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One could make the case that Hamas’ surprise raid has gifted Israel the pretext it needs to enact all of its long-standing geopolitical goals. Israel’s ground offensive will not only focus on destroying Hamas, but will also have the peripheral effect of displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, which Israel will not allow to return once the fighting is over — if it is indeed ever over. Knowing this, regional players such as Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey have all stated they will not take in Palestinian refugees — but it remains to be seen if they will stick to that policy. Western governments, of course, are already preparing the ground to take them in. A direct military defeat seems a near impossibility for Israel with its colossal advantages in men and materiel, and Zionist dreams of levelling Gaza once and for all seem within reach.

On the surface it may seem that Israel is operating from a position of strength, but in reality, their situation is precarious. The timing of Hamas’ attack was not incidental, but rather the actions of a patient enemy seizing the most opportune moment to strike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a Trump-esque figure who has divided the Israeli political landscape, and the expected rallying around the flag effect has not materialized. It could well be the case that he is simply too polarizing a figure to unite fractious Israeli public opinion behind him, making a long war untenable.

Even prior to Hamas’ attack, the Israeli situation was worsening. The United States’ commitment to Ukraine was a zero-sum game for Israel, which sees the latter as a competitor for patronage and resources. Indeed, many have floated the idea that Ukraine is in fact the new Israel, fulfilling many of the same functions and possessing a political system under the same ethno-religious management. From Hamas’ point of view, Israel’s guarantor of protection was distracted, and the Israelis were squabbling amongst themselves, presenting the ideal moment to strike. Yet the malaise runs eve deeper than that: Israel is not only beset by acute political problems, but a worsening chronic crisis of legitimacy. It is noteworthy that the sudden strike against Israel comes hot on the heels of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) trying to manage damage control as its role in Internet censorship was exposed by those using the #BantheADL hashtag. Despite Elon Musk ultimately groveling to a panel of hand-picked rabbis and other Jewish representatives, the topic of excessive Jewish power was already present in the minds of many.

The hysterical reactions of kosher commentators, including Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Mark Levin, and their gentile collaborators such as Jordan Peterson and Douglas Murray, have generally alienated global public opinion rather than galvanizing it in favor of Israel. The truth is that large segments of the Global South are supporting Palestine, either for reasons of Islamic religious solidarity or because they see Israel as an extension of the United States. This has been borne out in the United Nations, where a vote on a resolution that was backed by the US and its satellite puppets, calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza received 120 votes in favor and only 14 votes opposing. Global opinion has clearly shifted against Israel, and their reaction to this fact has been unhinged and histrionic. After perceived criticism from UN Secretary General António Guterres, Israel called for his resignation, an unprecedented measure which even Russia has not countenanced. Israel’s representatives at the UN are now donning yellow stars identical to those that Jews were compelled to wear in the Third Reich in a desperate performative flourish to evoke the Holocaust. These theatrics are falling flat and have utterly failed to influence global public opinion in Israel’s favor.

In the West, the near-monolithic support Israel enjoys amongst the policymaking elite remains largely intact, but Western society’s enthusiasm for Israel and its project is much diminished. There are several reasons for this. In the first instance, both Christianity and white Evangelicals have declined as a force on the global stage. Many ordinary members of the public are sympathetic to the idea that in a time of economic stagnation, yet more aid to fight foreign wars is both undesirable and untenable. Amongst Western youth, multiculturalism and the fragmentation of mainstream narratives means that simply invoking the Holocaust no longer works as an effective way to silence criticism and marshal support for Israel.

It is often noted by radical Right-wing commentators that Israel has been immune to the diktats of liberal and multicultural norms that its diaspora promotes abroad. It has maintained a constitutionally enshrined ethnic character, built on the foundations of a massively militarized society that views its minorities as second-class citizens. In the assessment of some, pointing out this hypocrisy will grant us legitimacy to take control of our own ethnic destiny. In reality, it is much more likely that Israel will be subsumed by the liberal norms it has unleashed on others: It will ultimately be dismantled by the golem of its own creation. Just as in many Western states, there is a large liberal contingent in Israel. Netanyahu remains divisive because his government and its religious extremist coalition partners are an aberration in Israeli governance, not the norm. In the eyes of some, their extreme rhetoric, including floating the idea of destroying the Al-Asqa Mosque in Jerusalem, which is regarded as the second-holiest place by Muslims, provoked the disaster that befell Israel on October 7.

Israel is thus faced with an unenviable choice: Either it orders its military to stand down and loses face on the world stage, with Netanyahu likely falling from power as a result, or it embarks on a campaign of ethnic cleansing and extreme urban warfare while being politically disunited and without the West’s unanimous and unconditional backing. The death toll may end up being high on both sides, and public opinion both in Israel and abroad may sour quickly. There is also the risk of attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon or from Iran directly.

The next few months will clearly be pivotal for the future of Israel. It is not the case that Israel will simply disappear from the map any time soon, especially with its huge arsenal that includes nuclear weapons. But it is clear that Israel is facing seemingly intractable structural problems: political disunity, a crisis of legitimacy, a loss of its position as the undisputed recipient of American aid, an increasing chorus calling for change in its fundamental values, and many of the same underlying demographic trends that Western nations are facing.

At no other time has Zionist power been so nakedly on show, whether it is forcing Elon to kotow and self-flagellate for daring to platform those who mildly criticize Jewish power, or the summoning of all the leaders of the Western world to publicly pledge their support for the Israeli cause in person. Yet, these open displays of dominance are making ever-larger numbers of people question why such a tiny ethnic group has a total stranglehold on our political life, and why their wars always become our wars. This is a golden opportunity for us to advance our ideas. The foundations of the state of Israel and its Zionist influence on the world stage are crumbling, and we now have the opportunity to storm the breach. In the inevitable tumult of the coming days and weeks, we must be steadfast in our assertion of our ethnic sovereignty and our right to choose our own destiny free from foreign influence.

It is not our mission to destroy Israel, nor is it our place to enthusiastically support either side in this conflict. We should not engage in apologetics for the atrocities they may perpetrate. We must rather view this cooly as a contest between the Palestinians, who may add to our demographic competitors at home, and the Israelis, who through their Zionist influence are our political masters everywhere. We must recognize that this is our Moses moment. We must firmly and loudly make the demand: Let our people go! We no longer wish to have our fate inextricably linked with that of Jerusalem, but instead we should labor to break the shackles that have weighed us down in order to become the undisputed masters of our own destiny once again.

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