Destroying Hamas is a prerequisite for Middle East peace

Speaking in Davos last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israeli-Arab normalization and regional integration is dependent on a path to Palestinian statehood.

This stance comes as no surprise to Israel. Along with President Biden’s staunch support for Israel in its counterattack against Hamas, it was to be expected that Washington would treat the war as an opportunity to advance both a two-state solution and regional integration, including Israel-Saudi normalization. Success in this regard would bolster U.S. standing in the Middle East at the expense of Chinese influence and the Russian-Iranian axis, and provide Biden with an important diplomatic achievement as the presidential election approaches.

Whether such an approach offers real solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to broader regional fault lines, or whether this merely would be a Band-Aid on deep and bleeding lacerations, deserves a separate discussion. What is certain is that without an overriding, crushing Israeli victory over Hamas, these efforts have little chance of success. 

It is therefore critical that the Biden administration adopt policies that enable Israel to achieve such a victory and avoid steps that delay Israel’s military progress and triumph. 

If Hamas leaders Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh and their stormtroopers maintain their sway in Palestinian politics and can still threaten Israel, the “two-state solution” can and never will be a solution.

The Biden administration knows full well how important it is for Israel to win resoundingly over Hamas in Gaza. Washington would have liked Israel to reach that point quickly. The problem is that the administration is handcuffing Israel. Its mid-war demands of Israel are delaying Israel’s advance, prolonging the journey required for reaching the shared objective.

The pressure exerted by Washington to reduce combat intensity; to significantly increase the scope of humanitarian aid into Gaza (even though much of it is commandeered by Hamas); and to kickstart a process whereby residents of northern Gaza return to their homes, despite the continued presence of Hamas tunnels under those homes — all are playing into Hamas’s hands.

These demands impede the advance of the Israel Defense Forces and help Hamas maintain its civilian and military control over significant parts of Gaza. They also increase the operational challenges and dangers faced by the IDF and are detrimental to efforts to secure release of the hostages. They ease the pressures on Hamas, allowing the terror organization to remain rigid in its demands and to hold out hope that Israeli energies will be exhausted before Hamas reaches a breaking point.

The massive Hamas array of tunnels and underground military bases cannot simply be swept under the rug of “regional integration.” The immense quantities of quality weaponry amassed by Hamas and directed at Israel cannot be pacified by “Palestinian statehood.” First and foremost, Hamas’s wherewithal for never-ending war against Israel must be eliminated. After Oct. 7, Israel can no longer make do with just another “punishing blow” against Hamas.

Even those who have difficulty recognizing the fact that Gaza has become a “Hamas state” must comprehend that if Hamas retains an organized and armed nucleus in the territory, genocidal terrorists will remain the real decisionmakers in Gaza for the long term, regardless of the entity that holds formal authority in the Strip. This cannot be.

Jerusalem will continue to navigate between its necessary and absolute war goals and the constraints insisted upon by Washington — because the Israel-U.S. strategic relationship is close and critical in every way, and because the Biden administration’s support is deeply appreciated.

But again, Washington must recognize that conclusive Israeli victory is a prerequisite for any initiative aimed at stabilizing Gaza, at building new Middle East alliances and at laying the groundwork for a better future for all the peoples of the region. Washington’s policies must prioritize complete Israeli victory over Hamas, as rapidly as possible.

Meir Ben Shabbat, a former national security advisor to the Israeli prime minister, is chairman of, and Ruth Pines Feldman is a fellow at, the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, in Jerusalem.