by Daniel Pipes
Middle East Forum
When formulating the Israel Victory idea in the late 1990s (and first writing about it in April 2001), it seemed as distant as the moon. But now, the combination of a more realistic Israeli body politic and Arab states focused on the Iranian threat brings it within reach. Therefore, its implications need to be worked out in some detail. That is the goal of this pamphlet.
Israel Victory means Israel imposes its will on West Bank and Gaza Palestinians so that majorities there eventually cease to try to eliminate it and, instead, accept the permanent existence of the Jewish state. Victory aims to defeat Palestinians so they will no longer be an enemy on the military, diplomatic, economic, or any other battlefield. Ironically, liberating Palestinians from their obsession with Israel benefits them even more than Israelis, for it finally opens a path for them to build their own polity, economy, society, and culture. Thus, do all sides gain from Israel victory and Palestinian defeat.
Polling shows the Israeli public increasingly attracted to the idea of victory. For example, a Midgam Research & Consulting survey after the Israel-Hamas war in May 2021 found 82 percent of Jewish Israeli respondents agreeing that “[t]here can be no appeasing Hamas; only by defeating it unequivocally can we bring this conflict to an end.” And 70 percent agreed that “[t]here can be no deals with terrorist organizations, only defeat. Israel must use all its military, diplomatic and economic means to crush Hamas’s will to continue fighting.”