Gaza Conflict 2021 skillfully documents the 2021 Israel-Hamas conflict in the larger context of Iran's shadow war across the Middle East. Written by Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the book's sharp, analytical account of those eleven days breaks from what Western media was reporting at the time. Although Schanzer admits he had "the benefit of hindsight," the 2021 conflict was no exception to the "disconnect between reporting and reality" during the past three Gaza wars in 2008, 2012, and 2014.[1] Failing to grapple with the many complexities of Hamas, media coverage resulted in "flawed news and thin analysis that framed the war as just one more battle between Israelis and Palestinians."[2] Instead, the author's no-frills analysis expertly and accessibly encapsulates the history, present, and future of Hamas. By revealing financial, political, and military connections between Hamas and Iran, Schanzer emphasizes how "Gaza is... ground zero in a struggle for the future stability of the Middle East."[3]
During the eleven days of conflict, Schanzer argues that reporters flooded media outlets with haphazard reporting that "ignored history," instead relying on tropes about the Arab-Israeli conflict.[4] Schanzer attempts to correct those misperceptions with deeper contextualization.
In August and September of 2020, long before war erupted, Israel signed the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. While these new agreements did not signal "the Arab world had given up on the Palestinian cause," they conveyed that other security, economic, and political concerns would be prioritized.
In August and September of 2020, long before war erupted, Israel signed the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. While these new agreements did not signal "the Arab world had given up on the Palestinian cause," they conveyed that other security, economic, and political concerns would be prioritized.
Despite this shift by some of Israel's neighbors, Iran continues to work "overtime to keep the conflict burning through its proxies."[5] Regardless of changing realities, Schanzer argues that Iran's goal remains the same: "the destruction of the Jewish state."[6] By providing Hamas with financial and political backing –– over $50 million annually by 2000 –– Iran aims to achieve its hegemonic ambitions.[7] However, Iran is not alone in backing Hamas, as the terrorist group also enjoys support from "the Islamist-leaning governments of Qatar, Turkey, and even Malaysia."[8] Schanzer notes that "[reports] barely noted [this] during the 2021 conflict."[9] Through a narrative that seamlessly "bounces back and forth between the distant past and the recent war," Schanzer combines reports from American, Israeli, and Arab officials to tell the "bigger battle between Israel and Iran" that many Western reporters missed.[10]
Like Iran, Qatar, Turkey, and Malaysia, reporters "ignored the brutality of Hamas," deliberately omitting the group's manipulation of international aid, "[use of] human shields to protect their fighters and military infrastructure," and targeting of civilian populations.[11] Although "using human shields is a war crime" under "the Fourth Geneva Convention and customary international law," the author explains that few reports acknowledged the extent to which Israel went to minimize civilian casualties.[12] Reporters largely disregarded Israel's responsibility to defend its citizens in the face of roughly thirty-four hundred Hamas rockets intended for the country's major population centers, even as the country exercised restraint when confronting human shields.[13] Hamas places Israel in a moral dilemma and a political nightmare by embedding itself deep in Gaza's civilian population. When civilians are killed, it sparks international condemnation and erodes Israel's legitimacy, restricting the country's ability to act on threats. Too complex to fit in sound bites, Schanzer reminds readers of the millions of Israeli civilians who lived under fire during the conflict––with the international community almost entirely focused on the state's retaliation.
Unlike most reporting at the time, Schanzer keeps a tenacious focus on the 2021 conflict. He fulfills his introduction's promise not to debate "whether Israel is a valuable democratic ally," "whether Hamas is or is not a terrorist organization," and "whether Israel is justified in its military control" of the Occupied Territories.[14] While his answer to the first two points is "yes," he writes that the answer to the third point is that it "is ultimately up to the Palestinians and Israelis themselves."[15] However, there is a fourth point he would have been wise to lay out up- front: Gaza is a humanitarian crisis. Schanzer contends that many Western journalists falsely placed the blame solely on Israel and ignored the role of Hamas and Iran, but the human suffering of civilians in Gaza and Israel warrants more attention. Even in a book that so succinctly positions Hamas in shifting Middle East power dynamics, Schanzer could have allowed readers to consider the people who shoulder the humanitarian consequences.
