"Israel" is as weak as it can get, and its weakness is not just before Hamas and the PIJ on the Gaza front, but also extends to the northern front with Hezbollah, the southern front with Yemen, and even the internal front - against itself.

It is very easy to accuse one's enemy of weakness, as no one is immune to propaganda, but the media front is just as potent as the actual battlefront, so don't take it from me, take it from the Israelis themselves who are acknowledging the weakness of their own government and its shortcomings on numerous fronts.

From so-called leftist media outlets, all the way to far-right ones, they are all acknowledging that the Israeli occupation is frail and has failed in light of its internal and external battles.

Retired Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Lieutenant Colonel Avigdor Kahalani acknowledged that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood carried out by Hamas' military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, will "continue to hurt the nation forever". 

The Al-Qassam Brigades rightfully stormed the occupied territories en masse and captured hundreds and took out a section of the separation wall that had been keeping Palestinians in Gaza away from the remainder of their Palestinian lands, and vice versa. The whole event - which had a resounding effect on "Israel" and led it to carry out an onslaught that has been going on for nearly a month now on Gaza - "will be a bleeding wound for many years, and the scar, even if it heals, will continue to hurt [Israel]."

Israeli settlers are scared, and the retired Kahalani said any blind person could see that, in the case of war, perhaps a regional one, the Israelis "will be required to shut ourselves in the shelters."

The weakness in what Kahalani wrote in the far-right Makor Rishon does not solely stem from the way in which he discusses the effects of the operation on "Israel", but also what he says afterward in his article.

Settlers lack trust in IOF 

The retired IOF Lieutenant Colonel called for the formation of settler militias, which could stem from the lack of trust in the Israeli occupation forces after they did not come to the rescue of Israeli settlers when Al-Qassam barged into the Gaza envelope and retaliated against them for occupying their Palestinian lands and oppressing them. The operation went on for hours, and the IOF was nowhere to be found due to the shocking nature of the offensive, and any attempt to quell the Resistance failed miserably.

He underlined how settlers locked in shelters would not know who was responsible for guarding their communities other than the emergency squads, who were either very tame in their response to the October 7 operation, or were quickly killed off by the Palestinian Resistance. This reflects an underlying lack of trust in the Israeli occupation forces. 

"Thousands of armed citizens walk among us. Each of the weapon bearers must be assigned a clear, defined task," he said, echoing the Libertarian-like sentiment in "Israel", which calls for the arming of citizens so that they could protect themselves as the IOF proved to be untrustworthy and unreliable after October 7.

The settlers would rather have disorderly, anarchic-like armed militants that could shoot at each other or even at other unarmed settlers out of panic - which happened even with elite units in the IOF - than trust their own soldiers who are tasked with protecting them. 

He even questioned the ability of the army to quell any dissent coming from settlers, asking, "Are our bases capable of stopping a mob attack?" which he said would be a possibility in case of a food and water shortage. 

The October 7 operation not only undermined trust in the IOF, but also in the Israeli intelligence agencies, as the writer also said: "[...] intelligence does not know everything and will not know everything in the future either."

The entire ordeal underlined to the Israelis that they were not as prepared as they thought they were, and that their deterrence was but a facade. "My friends and comrades, with our hands on our hearts, we are not ready for another attack like the one on October 7th," he said.

"We were taught a lesson," he concluded by saying.

Multiple manifestations

Weakness does not only manifest in the form of a lack of ability to respond to an attack or wanting to go in hiding, it can also come in the form of excessive force, for that is a sign of weakness, but that is exactly what the Israeli occupation is doing.

Israeli military and security affairs expert Amos Harel wrote in Haaretz about how the Israeli occupation forces are abandoning "limitations" they had adhered to in past aggressions on Gaza - though they did not even remotely stop civilian casualties - such as "roof knocking". 

Harel underlined that the Israeli occupation was no longer "roof knocking" to warn civilians to leave an area that was about to be struck. "The army is now operating with less caution" as top reserves officers urge a "fundamental change of the rules in the game" when it comes to fighting the Palestinian Resistance.

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Another aspect of weakness is an overreliance on foreign partners and allies, whether on the international stage in the form of diplomatic support or the battlefront with military aid; Harel stressed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "very much needs the Americans to assist in the war effort in Gaza and perhaps also in Lebanon."

US President Joe Biden is ramping up military aid to "Israel" to pave the way for a "swift, decisive and overwhelming" response against the Palestinian Resistance, as the White House is requesting an additional $14 billion in support from Congress - most of which is meant for weapons - with even more on the way.

The American military claims to have prepared 2,000 personnel and a range of units on standby for potential deployment to "Israel". However, defense officials state that the forces are not intended to serve in combat roles, and are tasked with advising and medical roles, but some could enter to support Israeli forces.

Two aircraft carrier groups, USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, have already been sent to the region, which includes one missile cruiser, at least two destroyers, and dozens of aircraft including jet fighters alongside around 5,000 servicemen and women.

