Israel and two of its problems: its image and what to do the day after Hamas

By: Ricardo Israel - 10/08/2025

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Being a parliamentary system, many decisions are made by the cabinet. This time it was the Security Cabinet that resolved what appears to be something in between: there is no occupation of the entire Strip, where Israel has a presence of approximately 75%, but there is progress toward Gaza City and its million inhabitants. Perhaps situations such as preventing the resumption of the trial at the International Court of Justice, where the existing resolution asks Israel not to alter the legal reality, played a role. However, it is more likely related to how divided Israel is, since generally these decisions, unless it involves the US, are not greatly influenced by outside opinion, with European opinion being rather irrelevant, as in Ukraine (Putin-Trump meeting).

Nor was the well-known objection by General Eyal Zamir on behalf of the General Staff decisive, whose exaggerated press coverage is a further indication of how much ignorance there is abroad about the characteristics of Israeli democracy, since what happened is more common than is believed, due to such special characteristics as the fact that almost all those who make decisions have worn uniforms, and that they are institutions with small staffing, based on conscription, but the important thing is that after making their objection public, there is total obedience to what the civil authorities order. In that same sense, it is also not strange to Israeli democracy that no less than 600 former high security officials, including former heads of the Mossad and the Army, had asked Trump to intervene to stop the war in Gaza, which undoubtedly could have been done as it was done in Lebanon, no end of the world, just part of the public debate, surprising only to those who opine without knowing

However, international pressure points to two basic shortcomings of Netanyahu's administration, which are a terrible image problem and the lack of a political plan for the day after Hamas. For Israel, these are serious problems, in no way attributable solely to Netanyahu, as they have been dragging on for a long time. The image problem perhaps dates back to Lebanon 1982 (for example, attributing to Israel a massacre it didn't commit, such as Sabra and Chatila), which over time has deepened, so much so that it cannot be solved with lobbying or public relations, but requires a state policy, which Israel completely lacks. What is done in Hasbara, the public diplomacy strategy that would translate into explanation or clarification of decisions taken, has actually failed, given the magnitude of a problem that has grown so much that it is undoubtedly harming the war effort today.

And in the case of the day after Hamas, Israel has lacked, not only now, but for a long time, a political proposal on the matter, which has obscured its military achievements, not only having defeated Iran, but also having triumphed on seven fronts, where the one where it began, Gaza, remains open. The lack is so acute that only now is there an indication from Netanyahu, so general that in the end it says very little. This lack has been going on for a long time, since perhaps the last person to have a strategy on the matter was Ariel Sharon, the one who withdrew from Gaza 20 years ago, hoping never to return.

For me, there is only one solution: moving toward the Palestinian state that has been rejected so many times by them, through those who have already taken the step of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, which are the Sunni Arab countries, with whom the fight against Iran developed a de facto alliance. That is, returning to the original UN idea of 1947, which requires completely defeating Hamas, since otherwise, no one in the Arab world will want to get involved in Gaza. This alliance, for now, in fact, is the most profound change this war has wrought, and its impact and significance have generally gone unnoticed.

Israel's lack of political definition meant that as soon as it was announced that this new phase would move to Gaza City, the struggle of narratives began. Israel said it did not want to stay permanently, but rather sought to free Gaza from the tyranny of Hamas and ensure that in the future it would not be a danger to either Israel or its inhabitants, its first victims. The other is the story that already blames Israel for everything that has happened, is happening and will continue to happen, which puts all the pressure on that country, and none on Hamas, that of the UN and countries like the United Kingdom and France, which with enormous moral superiority, forget the responsibility of the former colonial powers in the current situation, in addition to the fact that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is right to emphasize the responsibility of Macron, who for a few more likes, and given the minority nature in his country, announced the recognition of the Palestinian State, which changes nothing, since there are 141 countries that have already taken that step, but because of the moment chosen, he buried a negotiation with Hamas that was better oriented than the previous ones for the release of the hostages, so much so that the terrorist group marginalized itself, saying that what was announced by France (United Kingdom and Canada) was a victory, since according to them, none of this would have happened without 7-X.