Hamas in a changing Middle East
The Arab Spring incited a major shift in the geostrategic environment of the Middle East, replacing the regional order that had defined the region since 1917. Conflicts were reconfigured, creating a context "where power operates through... proxy warfare."[16] By grounding his book in historical analysis, Schanzer clearly explains the changing dynamics in the region in a way that helps the reader understand the greater significance of the recent conflict. Beyond shaking up alliances, the Arab Spring and the collapse of Syria created a vacuum for the proliferation of violent non-state actors, often in weak states where the government cannot control its territory. More so than their strength, the weakness of other Middle Eastern states threatens Israel's security. Iran exploited the instability in Syria to expand its sphere of influence, using proxies instead of direct military intervention to wreak havoc on Israel. Although Iran does not share a border with Israel, Tehran has "for years sought to surround Israel with proxies and to arm them with advanced weapons."[17] The Syrian Civil War and the absence of the rule of law gave Iran the ideal opportunity to grow its influence. As Schanzer explains, "[Iran's] shadow war continues to intensify, and it influenced the Gaza battlefield more than most observers noted."[18] In the lead-up to the May 2021 conflict, all eyes were on Sheikh Jarrah. However, while Palestinians and global activists exercised their human right to protest, a much subtler rumbling took place thousands of miles away in Tehran. This "war between the wars" that Schanzer describes, in which Tehran continued to finance proxies, "opened a new front."[19] The increasing danger non-state actors posed to Israel compels the country to match the long game of terrorist organizations like Hamas that aim to exhaust Israeli society.
Nevertheless, Schanzer highlights that few American commentators explained the 2021 conflict in the context of a changing Middle East. Instead of engaging critically with the more significant issue at stake––the future role of Iran–– many journalists reverted to the rhetoric of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "As is almost always the case, the conflict was cast as one in which Israel and the Palestinians were locked in a bitter cycle of violence," writes Schanzer. Like Israelis, Palestinians are not a monolith––and "fractured intra-Palestinian politics were a major contributing factor to the Gaza war of 2021."[20] Unlike the Palestinian Authority (PA), Hamas has no interest in pursuing peace. More than that, with Iran financing Hamas' military capabilities, the PA has "zero chance of retaking Gaza."[21] The author outlines why Gaza holds such importance: "it has become part of the Islamic Republic's hegemonic designs on the region."[22]
The victims of Iran's proxy wars
In ill-fitting attempts to report on the war through oversimplified and misguided narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Western media missed the mark that both Israelis and Palestinians are the victims of Iran's vie for power through Hamas' terror. During the conflict, Hamas and other militant groups killed "more Israeli civilians than the entire fifty-day war of 2014," firing almost as many rockets in one- fifth of the time due to Iran's robust financial and technical support.[23] Hamas fired rockets at the densely populated communities of Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, and Lod. Although Israel's Iron Dome kept the death toll relatively low, over two million civilians were under threat.[24] In the first twenty-four hours of the conflict, Hamas fired 470 rockets at Israeli civilians.[25] By targeting civilians, Hamas created chaos and confusion, often forcing families to flee to bomb shelters in the middle of the night, "adding a form of psychological terror to the rocket launches."[26]
Iran's support for Hamas strengthens the terrorist group's control over Gaza, and while "Hamas' leadership undeniably makes its decisions independently, the group is the product of its patrons over the years."[27] Hamas diverts "huge amounts of international aid to build military structures" rather than spending the money on desperately needed humanitarian and development projects.[28] Hamas spends 55 percent of its budget on military needs, while allocating less than 5 percent for rehabilitation.[29] Although Israel has been heavily criticized for restricting dual-use goods into Gaza, Hamas has repeatedly used direly needed supplies to further military goals. For example, Hamas diverted supplies to build more tunnels instead of vital housing when 3.5 million tons of construction material entered Gaza in 2016.[30] Although the Israeli Defense Forces have successfully destroyed much of this impressive network of tunnels –– "the Metro"–– during Operation Guardian of the Walls, Hamas' tunnels have been critical for smuggling Iranian military hardware and com- ponents from Egypt to Gaza.[31]
While Schanzer's analysis is fact-based and hard-hitting, his chapter on UNRWA reveals a strong bias against the organization established after Israel's War of Independence in 1948. Although he is undoubtedly warranted to high- light the organization's corruption, he largely dismisses the possibility of reform –– instead repeating several times that "UNRWA employees have moonlighted as terrorists."[32] His cherry-picking of anecdotes to confirm that "UNRWA's fiction" is a waste of money ignores UNRWA's role in supporting Palestinians, who represent the world's oldest and largest refugee crisis.[33] 5.7 million Palestinian refugees exist because there is currently no solution to the "Palestine refugee problem."[34] When writing on "textbooks that promote hatred and incitement against Israel and Jews," he leaves out that the State Department found anti-Israel bias in only 3.1 percent of textbooks.[35] While UNRWA should work to reduce this statistic, Schanzer exaggerates the numbers.
