Ella Shattock, a participant in a Pinsker Centre trip to Israel in 2022, who returned as a staff member in 2023, reflects on her first visit to the South of Israel.

This report was produced by S.Levit in collaboration with the Pinsker Centre. The views found within reflect those of the author.

“The discrepancy between the Council’s response to the direct incursion on civilian populations in both Russia and Israel, signifies a moral relativism that serves to perpetuate the cyclical violence that shapes the conflict and assures future instability in the region.”

This report was produced by Jonathan Gibson and Baran Ayguven, Pinsker Centre Policy Fellows 23-24.

“Friday 19th July marked the first time that a Houthi drone took a life in Israel. In the early hours of Friday morning, a UAV suicide drone sent by Houthi Rebels bypassed Israeli air defences over the Mediterranean Sea and struck an apartment building in Tel Aviv.”

“In a daring daylight raid on 8 June, Israeli special operations forces rescued 4 hostages from their Hamas captors in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza. Thanks to the element of surprise, Israeli commandos were able to reach Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Andrey Koslov, and Almog Meir. These hostages were kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival that was brutally attacked by Hamas during the 7 October Massacre”

(Image courtesy)

“In the early hours of 12 January, the U.S. and U.K. launched a widespread series of airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen in coordination with close allies. While significant after weeks of Houthi attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the airstrikes represent a limited attempt to deter the Houthis from continuing its blatantly illegal and dangerous activity against civilian vessels in a vital shipping lane.”

“A common criticism levied at Israel as it fights against the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza is that it is an “apartheid state” mirroring the abhorrent policies of South Africa’s minority white-rule structure until the 1990s. The label of “apartheid,” whether it be applied to Israel’s internationally recognized borders or its territories in the West Bank and Gaza, is an extremely hyperbolic and offensive description that only further exasperates a conflict that has been waged for far too long”

“Today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) meets in the Hague to hear arguments from a South African delegation that Israel is committing genocide against Gazan Palestinians as it continues its counterterrorism operation against Hamas after the October 7th massacres. While not only meritless, the South African allegations present a clear misuse of the ICJ as a political tool to attack the Jewish State as it continues to target the terrorist organization responsible for brutally killing over 1,300 Israelis in the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”

“As Israel continues its goal of destroying Hamas after the terrorist organization killed over 1,200 Israelis in the horrific massacre on October 7th, a common allegation from those criticizing the Jewish state’s right to self defense is that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. While not only blatantly incorrect, the use of the term genocide is an extremely grave missuse of the word that dismisses the memories of those who have perished under documented past genocides.”

“Not only would a permanent ceasefire fail to achieve justice for the over 1200 killed during the October 7 massacres or the hostages tortured and held in the Gaza Strip, a permanent ceasefire will only prolong the conflict by allowing Hamas to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure and once again hold Gazans as human shields to defend against another assault on Israeli civilians.”

“Following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th, where the terrorist organization took over 200 hostages from Israel into the Gaza strip, Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage deal and temporary ceasefire to allow for the return of 110 civilians and foreign workers taken from their homes. Despite Israel holding to the terms of the truce and actively negotiating to extend the deal, Hamas unilaterally ended the ceasefire after the terrorist group refused to release more hostages and launched rockets at civilian targets in southern Israel.”

“Since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas after the October 7th Massacres, Hamas has consistently used tactics that put unarmed civilians at risk of death or injury. Hamas has a long history of using the people of Gaza as human shields to protect their terrorist leaders from Israeli strikes, and even operates its command center under the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.”

“ To call Israel a settler colony is to ignore one of the greatest success stories of anti-colonialism in history: two thousand years after being forced out of their home by the Roman Empire, the Jewish people returned to reestablish the connection between their people and their native land.”

“The Northern Israeli border situation encapsulates a multi-faceted tension involving various actors and geopolitical interests. The involvement of militant groups, backed by regional powers, notably Iran, alongside territorial disputes, paints a complex picture of the security challenges faced by Israel on its northern frontier. Hezbollah is allowing Hamas and other Palestinian Jihadist groups to use its territory to launch projectiles and motors into Israel’s Northern towns and cities in an attempt to open a second front with Israel.”

“Before the massacres on October 7th, Israel only provided 9% of Gazan water supply through three separate pipelines— the rest was produced via pumping and desalinating water from the Mediterranean and an aquifer underneath the Gaza Strip. There are three desalination plants in Gaza which normally rely on the electrical grid to run.”

“The UK & Israel are two innovative democracies which have a deep and historic partnership. Shared values as democracies have deepened over time and economic and security ties have become fundamental pillars of the relationship.”

“Hamas is an Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip. This means the ministries of Education, Health, etc, are all Hamas. Hamas is an Islamic extremist group that believes in Sharia law. Hamas’s 1988 charter states: “Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea”- i.e., “the annihilation of Israel. The charter says: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them.” Hamas violence derailed the Oslo Peace Process between Israel and the PLO during the 1990s. They were responsible for the deaths of over 2,000 Israelis through suicide bombings and other attacks.”

“The Kfar Aza Kibbutz was a main target of Hamas terrorists on the morning of October 7th”