MOSAIC
The Strategic Fruits of Israel’s Military Victory
Arthur Herman
November 2025

…Yet Israel not only recovered its strength and spirit, but brought the war directly to its enemies with a finality that had been lacking in previous conflicts. In less than two years, Israel managed to break the backs of both Hamas and Hizbollah, and quieted the West Bank. It broke the grip these terrorist regimes had held over both Lebanon and Syria, ending the encirclement by hostile neighbors Israel had faced since 1948. But Israel also did much more than that. Most importantly, it shattered the power of those terrorist groups’ main supporter, Iran, with a series of airstrikes that allowed the U.S. to demolish Iran’s nuclear program and render Iran a non-player in Middle East power politics. It turned the holding of hostages from the terrorists’ trump card into the litmus test of Israeli solidarity: that there would and could be no peace with Hamas until all the hostages were returned, whether dead or alive. READ MORE

GATESTONE Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians Still Prefer Hamas and ‘Armed Struggle’ Against Israel Those who thought that Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip have made Palestinians change their minds about the terror group are in for a rude awakening. More than half of Palestinians continue to support the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israelis and foreign nationals on October 7. Moreover, the terror group remains popular among a large number of Palestinians. Support for Hamas means support for the destruction of Israel through Jihad (holy war). A poll published on October 28 by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that 53% of the Palestinians think that Hamas’s decision to launch the October 7 attack was “correct.” A majority of 54% of Palestinians blame Israel for the current suffering of Gazans, while 24% blame the US. Only 14% blame Hamas.