This week, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada fired a salvo aimed at torpedoing Israel’s war in Gaza. In a jointly worded statement, the leaders said they were ‘horrified by the military escalation in Gaza’ and called for an urgent ceasefire, which they described as the ‘only way to free the hostages’.
After adding their opposition to settlements and a demand to ‘massively scale up humanitarian assistance into Gaza’, they made an impassioned appeal to work ‘towards the implementation of a two-state solution’, described as ‘the only way to bring long-lasting peace’.
One wonders whether these leaders have lost their political brains, never mind their moral compass. Do they not realise that a one-sided statement placing responsibility for ending the war on the victim of terror, rather than its perpetrators, might just be a bad idea?
Can they not see how much this statement warms the hearts of the West’s enemies and how it will harden Hamas’s negotiating tactics? It is little wonder Hamas welcomed this statement with such glee, describing it as a ‘step in the right direction’.
The fact that a UK policy position was welcomed by genocidal Islamist butchers may be one of the lowest points in recent British diplomacy.
If Western leaders really wished to end this war, they would demand the surrender, disarmament and exile of Hamas leaders. They would be saying that for every day that the terror group refused to surrender, the blood of innocents lay on their hands. They would insist on the destruction of Hamas infrastructure as much as they did when the RAF bombed ISIS to oblivion in Mosul and Raqqa.
Israeli troops in Gaza. Credit: IDF
They would be placing the burden, not on Israel, but on the terror group that launched the unconscionable crime of October 7 and which promised to commit it again.
Let us be clear: the war has been destructive and awful for Palestinian civilians. Thousands have been killed and many more maimed and displaced. No one can doubt the toll that this is taking on those who are truly innocent. It is a worthy aim to bring the war to an end.
But we should be equally realistic that this must entail the defeat of Hamas. One can honestly pontificate about all the other things that are necessary to stabilise Gaza – reconstruction, aid, new governance, deradicalisation – but none of these amount to very much without Hamas being disarmed and removed from the Strip.
Jeremy Havardi
With the Islamists gone, the West could train a new security force, involving both the Palestinian Authority and other actors from the region, to replace Hamas and govern Gaza in its absence. Such a force would allow Israel to withdraw from areas it has conquered, help in the distribution of aid and avoid the perilous vacuum that would endanger Palestinians and Israelis alike. It would also allow for the hostages to return home after 600 days in hellish captivity.
One can say all this while also acknowledging the issues with Netanyahu’s government. It is surely not wrong to criticise the extremism of far-right ministers, the incidents of settler violence and what increasingly appears to be a mistaken decision to pause aid deliveries.
As for a two-state solution, the West appears stuck in an October 6 paradigm.
Its leaders continue to think that moving towards this goal, or unilaterally recognising Palestine, is a mark of political virtue.
In their fantastical thinking, they forget one thing. Israel left Gaza in 2005 as part of a process that might have led to the very outcome they now dream about, namely Palestinian statehood. Yet Gaza served not just as a base for attacks but as the region’s primary hub of terror. Israelis have seen the destructive consequences of such folly and are mindful of not repeating such a fateful mistake.
That is why moves towards two states require a radically changed approach, one that addresses Israeli security needs, tackles the threat from Iran and removes the role of organisations like UNRWA.
Above all, the terrorist threat must be neutralised if there is to be any hope for a longer-term settlement.
- Dr Jeremy Havardi is the Director of the B’nai B’rith UK Bureau of International Affairs
