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Israel’s show of strength with Hezbollah
When Israel went into Gaza on the 13th of October 2023, several days after the deadliest massacre in Israel’s history, the world was on their side.
Israel, they said, has a right to defend themselves against the worst atrocity the Jewish people have faced since the Holocaust; young women were raped, innocent festival-goers were assassinated on sight and many were taken hostage.

In a town in the North of Israel, Kiryat Shmona, which Hezbollah has been attacking
The world backed Israel because they believed in the right to self-defense and the right to save the hostages – but already, a few weeks later, support started to dwindle, and dwindled support turned into criticism.
The truth is that Israel failed to clearly outline their goal of the war. Is it to save the hostages, or is it to eradicate Hamas? If it’s both (which Israel says) how does that go together? And what does ‘eradicate Hamas’ even mean? Or are the attacks on Hamas just a pressurisation tactic to create a more favourable hostage release deal? And would a military success work as an advancement towards a two-state solution? Nobody knows but can only guess.
Combine not knowing with seeing horrific footage every day on social media of babies brawling and apartments being bombed, even the hardest of hearts would feel more than steadfast sympathy towards those being hurt.
Although there are a lot of critics of the war, Israel’s closest ally still holds them very highly. When Prime Minister Netanyahu went to speak in in the US Congress a few months ago, he was applaused almost more than he spoke. And for Israel, America is almost all that matters.
Beyond international pressure, the war has created another crisis for Israel; their security image as being one of the strongest army’s in the world has been destroyed. Israel, a country in the Middle East, values this immensely as it helps deter potential terror attacks; losing the repuation is a huge loss for the state.
Israel’s recent attack into Lebanon was in retaliation to Hezbollah sending rockets at civilian areas almost daily for the past year. The Iran-backed terror group has a powerful military, considered the most heavily armed non-state group in the world, making many think an attack on the group has the ability to turn into a full-scale war.
Instead, Israel defied all the expectations. Their succesions of quick attacks quickly nuetralised Hezbollah within a matter of weeks; from communication devices (reportedly), to the entire leadership, to a leader of global terror Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel flaunted their advanced military and technology in their attack against Hezbollah and with it, are rebuilding their security image piece by piece.