America’s wars provide an interesting perspective, and perhaps even a relevant paradigm for Israel. Take Texas, for example. Opinion.
Although wars are destructive, they are also often unavoidable and even necessary; in addition, they are also sources of new technologies, innovations, and, of course, political changes.
As a result of wars between Britain and the American colonies in 1776 and 1812, for example, the groundwork was laid for a new nation and a new political identity.
Similarly, the Mexican-American War of 1847-1849 was the basis for America’s continental expansion and it reaffirmed its national identity, as well as its economic, military and technological power.
The American Civil War (1861-65) ended the institution of slavery and opened a massive expansion westward with newly-formed states. America became coast-to-coast.
In 1898, when Spain attacked American ships, it led to the Spanish-American War. As a result, the United States conquered the islands of Puerto Rico; the territory has been under U.S. sovereignty ever since. Although not a state, its inhabitants were given US citizenship.
The First and Second World Wars confirmed America’s dominant position. As a result of these wars, the USA became the greatest democracy in the world.
For Israel, and for Hamas/Palestinian Arabs, the war in Gaza is also definitional. It is a way of clarifying who the sides are and what they represent. In that sense, Israel’s war against terrorism, and the war in Gaza are existential.
The nation-state of Israel has been fighting for its survival since its establishment in 1948. It won its War of Independence against five Arab countries in 1949, and against some of them again in 1956, 1967, and 1973. However, because many countries and organizations support Palestinianism and Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, that war and the current war in Gaza continue.
Unlike other wars between nations, the war in Gaza, uniquely, is not a war over territory, but with an Islamist Jihadist ideology dedicated to wiping out Israel and killing non-Muslims. It’s a war between a Jewish and democratic nation-state, Israel, and terrorist organizations led by Hamas, and its founder, the Muslim Brotherhood, a vast international organization, supported by countries, such as Qatar and Iran and its proxies.
Those who condemn Israel for the war in Gaza oppose Israel’s right of self-defense, Israeli communities (“settlements”), mainly in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, and Israel’s presence in Gaza. But Israeli political and military leaders and most Israelis did not want a war with Hamas in Gaza, or anywhere else. They did everything they could to avoid it, including ignoring what Hamas was doing and planning. That’s why the IDF was unprepared for the war when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7th.
Once war began, however, Israel had only one option: to win. For Israel, it is a war of survival against Palestinian Arab and Muslim terrorist groups, locally, regionally, and around the world. America’s wars, therefore, provide an interesting perspective, and perhaps even a relevant paradigm.
In 1846, the Mexican army attacked Americans (settlers) who lived in northern Texas north of the Rio Grande River. At the time the area which was called Texas belonged to Mexico. The US army responded to protect its citizens; this began the war which lasted for 2 years. As a result, Mexico was defeated and The Republic of Texas and other territories became states in the United States of America.
In addition to Texas, Mexico claimed the areas of the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. As a result of the Mexican-American War, these areas were incorporated into the USA. Mexicans fled, or became loyal Mexican-Americans.
Historically, Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Israel), which included Gaza, was conquered by the Jewish People led by Joshua, and, during the First and Second Temple periods, it was part of the Jewish national existence, the Jewish Commonwealths. That ended when Roman armies conquered and expelled the Jews from Eretz Yisrael.
Other countries (e.g. Ottoman and British Empires) conquered and ruled Eretz Yisrael, and Gaza (Egypt), but no country ever claimed it. Gaza, therefore, belongs to Israel — just as Texas and all of America’s southwest belong to the USA.
Israel’s conquering of Gaza is an assertion of legal possession, which was the result of a defensive war, just as Texas became part of the USA. If Gaza does not belong to Israel, Texas and other states don’t belong to the USA. The acquisition of territory by conquest is accepted by most countries in the world.
Wars are terrible, but they often offer possibilities that make them — if not acceptable – at least livable. The road to peace is not via another Palestinian Arab state, in addition to Jordan, but through Israeli sovereignty and the recognition of Israel’s right to its homeland in Eretz Yisrael.
Dr. Moshe Dannis a historian, writer, and journalist who lives in Israel.
