Israel Sixteen Years Later: New Wars, New Hope

In the Middle East, violent conflict brews so rapidly that by the time one war ends, another has begun. Sometimes, a second war begins in the middle of a first war. Nearly two decades ago, Israel wrestled with this exact occurrence. 

Last week marked the sixteenth anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, which broke out on July 12, 2006. Remember that war? If not, perhaps the names Udi Goldwasser, z”l and Eldad Regev, z”l will ring a bell. 

They were IDF soldiers who were abducted by Hezbollah after the terrorist organization fired rockets into northern Israel in order to divert the IDF. Then, Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at two Humvees in Israeli territory, killing three soldiers. Goldwasser and Regev were abducted into Lebanon. Tragically, five more IDF soldiers were killed trying to rescue them. 

Israel responded with artillery, airstrikes and even soldiers on the ground in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah continued to bombard northern Israel with rockets. It was horrifying. 

But another conflict was already raging elsewhere in Israel. Amazingly, by the time the Second Lebanon War erupted in mid-July, Israel was already in the throes of war with Hamas in Gaza. That war began on June 25, when Hamas captured Gilad Shalit, a young IDF soldier, in a cross-border raid. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel. That meant that by the time the Second Lebanon War broke out roughly three weeks later, two-thirds of Israel (the north and the south) were under attack.

Summer 2006 marked the first time in my life that I felt urgent concern for Israel on an existential level. 

Summer 2006 marked the first time in my life that I felt urgent concern for Israel on an existential level. Having been born in the eighties, I’d never lived through an existential threat against Israel, as my parents had during the Six Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973). But that summer, I bit my nails and lost a lot of sleep because for the first time, I really worried about Israel on a much bigger level. 

My visceral stress was increased by the fact that at the time, I was serving at the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles as Director of Academic Affairs and our public diplomacy department was working overtime to manage everything related to Israel’s image. I was charged with working with the hornets’ nests of anti-Israel activity — universities. 

One of my most disturbing memories of late June to early August 2006 is one of throngs of protestors crowding outside the Consulate (which, back then, was still located in the Miracle Mile) and the shocking betrayal I felt when I learned that many of them were far Left-leaning Jewish groups. As I spent hours on the phone trying to help Jewish and pro-Israel students fight anti-Israel campus resolutions that were being proposed during the summer (when so few were around), I could hear the chants against Israel from my office on the 17th floor. Those chants were so demoralizing. 

That summer not only marked Israel’s first major armed conflict with Hamas (and the country’s second war with Lebanon), but it was also the last time that Israel engaged in military conflict without the venomous poison of social media. Yes, Facebook was started in 2004, but back then, it was rarely used to proliferate biased propaganda. Twitter had only debuted its completed version in July 2006, the same month the war with Lebanon broke out. The first iPhone wouldn’t even be on the market for another year, debuting in June 2007. 

In hindsight, Israel fought only five wars that summer (as if that’s a modest number): in Gaza; in Lebanon; on college campuses; at the United Nations; and in media such as television, print and digital newspapers. The Jewish state was still relatively insulated from the sixth element that would haunt every conflict in which it engaged for the next two decades — the vicious war against Israel on social media. 

And that was my biggest takeaway from June and July 2006: It seemed that I and everyone else who cared about Israel was exceedingly worried about the actual physical safety and survival of both Israeli civilians and soldiers; most of us weren’t even concerned with Israel on social media back then. How innocent we were. 

Today, our concern over Israeli lives is still strong each time terrorists attack the country, but let’s face it: Many of us are also completely depleted from fighting for Israel against bold-faced lies and good, old-fashioned antisemitism on the likes of Twitter and Instagram. That is a war that will never end. 

It’s also important to note that back in 2006, Ehud Olmert was Prime Minister of Israel (I bet you haven’t heard that name in a decade and a half). On the Palestinian side, Ismail Haniyeh ruled Hamas in Gaza and Mahmoud Abbas ruled Fatah in the West Bank. Sixteen years later, guess who still controls Hamas and Fatah? Haniyeh is still head of Hamas and Abbas is celebrating 17 years of an original four-year-term as Palestinian Authority President. Did I mention that Abbas is 87?

In the years since 2006, there have been other changes as well: Hezbollah and Hamas restocked their weapons with fervor (with a lot of help from Iran and Syria); Hezbollah, specifically, has stockpiled over 150,000 rockets and missiles, not to mention a limited number of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. It’s also in possession of thousands of anti-tank missiles. But my biggest concern is whether Hezbollah is now the proud owner of Iranian long-range cruise missiles.

None of us could have imagined that today, several Gulf states as well as Morocco and Sudan would not only make peace with Israel, but also actively help the country thwart Iran’s hegemonic desires in the region.

Of course, none of us could have imagined that today, several Gulf states as well as Morocco and Sudan would not only make peace with Israel, but also actively help the country thwart Iran’s hegemonic desires in the region. If the Saudis are next in line to formally join this growing list of Arab countries that are smart enough to normalize relations with Israel, I’ll be left with only one choice: to enjoy a glass of wine and contemplate how Mahmoud Abbas will navigate his next 17 years in power.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning weekly columnist and an LA-based writer, speaker and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter @TabbyRefael