In this struggle of narratives, Israel will surely not fare well, considering the explosion of anti-Semitism that has taken place, and what has happened since the beginning of this war will be repeated: success in the military, but failure in the image and in the political, fundamentally due to its own errors, since it is difficult to understand that a country that has performed so well in the military, economic and technological aspects, has not been able to address as State policy, two issues that harm it so much today, as is the case with its image, and the lack of a political proposal for the day after, above all, attributing it to something that has always existed like anti-Semitism (or Judeophobia, as I prefer to call it) is something limited and does not confront the current problem, since it does not provide solutions.

Thus, in the face of this inaction, Hamas's narrative and its false figures have penetrated the Western media, the latest being the fake photographs of a child who, courtesy of the BBC and the New York Times, became the symbol of the famine claims. But as it turned out, it had all been faked in Hollywood.

Can Israel as a country do nothing? Nothing against Hamas, even though it's hard to find another group that has committed more atrocities against its own people, not as an unintended consequence, but on purpose. Can Israel do nothing? Nothing, except complain? Of course, no one pretends that it shouldn't be criticized, since the criticism it receives is perhaps harsher than that elsewhere. But can it put all the blame on it and not pressure those who have used and abused its own population, turning them into human shields?

To think that everything would have been different if Hamas had returned its hostages, increasingly forgotten and dehumanized. What if the world had pressured Hamas? It was just lip service in Europe and the UN, almost politely, with one notable exception: the Arab League. They called for Hamas's disarmament, saying that it "must end its rule in Gaza, hand over its weapons, and free the hostages." Israel, which has faced this war with great understanding of those countries, has also not seen the anti-Semitic demonstrations that have abounded in London, Paris, or New York. These Arab countries have acted this way because they understand fundamentalism, giving it the understanding that has disappeared in much of the West today, except, of course, in the United States. Europe seems to have made the same mistake as the former USSR, wanting to move forward without Israel and against it.

By the way, Hamas's response was a complete rejection of the request, doubling down. Today, the hostages seem to be its only option, and what can Israel do, which is easily manipulated psychologically, being so divided? What is the alternative to what it's doing? Is it to keep Hamas alive? Gaza is a tragedy of enormous proportions, but the primary responsibility lies with Hamas, and no one has pushed back the two-state idea more than Hamas.

Understandably, the families of the hostages are unhappy with the decision, as there is a degree of danger to their loved ones, as the terrorists threatened, but the country's general debate is marked by the polarization caused by the pending trial of the prime minister, and the suspicion that this influences his decisions. In this escalation, the Israeli cabinet agreed to five principles or conditions, in addition to the disarmament of Hamas and the return of all hostages, alive or dead, the demilitarization of Gaza, Israeli security control in the Strip, and the establishment of a civil administration, without Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. However, it is very difficult for the narrative to be successful, with a country united on 7/11, but today deeply divided, and with terrible shortcomings in the handling of two key issues today: image and the lack of a political proposal for the day after, worked out as state policy in Israel and agreed upon with its new allies, those who best seem to understand and support Israel today, in addition to the US government, the Sunni Arab countries.

The definition of war as the continuation of politics by other means points to the future. If Israel were to think more and more carefully about its shortcomings, it would take all necessary steps to continue strengthening that alliance, before the lack of progress harms the current relationship with the White House, where Netanyahu is right to say that in his long political career, he has never had this level of rapprochement with a government of what is the necessary and irreplaceable power for Israel, the United States, especially at a time when even Germany is announcing that it will suspend the delivery and sale of weapons to Israel, even Germany. Israel is right that today the issue of a Palestinian state could be a kind of gift for Hamas, and that in the near future, the lack of progress could harm Trump's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, which he has so sought, almost hounded.

For its part, what has happened in the world with antisemitism did not happen overnight, since there were no detection mechanisms and timely anticipation in the face of a reality where the snake left the nest, in such a way that it is influencing and even conditioning Israel's wars, not only in image but also in legal guerrilla warfare, lawfare, where the next step already seems clear, after the false allegations, where Israel has demonstrated impotence, those of "genocide" and "apartheid", everything indicates that legal actions are coming against Israeli tourists, calling for the arrest of some or many, accusing them of "war crimes", since most are former soldiers, and the mechanism has already been tested in countries that have some form of universal jurisdiction in their legislation, such as Argentina, Brazil, or Belgium, and as far as is known, Israel has not been proactive in this matter, preparing work teams and the strategy to counter something that is underway.

