5 Israeli Moves That Critics Were Wrong About
Increasingly, the world sees what Israelis have always known.
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As Israel wages a war of necessity against Iran’s terror proxies — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen — as well as Iran itself, criticism has surged from the usual corners of the international community.
Yet many of these critiques have proven hasty, ill-informed, or ideologically motivated.
Over time, five key Israeli actions, once labeled as overreaches or missteps, are increasingly vindicated by facts on the ground and a deeper understanding of regional realities.
1) The October 2023 Ground Invasion of Gaza
After the October 7th massacre led by Hamas — marked by mass murder, rape, and hostage-taking — Israel launched a ground campaign into Gaza to dismantle Hamas’ military infrastructure and rescue hostages.
Critics cried “collective punishment,” ignoring both international law and military precedent. In reality, Israel provided advance evacuation warnings, opened humanitarian corridors, and paused operations to allow aid and hostages to pass.
Far from being indiscriminate, the campaign methodically targeted Hamas’ underground tunnel networks and command centers embedded in civilian areas — by design of Hamas itself.
This was not a war of revenge but of self-defense, aimed at ensuring Hamas can never again carry out such atrocities. The world may now be realizing: No country would tolerate a terror statelet on its border.
2) Israel’s Cautious Northern Strategy Against Hezbollah
As Hezbollah ramped up rocket attacks from Lebanon in support of Hamas, some critics accused Israel of being too restrained. But a hasty, full-scale war in the north would have plunged millions of civilians in Israel and Lebanon into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Instead, Israel has employed calibrated strikes against Hezbollah commanders and infrastructure, while using diplomacy through France and the U.S. to pressure Lebanon.
The height of Israel’s genius strategy was in September 2024, when dozens of Hezbollah operatives were killed and thousands more seriously wounded across Lebanon and even in Syria as the wireless pagers they used to communicate exploded. The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was reportedly injured in the explosions as well.
A senior Lebanese security source said that Israel infiltrated the communication system of individual devices and detonated them.1 According to reports, phones were called before the explosion for several seconds to increase the chance that whoever received the call would pick it up and be maximally wounded. Around 500 members of Hezbollah lost their eyesight, Saudi TV channel Al-Hadath reported.
Sky News Arabia quoted sources saying that the Mossad (Israel’s intelligence agency) infiltrated supply chains and rigged the pagers with explosives before they were imported to Lebanon some five months ago. Mossad operatives placed a quantity of PETN, a highly explosive material, on the batteries of the devices and detonated them by raising the temperature of the batteries from afar, a source said.2
Following the exploding pager attack, longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah became depressed and was emotionally changed. His son said Nasrallah was noticeably no longer the same man, and his daughter revealed that he cried after the pager attack.
Over the next several weeks, Israeli airstrikes pounded Hezbollah, wiping out almost all of its leaders — including Nasrallah himself in a massive bombing of his Beirut underground bunker — and depleting the Iran-backed terror group’s fighting abilities. A ceasefire was eventually reached at the end of November.
Overall, Israel’s deterrence posture against Hezbollah has been both measured and effective: It signals readiness for escalation while preserving optionality. The longer Hezbollah continues attacks, the more support Israel gains for eventual decisive action — on its own terms.
3) Eliminating Hamas Leadership in Gaza and Overseas
Another major critique has been that Israel’s targeted assassinations of senior Hamas leaders — both in Gaza and overseas — pose a direct threat to the hostages. That danger is real. But Israel’s strategy reflects a calculated assessment: Allowing Hamas leaders to operate freely ensures not only prolonged captivity but future mass killings.
The first major blow came in January 2024, when Israel eliminated Deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in a Beirut apartment. As the group’s senior official in Lebanon, al-Arouri played a big role in cementing Hamas’ relations with the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah, and through it with Iran, the main backer for both groups.
Then, in July 2024, Israel assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was visiting Iran for the country’s inauguration of its new president after the previous one died in a helicopter accident a few weeks prior.
At 1:14 Israel time — which is 1:44 Tehran time — on July 31, the signal was given. A few seconds later, the bomb exploded in Haniyeh’s room in the official and well-protected residence of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The way the bomb was buried, the angle and where Haniyeh was in the room, the event could only end in one way. He had no chance of coming out of the incident just seriously injured.
Other high-profile eliminations include Mohammed Deif, who headed Hamas’ military, in August 2024, as well as Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, in October 2024. A senior member of the Hamas political bureau acting in the capacity of prime minister, Ismail Barhum, was also killed last Sunday in a targeted strike.
Every Hamas leader removed — whether in a tunnel in Gaza or a villa in Beirut or a hotel in Doha — diminishes the group’s ability to function and coordinate. It also sends a clear message to other terrorist organizations that leadership offers no immunity. The risk to hostages is tragic and complex, but inaction would guarantee more hostages, not fewer.
4) The West Bank Becoming Another Front
Some critics accused Israel of escalating tensions in the West Bank through arrests, military operations, and restrictions following October 7th. But those actions helped thwart coordinated terror attacks and foiled a Hamas-driven effort to ignite a third intifada.
Iran-backed elements, particularly Hamas cells, were actively seeking to exploit the chaos to open a second full-blown front in the West Bank, including cities like Jenin and Nablus.
By preemptively arresting militants, seizing weapons caches, and restoring security control in key areas, Israel averted an even wider and deadlier escalation. What looked like heavy-handedness to some was, in fact, containment.
5) Refusing a Ceasefire Until Hostages Are Released
Calls for “immediate ceasefire” began almost as soon as Israel responded to the Hamas massacre. But Israel has been right to reject any deal that allows Hamas to remain intact and hostages to remain underground. Ceasefires that leave terrorist groups in power are not peace; they are resets for the next round of violence.
By holding firm, Israel has already secured the release of over a hundred hostages through negotiated pauses — and weakened Hamas’ leverage. A permanent ceasefire without dismantling Hamas would reward terror and guarantee more conflict. The only just and durable outcome is one where Hamas no longer rules Gaza and no Israeli — man, woman, or child — remains in captivity.
Of course, Israel did not seek this war. It was thrust upon the Jewish state by genocidal actors backed by Iran. But in the face of unimaginable horror, Israel has responded with moral clarity, military precision, and strategic patience.
Critics often see Israeli actions through a distorted lens, rushing to judgment based on ideology rather than reality. But time and truth have a way of catching up.
Increasingly, the world sees what Israelis have always known: Survival in a neighborhood of hostile actors requires tough, smart decisions — many of which history will judge far more kindly than today’s headlines.
“Pager detonations wound thousands, majority Hezbollah members, in suspected cyberattack.” The Jerusalem Post.
“Reports: Mossad rigged pager batteries with explosives, devices were imported 5 months ago.” The Times of Israel.
Excellent analysis. The critics of Israeli actions, and this includes the internal critics, do not have the survival of Israel and the Jews as their #1 goal. All I can say is, "Persevere." Keep the goals solid, methodically check off the items from the "to do" list, and the critics be damned.
You have to admire such astute military strategy while being hindered at every step by the Biden administration (but since Biden was non compos mentis, who was at the wheel?)