Gaza is Now Israel's Vietnam

posted on: Aug 13, 2025

By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer

The parallels to the American debacle in Vietnam are unmistakable: an asymmetric conflict against a determined resistance, mounting civilian casualties that horrify the international community, growing domestic opposition, and leaders doubling down on failed strategies rather than confronting hard truths. Yet Israel is seeing victory in failure. Last week, Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a new strategy for a “final” military campaign on Gaza to dismantle Hamas, bring home the remaining hostages, “demilitarize” the Strip, place Gaza under Israeli “security control”, and create a “civilian government” not associated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

Images of starvation in Gaza have shocked the world and mobilized massive street protests around the world. Europe and the UN are condemning the new plan, and internal opposition has reached a fever pitch. Many of the Israeli generals, including the armed forces’ chief of staff, are now arguing against the takeover.  Their arguments are solid: the plan could easily create a quagmire that could consume Israel’s moral standing, security, and future. And on its face, the plan to conquer Gaza and keep it under control does indeed sound irrational.

But reading between the lines, one can discern several possible covert motives. First, Netanyahu’s war threat might be an attempt to cow Hamas into surrendering and possibly handing over the hostages. Hamas is unlikely to fall into this trap. Second, the plan might be a strategy to tiptoe away from the atrocities Israel has committed by handing an uninhabitable strip of land over to “Arab forces”. Another miscalculation: Arab states have no desire to cooperate on any transition plan that would absolve Israel of its crimes. Third, and most chillingly, the plan might simply be the wholesale ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip by forcing its inhabitants to evacuate “for their own safety”.

This is a hard-to-imagine scenario. The Israeli opposition should be contemplating a new direction: acknowledge political sins; safeguard the future of the Jewish people in the Middle East; and redirect the country toward coexistence. Such a drastic change would present Israel with a profound moral, economic, and strategic challenge. However, just as America’s withdrawal from Vietnam ultimately strengthened its global position, Israel’s future security lies not in the endless subjugation of Palestinians, but in the courage to pursue justice and genuine peace. The only question now is how long it will take Israeli leaders to recognize what the rest of the world already knows: this war cannot be won, only ended.

Ghassan Rubeiz is the former Middle East Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Earlier, he taught psychology and social work in his country of birth, Lebanon, and later in the United States, where he currently lives. He has contributed to political commentary for the past twenty years and delivered occasional public talks on peace, justice, and interfaith subjects. You can reach him at rubeizg@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.

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