In the aftermath of October 7 Israel will eventually emerge with greater peace, more stability, more security and more unity than could have been imagined. On October 6 Israel was on the cusp of total victory over her enemies. Peace with Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Bahrain, Sudan and the UAE had already been accomplished. Saudi Arabia was on the path towards normalization. This peace was sure to usher in a further peace with many of the remaining Arab states. This was all to be accomplished without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
I predict that the Palestinians would have found themselves with almost no support for a continuation of hostilities with Israel and the net result would have been peace with Israel. Not so much because there was love between the two peoples, but rather, out of lack of any other viable options. Hamas saw this and decided that this would translate into their own destruction. They reasoned that if they did not act soon, then they would be destroyed one way or another.
Hamas acted like a football team that was about to lose a game. They threw a Hail Mary. You only throw a Hail Mary pass when you feel like you’re desperate and you have no options. It has a very low percentage of being successful and usually means the other team has won the game. This was an act of desperation, not an act of strength. This was a last-ditch effort to try and defeat Israel before Hamas was to be destroyed. They hoped that if they perpetrated an act so heinous and so grotesque, Israel would react in such an intense way they would rally the entire Arab world to not only abandon peace with Israel, but also to unite to destroy Israel. They calculated that Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Yemen, West Bank Palestinians, Israeli Arabs and possibly the entire Muslim world would unite to defeat Israel. Current events has shown that they were wrong
Hamas miscalculated. None of the Arabs states withdrew their peace agreements with Israel. Hezbollah and Iran did not immediately join the fight in the crucial moments necessary for Hamas to have a chance. the Israeli Arabs did not attack their neighbors, and the PA did not join in. Peace with Saudi Arabia will still take place, albeit delayed by possibly a year or two.
Before October 7 we almost had a total victory over our enemies. Peace was in sight. Only a few more hurdles to overcome in what was to usher in a new era of cooperation, prosperity and peace. After October 7 we will have an even more enhanced total victory over our opponents than previously expected. The mentality in Israel has shifted. No longer will Israelis tolerate two armies, armed to their teeth on their borders. The net result will be a more stable Israel and a safer Middle East at large.
Israel will destroy Hamas; Israel will create a demilitarized zone and disallow a threat from Gaza in the future. Israel will neutralize Hezbollah. Peace will break out in the Palestinian territories out of a lack of any other options.
It must be said that to all those who have lost loved ones, these comments are not very helpful. And, this does not diminish in any way their suffering.
It is hard to see this now, but when analyzed over the arch of time, Israel and the Jewish people will emerge more united and stronger than ever.
The last frontier for Israel will be Iran. The difference is that Israel will be able to move forward with much safer borders and a much truer sense of security than it has had in a very long time.
Daniel Rosen, former leader of the TorchPAC pro-Israel group at NYU
Rosen’s activism against campus antisemitism was reported on in the New York Post, the New York Sun, and multiple Jewish newspapers as well as the Village Voice. He worked for the Jewish Agency and now serves as co-CEO of a local family business. Rosen has also been published in JNS.org, Israel National News, Times of Israel blog, FrontPage magazine and the Long Island Jewish World.
