There were two things expected before Oct. 7, 2023: that Hamas would carry out military operations and that Israel had a list of regional targets it intended to destroy. What happened simply gave Israel the license to carry all of that out at once.

The notion that this week’s “tsunami of recognitions” of the state of Palestine was triggered by Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel is a distortion of reality. The irony is that this narrative is being repeated by both Benjamin Netanyahu and Arab extremists alike.

A deathly silence looms over the Arab street, unmoved by the wave of dramatic events in the region. We have not seen demonstrations, protests, or sit-ins in the Arab countries, and in my view, this is the first time in seven decades or more that such displays have vanished.

Seven years ago, I wrote about the “regional rise of Israel.” Today, its presence is greater than ever, and it is behind dramatic geopolitical changes in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks. After all this, how does Israel now view itself?

The war in Gaza, with all its horrors, is approaching the end of its second year, making it the longest and deadliest confrontation in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Why has the Gaza war lasted this long?