On the opposite spectrum of using excessive force, is excessively victimizing one's self, such as in the case of columnist Shmuel Rosner, who wrote in the Centrist Maariv a lengthy article, throughout most of which he compares the Resistance's operation to major surprise attacks throughout history, such as Pearl Harbor, the Tet Offensive, a battle in the Punic Wars, etc. 

He also talks about what everyone is talking about: the Israeli occupation's image, this facade of deterrence that was completely destroyed on October 7. "Israel cannot appear weak in the eyes of its allies who are invested in it. And yes, not looking weak is an existential matter."

Moreover, he underlined that the Israeli occupation must not hold back, because the ongoing war was one "of no choice." 

Victimization again

More on the victim card in this issue, the columnist went on to highlight how world leaders found it easy to support the Israeli occupation in these times, because, in his own words: "it is easy to support Jews as victims, it is more difficult to accept them as aggressors."

He also acknowledged the weakness of the Israeli occupation forces and government as he underlined that the Israeli occupation "has a mediocre army and mediocre leadership," abd called on the public to just trust the IOF and the Netanyahu cabinet, the same parties who could not protect their own settlers on October 7.

And finally, a collaborator who turned against the Palestinian freedom movement Hamas and the Palestinian cause as a whole, Mosab Hassan Youssef, a staunch pro-Israeli who collaborated with the Israeli occupation to stop Resistance operations, underlined that the Israeli occupation's public image after the aggression it is waging on Gaza "will be stained with blood while Hamas will gain more money, recognition, and power."

He concluded by underlining that Hamas, come the end of the onslaught being waged on Gaza and any war that could take place, "will emerge from the war stronger" than it had been before it.

Internal disputes

Internal disputes within the Israeli occupation have been taking place for nearly a year now, with protests taking place every Saturday for 10 months straight to condemn Netanyahu and his administration, and also try to topple him to pave the way for a new government after he collaborated with far-right wingers to get back to the top after he was ousted as premier two years earlier.

The hatred for Netanyahu and his administration of fascist Israelis drove hundreds of thousands to the streets and saw thousands abandoning military service in protest. Even to this day, the Israelis are not satisfied with their leaders. Usually, in any nation - though "Israel" cannot be seen as one - people rally behind the leadership, and become highly patriotic during times of war or when the homeland is attacked. George Bush, for example, saw his ratings skyrocket following the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent war he waged on the Middle Eastern countries that had nothing to do with the attacks.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, is gravely suffering as the general sentiment of hatred for him, from the protests against his cabinet to those against its inaction on the Israeli captives issue and its killing of civilians, is growing by the day. 

As a matter of fact, Israeli society is so divided that a group of Likud supporters interviewed by a Haaretz journalist claimed that Netanyahu was not alerted of the October 7 operation because anti-Netanyahu military officials wanted him gone and thought this would ruin his image. 

One staunch pro-Likud settler, citing conspiracy theories circulating on social media in "Israel", hinted at that issue. He was asked by the interviewer if he meant that senior security establishment officials purposefully did not tell Netanyahu because they wanted him out of the premier's office, and to that he said "obviously".

"Obviously. The head of Military Intelligence and the army chief of staff realized there would be a war, thought that [terrorists] would infiltrate and kill one person here, another one there. And Bibi would be to blame. They didn’t understand what the scale of it would be," the Israeli settler said.

"Hatred for Bibi drove them out of their minds," he insisted.

The schism in Israeli society seems to be growing instead of healing, which is extremely unlikely to happen in any society during wartime, yet here it is.

Meanwhile, instead of trying to unite the people behind him and lead them through war, Netanyahu is preoccupied with trying to polish his own image before the media, as members of his office claim while talking to journalists that portraying him as "weak" in light of all the ongoing disputes and the lackluster response to the Resistance's operation could lead to another war on the northern front.

"Many [...] journalists, particularly those affiliated with an offensive stance against the prime minister, were contacted by the prime minister's office," Haaretz claimed. "Hezbollah is paying close attention to the Israeli media and how the prime minister is portrayed. They believe that by portraying Netanyahu as 'weak,' Hezbollah will be driven to start its own front in the war," the outlet claimed Netanyahu and his team were saying,

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's censorship campaigns were struck down by former Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate chief Amos Yadlin, who said Hezbollah would not start a war over how Netanyahu is portrayed in the media. "The factors that drive him are his assessment of Israel's military power and what the US will do. I have never heard Nasrallah refer to the question of who sits in the chair," he said.

The Israeli occupation is proving to be highly weak on too many fronts to count, and as it tries to make up for a shortcoming on one front, it falls short on another, proving not only its weakness and the chaos it is dealing with, but the fact that it cannot manage itself, or at least does so in a very chaotic manner. Chaos, along with the numerous other issues that the Israeli occupation is having to deal with, are a grave reflection of not only weakness, but a crumbling entity all in all.