When the aggressor in this war is rewarded and the victim is punished, and where the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom even forgets his country's participation in, for example, the bombing of Dresden by his RAF, where between February 13 and 15, 1945, together with the United States, they caused more than 25,000 proven deaths (more according to the Germans), despite the fact that there was no war industry there. There is no doubt that just as a broad national agreement is needed for the political proposal to be automatic in Israel, in the case of the image, it has failed to such an extent that it needs not only a State policy on the matter, but also help, and if it seeks it, let it not be from a large US company, since one of the reasons for the failure of the Hasbara strategy is to present Israel as an example of diversity, ethnic, religious as well as cultural, with one of the most important gay parades in the world, but that, for example, has not worked in progressive or woke communities, since in the US it is precisely what they reject, given their critical attitude towards their own country and its inhabitants.

There is no doubt that a change in strategy and management is required, given the magnitude of the problem, which also affects many of the Jewish communities abroad, including those in Europe and the United States, not only because of the antisemitism unleashed in the streets and universities, but in the case of Israel it is worth asking how and why it has failed to show that among the many conditions that Hamas sets, the creation of a Palestinian state never appears among them, just as not only the Europeans, but today Canada, never make recognition of the Palestinian state conditional on the return of the hostages, examples that highlight the worrying gravity of Israel's shortcomings.

Furthermore, just as the US government's sanctions forced universities into a situation where public opinion understood the seriousness of the antisemitism they had allowed in their classrooms, why haven't Israel or European Jews raised some cases of Judeophobia and discrimination experienced in Europe, such as the Dreyfuss case, still current around the world, as a famous case that makes use of the abundant human rights legislation and jurisprudence that exists in Europe? In this regard, let us recall that not too many years ago, it was shamefully used by pro-Islamists against someone as admirable as Oriana Fallaci, no less.

It's not lobbying, nor is it public relations, but what's coming will probably get worse before it gets better for Israel and the Jews, and it's more likely that Israel will be able to react before the Jewish communities, which still seem too affected by what has happened. To do this, we must look "outside the box," perhaps outside Israel, as well as outside the usual consulting firms of American companies, since their advice hasn't yielded results so far. This is in a context where we must insist that for the campaigns that are needed, the problem today is not the Arab countries, but the West, with some exceptions in Europe. In the case of the United States, a paradigm shift is also needed, since in the near future it will be difficult to think of a two-party system. With the processes taking place in the Democratic Party, it's possible to imagine a situation similar to that suffered by the Labour Party, which became anti-Israel under Jeremy Cobyrn in the United Kingdom, which is not a task for either academics or the Mossad.

There are too many defeats in image and narrative, one after another, nor are there quick responses to the spread of hoaxes, where a "deliberate policy of hunger" has been the equivalent of what the Soviet KGB did, still prevalent around the world. Nor do they act with the speed of social media, which generates narratives almost instantaneously. If one looks at what has happened, perhaps for the first time, in the midst of a war, a country called Israel pauses to provide food to the civilian population of those they invaded. Yet they are accused of causing genocide and famine. Can't Israel do anything to restore the truth? If the lawsuit against the NYT is successful, as Ariel Sharon did for Sabra and Chatila against Time, it would be a step in the right direction, but high-profile cases against personalities in the media, who should suffer the consequences, would also be very helpful.

In this restoration of truth, why don't Jewish communities publicly confront those who present themselves as Jews at pro-terrorist events in the West, whether for political or religious reasons, but who allow the organizers to claim they are not anti-Semitic but merely "anti-Zionist"? This isn't freedom of expression, but rather clarifying that they were only speaking for themselves. In this regard, I recall those who visited the ayatollahs in Iran, those who visited Arafat's Ministry of Jewish Affairs, or those who attended the UN anti-racist summits in Durban I and II.

Is there nothing we can do except protest? What has gone wrong for so long? How much influence does the fact that Israel is attacked based on half-truths have? How is it possible that, after years of denouncing that fake-image production industry called Hollywood, Israel has allowed itself to be surprised once again, this time by famine, cited time and again as justification for recent European decisions?

This is how a narrative has been imposed, where the proven fact of antisemitism is not a sufficient argument for inaction, which has helped terrorists impose their narrative.

@israelzipper

-Master's and PhD in Political Science (Essex University), Bachelor of Law (University of Barcelona), Lawyer (University of Chile), former presidential candidate (Chile, 2013)

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».