Author's note. Insights in this article are drawn from an interview by the Vatican Dispatch (5 January 2024) of Fr. David Neuhaus, S.J., an Israeli Jesuit resident of Israel. The interview reflects the perspectives of the Vatican community and the Papacy on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

What has the Israeli retaliation in Gaza achieved?

The question is — what has it not achieved? The goal of the Israeli government and the military of destroying Hamas completely is a distant, almost impossible, reality. It will take years to achieve even half of that goal.

Time is the enemy, as in the US occupation of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, all of which failed miserably in the end. Hamas is intertwined with the Palestinian people, even if there are anti-Hamas elements. Destroying Hamas means destroying the Palestinian people.

The bloody retaliation by Netanyahu and the IDF against the Palestinian populace of Gaza has in fact ideologically strengthened Hamas not only among the local Palestinian populace but also among millions of its worldwide supporters. Take note that Israel has branded legitimate criticism of its government policy as antisemitism.

Massive Misinformation of Israeli People

Israeli government and media are united in, not misinforming, but "un-informing" the Israeli people into believing the genocide in Gaza is a justified war. They report how many Hamas fighters they have killed but fail to report civilian and child casualties. The Israeli people are mostly insulated from what is really happening in Gaza and the West Bank that may lead to a massive retaliation by their enemies.

"Various polls show that the Israeli public strongly backs this war. Does the Israeli media inform them of the bombing of Gaza?" Or do they simply promote hatred as a journalistic theme? Hamas killed about 1,200 Israelis in the 7 October invasion. At a certain point, the IDF had killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, about half of them children, a ratio of 20 Palestinians for every Israeli killed on 7 October — 20 eyes for an eye. Does the Israeli public know this? The Israeli people are thus blind to the real human situation in Gaza and the West Bank.