Israel's Recurring Mistake: Relying on Local Proxies in Conflicts

Israel has repeatedly employed a strategy of using local proxies to undermine enemy regimes, a tactic that has consistently led to dead ends, according to an analysis. This pattern, observed from past operations in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, is currently playing out in Gaza.

Despite military superiority, the Israeli government has struggled to achieve victory in Gaza, resulting in over 70,000 casualties, including more than 20,000 children. The article criticizes the current approach, which allegedly involves cooperation with local criminal gangs, potentially escalating Gaza into a civil war. This strategy is seen as detrimental, causing significant collateral damage to civilians, mirroring the impact on Israeli civilians in the south and north.

The author points to historical failures, including the use of local collaborators in Lebanon during the 1982 invasion, which was intended to eliminate the PLO but instead led to heavy casualties and the rise of the PLO as a major threat. The plan relied on the Christian Phalange, a collaboration fostered by the Mossad, which ultimately ended in the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Further examples include past attempts to work with Druze rebels in Syria and Kurdish collaborators in Iraq, both of which yielded no significant results. The article attributes this recurring failure to a lack of organizational memory and a tendency for intelligence agencies and politicians to pursue action-oriented intelligence and desperate measures rather than seeking diplomatic solutions that reflect actual power dynamics.

The author suggests that this strategy is perpetuated by the need to manage elections and public opinion, likening the situation to a political "barbecue" where the public is ultimately the one being "cooked."