After extraordinary tactical successes against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian ballistic missile and nuclear targets, Israel faces its most underestimated and enduring adversary in Hamas. Despite the physical devastation in Gaza, Hamas still holds living hostages — and with them, the leverage to shape Israel’s international standing and internal politics.
Former allies, including the UK and France, have shifted their posture so dramatically that they now offer statehood as a reward for terrorism. These governments no longer condition recognition of a Palestinian state on even minimal reforms — such as Hamas disarming, its leaders going into exile, or the Palestinian Authority halting its educational incitement of violence and delegitimization of Israel in schools and state-run media.
The moral asymmetry is stark: Hamas’s use of human shields, its indiscriminate targeting of Israeli civilians, and its genocidal charter are routinely ignored by international actors who once claimed to stand against terrorism.
As a Jerusalem Post editorial recently noted, “According to UN data, from May 19 to July 29 of this year, 87 percent of its 2,010 food trucks in Gaza (85 percent by tonnage) were ‘intercepted’ — either peacefully by crowds or forcefully by armed actors. That means only 13 percent of the food meant for hungry Gazans arrived at the proper address.” Yes, Israel shares some responsibility for Gaza’s dire humanitarian crisis. But the world’s insistence on blaming only Israel — while ignoring Hamas’s deliberate strategy of creating chaos at distribution sites — only emboldens terrorists and distorts the moral landscape.
The Israel Defense Forces face an enemy that embeds itself within civilian infrastructure, a tactic unprecedented in modern warfare, according to urban combat expert John Spencer. Yet Israel is condemned as if it were waging a conventional war against a regular army. This distortion fuels global protests, often incited by images and headlines stripped of context, and plays well to increasingly restive Muslim populations in Europe.
Among world leaders, only President Trump has consistently refused to be gaslit by Hamas propaganda or to excuse the Palestinian Authority and PLO’s involvement in terrorism. He directed the State Department to sanction their leaders and hold them accountable. Whatever one thinks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy, Trump recognizes that Israel is not guilty of genocide or war crimes alleged by biased international bodies.
In contrast to European leaders who reward terror with promises of Palestinian statehood, Trump sent Ambassador Mike Huckabee and special envoy Steve Witkoff into Gaza to see the situation firsthand. Still, Israel must confront a hard truth: it is a formidable regional power, but not a global one — and its margin for error is shrinking.
When the U.S. waged war against ISIS or battled Islamist extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan, tens of thousands of civilians died — but the world did not erupt in protest because those wars were seen as just, and the West was united. Like America, Israel does not target civilians. But unlike America, Israel faces a global double standard while its enemies are absolved of primary responsibility.
A “strategic victory” won’t be clean or complete. But to preserve its alliance with the U.S. — especially as tensions with Iran will escalate again — Israel must end its ground war in Gaza soon. A prolonged occupation or annexation would alienate its last major ally and endanger the Jewish and democratic character of the state.
Israel should withdraw its troops from Gaza, maintaining only a two-kilometer buffer zone near the border and corridors like the Philadelphi to prevent the smuggling of weapons from Egypt. It should also flood Gaza with food and aid — even if Hamas remains in place — while continuing to target terrorist infrastructure through airstrikes, drones and special operations. This approach will mitigate humanitarian suffering while preserving Israel’s ability to act decisively.
But there should be no rebuilding of Gaza — not a single bag of cement — until the hostages are released. Hamas has already rejected a U.S.-brokered deal to return ten living hostages. Realistically, Hamas will not release all of them voluntarily; their psychological hold over Israeli society is their greatest remaining weapon. Rescue operations or a dramatic shift in international pressure are the only remaining options.
To claim a partial but credible strategic victory, Israel must redefine success as the destruction of Hamas as a military entity, not its total eradication. Gazans will remain radicalized for generations, whether or not their leaders are called “Hamas.”
It must also realign its politics to win back bipartisan American support. That means Netanyahu must lead — by sidelining extremists like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, and calling for new elections to renew democratic legitimacy at home. This is also the best chance Bibi has of holding power in the next election.
Israel is not losing militarily — but it is bleeding strategically. The path forward lies not in total conquest, but in clear-eyed realism, moral clarity and preserving the support of the one ally it cannot afford to lose.
Eric R. Mandel is the director of the Middle East Political Information Network and senior security editor for the Jerusalem Post’s Jerusalem Report.
