Happy Faceless Men : Survival is Success?

 

If I can be forgiven for exercising artistic license, the picture above shows a faceless and anonymous group of men. We do not know their identities, but they must exist. They are three representations of the secretive strategic planners of Hamas military strategy. They must exist, because Hamas would have been unable to launch their attacks on Israel on October 7th, 2023, without meticulous preparation. This preparation was evident in the way that Hamas fighters were able to breach Israeli defences and inflict severe civilian casualties. It was evident in the taking of hostages and the provocative killing of innocent people. And it was especially significant in the construction of an extensive and elaborate network of tunnels in Gaza, where Hamas fighters could take refuge from Israeli retaliation or military action. On all these counts, I think we can agree that the Hamas planning staff achieved a high degree of success.

The principal criteria for success came from the inevitable Israeli retaliation to the Hamas atrocities of 7/10/23. At the risk of quoting myself, in my blog post of 13/10/23, I said that the Hamas crimes were part of the strategy of provocation: 

"...the provocation by said (guerrilla) movements against their stronger and/or occupying enemies... It involves attacks by the terrorists that sting their enemies into using excess force as retaliation, in order to alienate the civilian population. The retaliation, such as it is, will cause deaths to innocent and uninvolved civilians and thus lead to an increase of support for the guerrillas".

Well, I got that right. The Israeli military response, which has lasted over a year, has inflicted far more casualties upon the Palestinian population of Gaza than Israel suffered on October 7th. As Reuters observed on January 15th:

"Palestinian health authorities say Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza killed more than 46,600 people, with just over half of identified victims being women, children or older people".

Despite this, a Hamas official told the BBC on January 16th that the fact that Hamas had endured, despite the Israeli onslaught constitutes a victory: 

"Israel promised to eliminate Hamas, but now they are sitting in the same building with Hamas leaders and negotiating with them," a senior Hamas official told me (Rushdi Abualouf) in a phone call before the ceasefire was announced".

Predictably, and like other guerrilla groups before, civilian casualties matter little to Hamas, who are, as some say, a death cult. The unnamed Hamas official said:

"In terms of numbers, Gaza has paid an unimaginable price. But in terms of gains and losses, Israel failed to break the will of the Palestinians, the resistance, or to push the people out of the country."

Oh, well, that's all right then, at least for Hamas. Because the high Palestinian death toll has brought other benefits for Hamas and all the militant Palestinian groups. The huge number of civilian deaths has brought widespread international condemnation of Israel, galvanising the already extant anti-Zionist movement worldwide who have added to their numbers considerably. According to Asian Eye, a survey conducted last year found: 

"A majority of Britons surveyed (71%) felt it was fair to label the Israel military force's actions in Gaza as ‘genocide’"

And, as we know, there have been huge demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and calls for the UK to ban arms sales to Israel. There has also been an increase in antisemitism   as well as in Islamophobia. This has the benefit for Hamas of an increase in social tension in a major Israeli ally. But the most tangible strategic benefit for Hamas has been the number of future recruits it can garner from the relatives of the thousands of innocent people who have died in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza. They will have many more recruits for their future attacks on Israel and that must afford the Hamas strategists a great deal of satisfaction. The fact that their attack on 7/10/23 started this whole destructive process and claimed so many lives will not trouble them. By and large, and by their own ruthless standards, they have survived and succeeded.

Which leads to my conclusion. Many years ago, I read a book on guerrilla warfare by one Robert Taber: "The War of the Flea". It is largely forgotten now, but was once said to be required reading for US Special Forces officers. Taber was an American Marxist who admired the Cuban Revolution and actually fought with Cuban forces against the CIA-organised Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, 1961. Taber was wounded in the fighting, but recovered to write his panegyric on revolutionary guerrilla warfare. One sentence from the book is relevant here:

"The guerrilla succeeds because he survives"

That quote is highly appropriate to the present Hamas situation. Despite all the suffering and death resulting from the October 7th attack, and despite a protracted Israeli military offensive, Hamas have survived. They are still intact as a fighting force and have paraded triumphantly during their recent release of Israeli hostages. The faceless strategy planners will have learned from the struggle and will doubtless be planning future actions.

Looking at my picture above has suddenly given me a sinister, creepy feeling. I can almost imagine those happy, faceless men quietly laughing to themselves...