Should Israel have waited before invading Gaza? | GZERO Media

November 19, 2023

On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer asked former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak if Israel had fallen into a trap in the way it’s fighting the war against Hamas. In the last month, there’s been a shift away from sympathy for Israel in the wake of October 7th and a growing criticism of its tactics in Gaza.

Thousands of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, hundreds of thousands more have fled their homes, and Israel’s total blockade has prevented desperately needed humanitarian aid from reaching civilians. Barak believes that Israel could have gotten more aid in sooner but also says that it’s determined to destroy Hamas, arguing that waiting longer would have put them at a disadvantage militarily.

But the former prime minister does concede that Israel’s current government needs to be realistic about what they can achieve in Gaza. “I have a question mark about our own tactics,” Barak says, “I think there is a gap between what the military armed forces understand and the objectives at the political level.”

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