It Was Never About Ethnic Cleansing - It Was About the Hostages
Seeing the tens of thousands of Palestinians return to their lands in northern Gaza, one can only remember the endless accusations against Israel: that the war was about displacement, ethnic cleansing, settlements- that these are supposedly the ‘real’ aims.
Now the war has ended, Israel sees itself as victorious, and none of these goals has been achieved. How is it possible?
Here’s the truth: Israel was trying to prevent Hamas from controlling Gaza and, primarily, trying to get its hostages back. I’ve spent so many words in international media explaining that this war could end in minutes if Hamas agrees to return the hostages. But that ship had long sailed; the war was not portrayed by most of the international journalists or politicians as a war at all.
Israeli military casualties were almost never reported. It was presented as an onslaught, a massacre - no security aim, no reason, just death, reigned by Israelis with no purpose. Now, the hostages are returning, and the war has suddenly stopped. Will they remember that forgotten connection? Hostages were always at the heart of the legitimacy of the war- for Israel, the U.S., and the international community. True, far-right and some Likud elements in the Israeli government had other (dangerous) dreams. The Prime Minister allowed those to be discussed and addressed. Members of Likud, far-right ministers, and others indeed spoke obsessively about “expulsion,” “migration” under duress, annexation, and new settlements. There’s no doubt about that, nor that some of them genuinely desired such terrible outcomes.
Yet these were never the consensus or a real option. Recap: Hamas first refused to give up control of the Strip. Then, it refused to release hostages before full IDF withdrawal. It then refused disarmament. Now it agrees to all of these conditions. Echo chambers that cheered Hamas’s radical demands were obsessed with indicting Israel rather than ending the war and saving lives. With all my criticism of Netanyahu and the missed opportunities to end the conflict, this was never about endless war. I write this no to defend him, but to explain the Israeli society.
One only needs to know Israelis and witness the scenes of joy now, with this ceasefire, to understand that this is a people that wanted their lives back. Mainly, they wanted the hostages home and to know Hamas isn’t a threat anymore. President Trump, in a true demonstration of state-of-the-art statecraft, made it happen. He will forever be regarded as a hero in Israel. Those who amplified Hamas’s demands are now silent- or even condemning the agreement. For them, it’s never been about Palestinians. It’s about hating Israel and Zionism to the point of being willing to sacrifice the last Palestinian so that their argument demonizing Israel will prevail.