2023
Hamas killed some 1,200 people when it attacked Israel on Oct. 7. It also sparked a conflagration in the Middle East that has reverberated around the world, upending diplomatic efforts years in the making, calling into question much of the conventional wisdom about the underlying dynamics of the conflict and the region, creating or exacerbating political schisms in the United States and Europe, and opening rifts both new and old among global powers.
Israel’s devastating military response in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians so far and caused a humanitarian catastrophe for the rest of the territory’s 2.2 million residents, nearly half of whom are under age 18. The staggering death toll and scale of human suffering in Gaza has shocked much of the world, prompting outcry from human rights groups, humanitarian organizations, and multilateral bodies such as the United Nations. Yet those organizations have also struggled to be effective and remain relevant in the face of unyielding positions and powerful independent actors.
The Biden administration, led by a president with a deep emotional affinity for Israel, has chosen to entangle the United States in yet another major war where the desired end state is murky at best and the likelihood of victory is anything but certain. Already heavily involved in assisting Ukraine in its war with Russia to the tune of billions of dollars in military and other aid, Washington is now trying to do the same for Israel in its war with Hamas.
U.S. President Joe Biden has framed both wars as being part of the same broader struggle between the forces of democracy and autocracy, arguing that it is in the United States’ interest to stand on the side of democracy everywhere. Yet not everyone is buying his rhetoric.
Republican members of the U.S. Congress have balked at his attempt to link funding for Ukraine, which some have begun to question, with funding for Israel, which enjoys much stronger support among the Republican Party. Many in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, meanwhile, are becoming increasingly vocal in their criticism of what they see as the Biden administration’s blank check for Israel and an inability—or unwillingness—to curb Israel’s military excesses or push it toward a cease-fire. Countries in the global south, many of which feel a closer historical and ideological connection with the Palestinians than with Israel, are also skeptical of Biden’s framing.
In the Middle East, the religious and ideological connections that Israel’s neighbors share with the Palestinian cause formed long ago, though they have been strengthened by Iran’s effort to create a so-called “axis of resistance” to Israel through its creation and backing of various proxy groups, from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Houthis in Yemen to a wide array of groups in Iraq and Syria. This web of Iranian influence and support gained new importance and scrutiny after Hamas’s attack as the world waited to see whether, and to what extent, these proxy groups would join the fight against Israel and expand the battlefield far beyond the borders of Israel-Palestine.
Throughout all of this, Foreign Policy has endeavored to provide our readers with the expert analysis, informed opinion, and reliable reporting that you need to understand the conflict. You can find all of our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war at this link, but here we’ve selected five standout pieces that we think represent some of our best work and showcase the diverse viewpoints and different aspects of the conflict.
1. What Was Hamas Thinking?
By Tareq Baconi, Nov. 22
Why Hamas decided to launch its unprecedented attack on Israel when it did, knowing that it would almost certainly trigger a devastating Israeli military response, is one of the central questions about this war. Tareq Baconi, the president of the board of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network and the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, argues that the attack fits with a broader strategic shift Hamas made over the last several years “to transition away from acquiescence to its containment to a more explicit challenge of Israeli domination—and thereby overturn the equilibrium that had become entrenched over the course of 16 years.”
2. America Is a Root Cause of Israel and Palestine’s Latest War
By Stephen M. Walt, Oct. 18
There are many historical events that one could choose as the starting point of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians—Theodor Herzl’s 1896 book, The Jewish State; the 1917 Balfour Declaration; the Arab revolt of 1936; the 1947 U.N. partition plan; the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; or the 1967 Six-Day War, just to name a few.
FP columnist Stephen Walt chooses to begin in 1991, “when the United States emerged as the unchallenged external power in Middle East affairs and began trying to construct a regional order that served its interests.” Starting there, he identifies five key episodes or elements that helped bring about the tragic events that have unfolded since Oct. 7, and he explains how those background factors matter not just for the current Israel-Hamas war, but also for the nature of future global order.
3. Israel’s Hostage Families Feel Abandoned by Israel
By Yardena Schwartz, Oct. 20
Hamas’s kidnapping of more than 200 people in Israel during its attack plunged thousands of the hostages’ loved ones into a nightmare from which many have yet to awake. “Now, as Israel retaliates for the most painful attack in its history, those families find themselves at the center of a national dilemma,” writes journalist Yardena Schwartz, who spoke to several of the hostages’ family members and friends. “Israelis want their leaders to eliminate Hamas, which has until now been allowed to thrive in their backyard. Yet, as Israel pounds Hamas with airstrikes, many fear that Israeli hostages could be killed in the crossfire.”
People take part in a demonstration against Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip in São Paulo on Oct. 22.Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images
4. Why the Global South Is Accusing America of Hypocrisy
By Oliver Stuenkel, Nov. 2
The international reaction to Hamas’s attack and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza has not been uniform. While many Western countries, most notably the United States, have condemned Hamas, staunchly supported Israel’s right to defend itself, and largely refrained from publicly criticizing Israel’s blitzkrieg assault on Gaza or pushing for a cease-fire, other countries, particularly in the global south, have been more vocal in condemning Israel’s military tactics in Gaza as well as its long-standing occupation of the Palestinian territories, which has fueled the ongoing conflict.
Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo, argues that “[m]any in the developing world have long seen a double standard in the West condemning an illegal occupation in Ukraine while also standing staunchly behind Israel,” and he warns that this perceived double standard threatens to undermine Washington’s efforts to build broader global support for Ukraine in the war against Russia.
5. How Will This War End? How Can the Next One be Prevented?
By Zaha Hassan, Daniel C. Kurtzer, Omar M. Dajani, Diana Buttu, Peter R. Mansoor, Daniel Levy, Ehud Olmert, Eugene Kontorovich, and Elliott Abrams, Dec. 7
Ending a conflict as complex as this one—with its seemingly unending cycles of violence and long history of failed attempts at diplomacy—as well as preventing war from breaking out again in another few months or years will require new thinking. To that end, FP asked a range of experts two specific questions:
- What will Gaza look like one year from now?
- What single policy could any actor in this conflict pursue that would make it less likely that this war will end like so many others, with the same security threats remaining and key political grievances unresolved?
Their answers offer valuable insights into the political dynamics and roadblocks standing in the way of peace, and how some of the world’s foremost experts on this conflict are thinking through how to overcome these challenges.