Israel’s success has humiliated its critics

 

Opinion by Telegraph View

In the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the death of Yahya Sinwar marks the “beginning of the day after Hamas”. After a year of fighting in Gaza, the architect of the October 7 massacre has faced justice. It is a triumph for the Israel Defence Forces, a grievous blow to Hamas and Iran’s terrorist network – and a chastening moment for London and Washington.

After all, if Sir Keir Starmer and President Joe Biden had got their way, Israel would have been forced into accepting a ceasefire months ago that would have left Sinwar at large, and Hamas’s military network considerably more capable.

Indeed, at one point Mr Biden stated that he would cut the supply of arms to Jerusalem if Israeli forces entered the city of Rafah. His justification was that America would not be “walking away from Israel’s security”, but Israel’s ability to “wage war” in heavily populated areas.

Given the proclivity of Hamas and its terrorist cells for hiding among civilian populations, the flaws in such a position should have been obvious. And indeed, Rafah is where Sinwar was eventually caught and killed.

Predictably, Sir Keir and Mr Biden have seized on this triumph to once again attempt to pressure Israel into negotiating with Hamas. Mr Biden has declared that he will discuss “ending the war once and for all” with Mr Netanyahu, while Sir Keir has said “an immediate ceasefire” is “long overdue”.

Humility, apparently, is not a characteristic either leader greatly values. Despite the mounting evidence, neither appears to be willing to accept the clear fact that Israel knows how to prosecute its own conflicts better than they do. Then again, the advice of these so-called allies is not given with Israel’s well-being uppermost in mind. In the case of Sir Keir, his stance appears to be at least partly the result of electoral considerations, with the Labour Party having suffered unexpected setbacks in heavily Muslim constituencies in this year’s general election.

The result has been a series of decidedly unfriendly gestures, including withdrawing opposition to highly politicised efforts by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu, and suspending a set of arms exports licences to Israel. The absurdity of these actions has been amply highlighted by the fact that while our Government is piling criticism and pressure on Jerusalem, our own Armed Forces are having to intervene to protect the Jewish state from Iran.

Rather than once again assuming that we know better than leaders in Jerusalem what is best for Israel, or what military action might achieve, we should simply offer our support to an ally in its fight for freedom and democracy.