Worthy of debate is the narrow criteria for refugee status and the need to reform the global refugee regime, including durable solutions for this population. Palestinian refugees' need for development and humanitarian services, including education, healthcare, and emergency response, should not be controversial. In a book that so aptly demonstrates Iran as a hurdle to peace and stability in the region, Schanzer's hostility towards UNRWA feels misplaced.
Schanzer lays out UNRWA's extremely trying operational environment but discusses UNRWA only in the context of the "Hamas problem," rather than envisioning it as part of the solution.[36] Although UNRWA's role is certainly not to solve the conflict, ensuring Palestinians, particularly children, have the resources they need to thrive is fundamental to curbing Hamas recruitment.
The next Gaza war
Trauma, especially in children, does not discriminate against Palestinians or Israelis. For parents on either side, the panic for their children's safety at the sound of a siren is universal––a feeling that no parent should have. When the fifth Gaza war comes, which Schanzer predicts will occur, great powers like the United States must seriously consider the role of Iran. As the United States diverts its attention towards "countering revisionist powers such as Russia and China," Arab states must step up to provide "economic, diplomatic, or other assistance."[37]
Incentivizing the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to "commit to fixing Gaza" alongside Egypt––whose diplomats are attempting to broker a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas––will be a challenge.[38] Still, without coordination, Gaza belongs to Iran. Iran's proxies are not second to Iran's nuclear ambitions but a crucial part of achieving them. Tehran's network of proxies, which often act with impunity, is part of the regime's goal "of establishing a land bridge" that would allow them to move weapons and personnel across the region.[39]
Although sufficiently combatting this threat would require unprecedented political will, the Abraham Accords and increased security cooperation between Israel and its neighbors demonstrate that it is possible. The fate of Iranian power, global politics, and most importantly, the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, hang in the balance.
Carly Kabot is a third-year student at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service studying International Politics and Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs.
[1] Jonathan Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel, and Eleven Days of War (District of Columbia: FDD Press, 2021), 5–7.
[2] Ibid, 10.
[3] Renee Garfinkel,"Gaza Conflict 2021," New Books Network, accessed January 12, 2022, https://newbooksnetwork.com/gaza-conflict-2021.
[4] Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021, 7.
[5] Ibid, 236, 76.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid, 31.
[8] Ibid, 8.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid, 12.
[11] Ibid, 9.
[12] Ibid, 40.
[13] Ibid, 10.
[14] Ibid, 4–5.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Marc Lynch, "New Arab World Order," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, accessed January 12, 2022, https://carnegieendowment.org/2018/08/16/new-arab-world-order-pub-77056.
[17] Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021, 8.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid, 262.
[20] Ibid, 91.
[21] Ibid, 260.
[22] Ibid, 259.
[23] "How Iran Fuels Hamas Terrorism," The Washington Institute, accessed January 12, 2022, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/how-iran-fuels-hamas-terrorism.
[24] Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel, and Eleven Days of War, 13.
[25] "How Iran Fuels Hamas Terrorism," The Washington Institute, accessed January 12, 2022, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/how-iran-fuels-hamas-terrorism.
[26] Leor Sinai, "Perspective: In Tel Aviv, We Spend Every Night in the Bomb Shelter Now," Washington Post (Washington, D.C.), May 20, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/05/20/tel-aviv-hamas-rockets/.
[27] Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021, 7.
[28] Ibid, 9.
[29] "Hamas' Exploitation of Humanitarian Aid," Israeli Defense Forces, Jan. 25, 2018, https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/hamas/hamas/hamas-exploitation-of-humanitarian-aid/.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Farnaz Fassihi, "Iran, a Longtime Backer of Hamas, Cheers Attacks on Israel," New York Times (New York, N.Y., May 23, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/middleeast/iran-israel.html.
[32] Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021, 227.
[33] Ibid, 229.
[34] "Who We Are," UNRWA, accessed January12, 2022, https://www.unrwa.org/who-we-are.
[35] Schanzer, Gaza Conflict 2021, 227.
[36] Ibid, 232.
[37] Ibid, 260–261.
[38] Ibid.
[39] David Adesnik And Ltg. (Ret.) H.R. Mcmaster, Behnam Ben Taleblu, "Burning Bridge: The Iranian Land Corridor to the Mediterranean," Foundation for Defense of Democracies, June 19, 2020, https://www.fdd.org/ analysis/2019/06/18/burning-bridge/.