The earthquakes in Gaza and Israel

Earthquakes are human tragedies and geological surprises.

They produce enormous human suffering and massive material losses.

They also reveal unprecedented information about the deepest places on the planet.

For scientists, an earthquake opens new windows from which they can scrutinize what is happening at the center of the earth.

On October 7 of last year, a savage human earthquake occurred in Israel that, in addition to causing immense pain, revealed a lot of information about what many think, but few say.

We now know, for example, that anti-Semitism is more common and international than it seemed.

It has always existed, but after the Second World War and the vast international recognition of what the Holocaust meant, anti-Semitic expressions and behavior were often repudiated or, as we now know, hidden or disguised.

Not anymore.

Shortly after the October 7 massacre, the streets of many cities around the world were filled with people protesting against Israel and, surprisingly, supporting Hamas.

Thus, the Government of Israel, instead of having the support of world public opinion, is also facing massive repudiation from countries, organizations and groups that hate it.

To a large extent this repulsion already existed, but the earthquake made it clearly visible.

The earthquake also highlighted military and intelligence failures.

Both Israeli soldiers and spies were commonly cited by allies and rivals as the best in the world.

Not anymore.

They did not anticipate what happened on October 7, they took a long time to mount a counteroffensive to rescue and protect their citizens and regain control of the territory invaded by Hamas or rescue the hostages kidnapped by the terrorists.

The bombing of Gaza, with its immense human and material losses, obviously contributes to the deterioration of the international reputation of the Israeli military and Government.

Weaker, but also revealing, tremors usually occur in the days after an earthquake.

For example, the massacre revealed how some of the most prestigious universities in the world work.

In a questioning before the US Congress, the rectors of the universities of Harvard and Pennsylvania did their best not to answer whether their respective institutions were allowed to advocate the extermination of a certain people.

Both refused to answer the question.

And both leaders had to resign due to the reactions that their statements produced.

It should be noted that the departure of Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, was also due to her political enemies unraveling academic texts in which she appears as the author and that include paragraphs copied and used without crediting the initial author.

But the earthquake not only disseminated new information about the mediocre process that elite American universities follow to elect their leaders.

Much more serious than the embarrassment of the university authorities has been the catastrophic performance of Bibi Netanyahu.

The Israeli prime minister had built an entire political image as the champion of Israel's security: the most hawkish of hawks.

The earthquake of October 7 revealed the emptiness of that position.

In reality, while Hamas was dedicated to stealing every dollar or euro that came to it from the United Nations, the EU or Qatar and diverting them to arm and train its terrorists, Bibi Netanyahu was focused on something else: the consolidation of his power and the weakening of institutional counterweights that could undermine it.

While Hamas was building an impressive network of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels under Gaza to house its militants and store their supplies, Bibi Netanyahu dedicated his energies to expanding settlements in the West Bank, hand in hand with the most extreme and chauvinist voices in his coalition. .

The most hawkish of hawks turned a blind eye to the warnings of his security services.

They alerted him that Hamas was actively training his troops in non-routine exercises.

Netanyahu's indifference to this call was fueled by his desire to keep Gaza and the West Bank separate, each under a different authority.

To achieve this, he needed Gaza to remain under Hamas rule.

His political responsibility for the October 7 attack is not in doubt.

The old covert anti-Semitism is, then, strengthened by the errors of an Israeli Government that has been losing its democratic character.

And this, deep down, is the deepest of the truths revealed by the earthquake of October 7: that by placing itself under the command of a Government that undermines institutions, Israel puts at risk not only its democracy, but also its security. .

Follow all the international information on

Facebook

and

X

, or in

our weekly newsletter

.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I am already a subscriber

_