Episode 43: After Doha, Israel needs a new story

On September 9, Israel tried but failed to kill Hamas leaders in Qatar. The regional blowback surprised the Israelis. Emirati and Saudi leaders, who have long seen Qatar as a foe in the region, visited Doha to express solidarity. Criticism of Israel came not only from the usual suspects, but even from Trump administration officials.

Israel, many regional allies now worry, doesn't understand its new role as regional superpower. It's still locked into the mindset of a small besieged nation, and it's acting foolishly because of it.

This fallout is part of a larger story, a larger Israeli failure to tell its story in the different environments in which Israel must operate. In the West, it has lost not only opponents, but close friends as well, who are often tired of standing in the whirlwind of claims and counter-claims and hearing only Israel's most extreme voices telling its story. The government faces, too, growing distrust domestically of its war plans and intentions. And even close regional allies (and would-be allies) like the Emiratis and Saudis are growing worried.

This Israeli government has never been able to tell its story, to explain its goals and aspirations for Gaza and for the region. Not to Israelis, not to Westerners, not to regional allies. It didn't matter when the country wasn't engaged in a war that has reshaped the region, but it matters now. Israel is the undisputed superpower of the region, and no one quite knows what that means. It still seems to behave like a small country under siege. It seems to be the only actor on the regional stage not to understand its own strength and newfound position.

It's time for the Jewish state to take control of its story, to tell friends and enemies and everyone in between what it wants for itself and for the region, what its goals are for Gaza's better post-war future, what kind of regional order it hopes to help build with any ally who wants to cooperate. It's time to start thinking bigger and more long-term than the current war, which on many fronts has already been won.

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Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.