So Long as Hamas Remains in Power, the People of Gaza Will Not Know Peace

Shortly after the October 7 attacks, the Israeli political scientist Shany Mor wrote an essay for Mosaic titled “Ecstasy and Amnesia in the Gaza Strip,” in which he identified a cycle that has occurred in the Israel-Palestinian conflict since at least 1947: joyous embrace of an assault on Jews, with predictions of glorious victory, followed by defeat in which that enthusiasm is promptly forgotten—so that no lessons have been learned when another attack begins. Moreover, Mor notes, there is almost no discussion of what mistakes were made, neither among Palestinian or Arab political circles, nor in the broader pro-Palestinian movement.