Iranian born Middle East expert, Eliahu Yosian, spoke with Arutz Sheva – Israel National News at the convention 'Lessons from Gaza' of the Sovereignty Movement.
"We will not eliminate Hamas by killing terrorists and destroying the Gaza Strip that will only be reinstated by Qatar", Yosian emphasizes, "The appropriate response is to take the land from them".
"I don't believe that we can overthrow Hamas, because Hamas does not control Gaza, but Gaza thinks Hamas," says Yosian, and adds that the Arabs of Judea and Samaria also think Hamas. So even if several thousand Hamas members are eliminated, the simple Gazan resident still believes in the Hamas view and will become a terrorist in ten years.
"We also can’t take out the capabilities of Hamas," adds Yosian and explains his understanding of the Qatari decision to infuse funds into the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and this means that their capabilities will return to normal.
"There is no operational order to control the Philadelphi Route. The suggested solution I heard is to transfer the Philadelphi Route to Egypt, but according to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, 40% of Egyptian residents believe in the Muslim Brotherhood and thirty percent believe in the Salafis, meaning that the Egyptian soldiers are either Salamis or the Muslim Brotherhood and will ignore future transfers of ammunition, so giving the keys of the Philadelphi Route to Egypt is not a solution."
In such a reality, says Yosian, the problem is the liberal secular perspective in the West, which also influences how Israel considers Middle Eastern events. "The victory is to annex. The victory is that if the enemy does not want us on this land, we will take this land from them. This is the victory." This is the reason, Yosian says, that he re-emphasized the Israeli left-wing concept that dominated the first thirty years of Israel and underscored the values of settlement and security with the understanding that re-settling there also Judaizes the area. This is now considered racism, but then they regarded settlers as pioneers, and not settlers as a derogatory term.
In addition, the left-wing regarded settling Gaza as a security card that gave Israel geopolitical depth. "We are moving forward and they are going backward."
Regarding the concept that considers the placement of military bases as an acceptable move, Yosian says that this is a wrong Western concept, which the Americans used in Iraq until they left and the Iranians took their place. "When you talk about settlement, it means bringing life to the place; a school, a mikveh, a nursery school, and all these force the army to deploy in the area and this is what brings security."
Yosian also points out that the vigilance of the residents of Judea and Samaria against an attack results in this region being less of a target for a terrorist attack, compared to Israel within the Green Line.
Given this data, the destruction of the Gaza Strip and the killing of terrorists does not lead to victory, since for the Muslim believer, the Qatari money will restore Gaza. "Eliminating terrorists is like cutting nails. You cut your nails, but next week you have to cut your nails again. You can't say that you cut them today and won't cut them next week. Today you eliminate a terrorist and in a few days you will have to eliminate another terrorist, and so forth in a week and in a month. I am talking about a strategic solution, which is Jewish settlement."
Concerning Iran, Yosian believes that it is a mistake for Israel to position itself as a safeguard against the Iranian threat, when there are others in the Middle East also threatened by Iran. "The Iranians gave missiles to the Houthis to fire at Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Iranians are the third circle of our enemies. The first circle is the Arabs of Judea and Samaria and the Arabs of Gaza, Syria, and Hezbollah. That is why, a Hebrew-Arab NATO should be established, according to the Abraham Accords we signed and the next agreement we are going to sign with Saudi Arabia. We have technology and cyber skills and they have money and depth. Each Israeli combat soldier has three years of experience, and we can train the Saudi and Arab soldiers with whom we have a common interest in our combat methods. Why should a discharged combat soldier look for a job at a train station for 35 or 40 shekels an hour, instead of being part of an Israeli-Arab NATO training unit."
Full Hebrew interview: