It is 6:18 pm. Exactly 48 hours ago, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, murdered 12 Israeli children playing on the grass in a field near their home. Two days have passed, and nothing has happened.
“We’re working on it;” “The target bank is being updated;” “waiting for an opportunity to take down a senior official;” “Precision the targets.” So many excuses and the clock is ticking. In the Middle Eastern neighborhood, if you don’t respond with force and on time, you lose the remaining deterrence.
What will happen if you don’t respond strongly and on time? Nasrallah will understand, Iran will understand, the Druze will understand, Syria will understand, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will understand. And we will understand too.
Nasrallah understands that the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, or what is left of it, is worthless. Children’s blood on this side of the border is abandoned. In the coming years, there will be no more normal civilian life south of the border because Israel is unable to protect its citizens or deter Hezbollah from harming them – Jews, Muslims, or Druze. Because Israel is incapable of anything.
Has Iran reached victory over Israel?
Iran understands that it has won. The proxy ring it has surrounded Israel with is completely effective. The blood of Israeli civilians has been abandoned. Will Israel strike Iran? It can’t even strike Dahiyah, the stronghold of Hezbollah in Beirut.
The Druze also understand. After we excluded them from Israeli society with a discriminatory and foolish nation-state law, now they also understand that this state will not protect them or their children. Next time, don’t count on us, they will say. We no longer count on you.
Syria understands. It understands that Israel is publicly announcing that the Golan Heights, which it annexed with great fanfare, is no longer considered Israeli territory. Here, Jerusalem has abandoned Majdal Shams. The Druze will prefer next time to be under Damascus’s protection.
Erdogan also understands that the only force in the Middle East that challenged their dream of dominance in what was once the Ottoman Empire, the Israel of the past – powerful, wise, advanced, and influential – is no more than a weak state, whose existence is conditional and perhaps even in doubt. And what he understands, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states also understand.
And we also understand. Slowly, with many tears and pain – but we understand. That our existence here was built on illusions and lies. And that the political and military establishment, which was supposed to ensure our existence and that of our children and grandchildren, has failed and caused failure. And if we don’t act quickly and replace everyone who needs to be replaced, in suits or uniforms – we are in real danger.
The writer is the editor-in-chief of Walla.
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