“In the morning, a Katyusha rocket landed at the entrance to Ashkelon. Luckily, no one was hurt but we cannot rely on luck. The only way to remove this threat is to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza… We will topple Hamas’s terrorist regime, and we will restore security to the residents of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Sderot, and to all of Israel.” This is what Benjamin Netanyahu said 11 years ago in February 2009, a week before the election that saw him return to power. On Monday, it was like déjà vu, although this time without the bluster and empty promises. Eleven years have passed since Netanyahu promised to topple Hamas and instead they have seen him consistently favor diplomatic solutions like the long-term ceasefire deal he has been trying to reach with Hamas via the Egyptians. While the rockets fired into Israel since Sunday were launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Naftali Bennett have publicly held Hamas responsible. The flareup this week was expected. It doesn’t make a difference if it was caused by the way an IDF bulldozer tried to snatch the body of a terrorist killed Sunday morning along the Gaza border or due to the fact that PIJ was just looking for an excuse to get some attention and take advantage of Israel’s distraction ahead of next week’s election. The fact is that Gaza has been a problem for Israel since before the unilateral disengagement in 2005 and more specifically, since Netanyahu came back to power in 2009. It is not just going to go away. Both Netanyahu and Bennett declared on Monday that they have “surprises” in store that would change the paradigm. One of those surprises was the Israeli bombing on Sunday night of Islamic Jihad targets in Syria in retaliation to the rocket fire from Gaza and not just the regular targets in the Strip. That might have come as a surprise but it was not enough for the terrorist group to stop its attacks and throughout the day, around 1 million Israelis were forced to remain close to bomb shelters. Instead, PIJ is gambling that on the eve of another election Israel will refrain from a large-scale operation or aggressive response that could lead to more fighting. The truth is that the real surprise would be if Israel, after more than 10 years of ping pong with Hamas and PIJ, were to formulate a clear strategy of what it wants to happen in the Gaza Strip. Instead, the government doesn’t openly admit that it is negotiating a deal with Hamas – which it euphemistically calls an “arrangement” – and at the same time refrains from sending the IDF into Gaza to topple Hamas as Netanyahu promised to do 11 years ago. The reason neither is happening – not a ceasefire or a war – is because both are complicated and unlikely to solve the problem. Gaza is a challenge that will continue to haunt Israeli political leaders – before elections, during elections and after elections. As Netanyahu has learned over the last 11 years in office, when it comes to Gaza, there is no easy answer.
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