevailing belief in Israeli society is that Lapid and Gantz carried out a qualitative and successful operation without losses, but without succeeding in eliminating or undermining the resistance in Gaza. Therefore, this debate will also accompany the electoral campaign of the Israeli parties, Noting that most of the military operations against Gaza had electoral objectives.

Abu Irsheid believes that the opposition headed by Netanyahu will use the latest military attack on Gaza in an electoral campaign, and will criticize and downplay what the transitional government says it has achieved, which in turn will try to reap the “fruits” of the military operation in the elections, which will lead to a rivalry between Lapid and Gantz over who leads the change camp. to form the next government.

But the same analyst reduces the possibility that Lapid will be able to form the next government coalition, despite the Israeli consensus in support of the war on Gaza, which is not reflected in the composition of the Knesset, due to the hidden rivalry with Gantz and Netanyahu's dominance of the political scene.