The brutal execution of whole villages, the detention of young children and the parading of half-naked women seemed like scenes from a Viking raid of the middle ages. But this gross inhumanity happened just this week and the heinous acts were all recorded in high definition, probably on the latest iPhone.
The barbarity committed by Hamas in Israel shocked an already desensitised, post Ukraine world. We do not need a reminder, but history is not over. Like all moments similar to this we should remember history and learn from it.
The most common headline this week was that the brutality of Hamas was Israel’s 9/11. It was an apt comparison and we should learn from the mistakes we made after the Twin Towers tragically fell.
America was right to hold al Qaeda to account for the attacks and pursue them in their hideouts in Afghanistan. Within a year of the attacks, this response had been largely successful, although it took another decade before Osama Bin Laden faced justice.
Spurred by that success and driven by an understandable yet irrational desire for revenge, America then engaged in two unwise occupations that took two decades, trillions of dollars and thousands of lives before culminating in failure.
We should support Israel to pursue the perpetrators of this week’s attacks on innocent women and children. Australia has designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation for the last 20 years. This latest outburst of terror from them deserves a swift and brutal response.
Yet already, just days after this shocking event, there are calls to broaden the conflict to attack Iran. Influential US Senator Lindsey Graham has said that the US should bomb Iran if Hezbollah attacks Israel from its northern border of Lebanon. American congressman, Dan Crenshaw, called for the defeat of the Iranian Ayatollah.
It is understandable for people to want revenge and to be angry when peace is shattered by brutality. The problem, as we have seen from the experience of the War on Terror, is that war itself will not eradicate war. War generally only begets more war and we have to cool our emotions before making decisions that throw thousands more people into harm’s way.
In the cold, hard light of day we have to ask the tough questions. Like if we (the west) cannot be victorious in Afghanistan, how can we manage it in Iran? The west has already depleted its ammunition and military hardware in Ukraine, do we have the resources to make further military commitments without degrading our own security?
Our public finances are a mess, and the American Congress is currently deadlocked about future budgets. Can we even afford more large scale military entanglements?
And perhaps most of all, if we become over-extended in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, will that embolden China to attack Taiwan?
That would potentially spark World War III and bring a level of devastation to the world not known for many generations. Unfortunately, I fear that many have forgotten the lessons of the first half of the twentieth century, and are sleepwalking into repeating them again in the first half of this century.
It is frustrating that we cannot impose peace and goodwill across all countries but it is the reality. We need to respond to the brutal acts in the Middle East with clear heads, a focus on the broader picture and in a way that does not risk an even worse and more devastating conflict.
