The Israeli press has dubbed this cycle the “Bloodbath Spiral”. Since the beginning of the year, Israeli soldiers have carried out daily raids in the West Bank to hunt down armed groups and potential terrorists. Every day, Palestinians, both civilians and combatants, die as a result of these offensives. Almost every day there are retaliatory attacks. And this whirlwind of revenge seems unstoppable. Worse, no one seems to care.
On the one hand, the new Israeli government believes its behavior is dictated by its most extremist elements, Jewish supremacists and ultra-Orthodox. As the only response to the attacks, she intends to arm all Israeli civilians and demolish the homes of the terrorists’ relatives. This strategy, so unfair and ineffective, only encourages an already seething cult of martyrs.
On the contrary, the Palestinian Authority has lost all legitimacy, and its President Mahmoud Abbas remains in power without elections for almost twenty years. The only voices heard are those of Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, and new groups of armed youth determined to spread terror in Israel.
In the middle, Western countries condemn themselves to helplessness, repeating their pious wishes for “appeasement” and a two-state solution. Only the ephemeral Prime Minister Yair Lapid last year called for a “peaceful” Palestinian state alongside Israel. Previously, the Palestinians ignored him, and then swept away in the elections.