Retired U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and best-selling author Lt. Col. Brad Taylor helped unpack what’s behind the Israel-Hamas war on this week’s CBS Eye on Veterans.
Taylor said the Oct. 7 coordinated attacks by Hamas, which left over 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 200 hostages taken back to Gaza by the Palestinian terror organization, appeared to be on operation that was planned for well over a year.
“They had planned on it for a long, long time,” Taylor told CBS Eye on Veterans host Phil Briggs.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that burned people alive, beheaded people with [gardening hoe], that’s all documented,” he said. “The Israelites have every right to defend themselves. They need to wipe Hamas off the map. Now, whether they can or not, that’s a whole different story.”
In discussing the attack, Taylor also explained the current political situation in Israel, as unlike the U.S., Israel does not have a constitution, so the state's Supreme Court could review and decide many political issues. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to attempt to alter the Supreme Court to make it subordinate led to massive protests over the past few months.
“There was a fracture going on inside Israel that Hamas chose to exploit at this moment in time,” he said.
But, of course, the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back many decades and has roots in a conflict between Jews and Muslims over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Taylor noted Israel took control of the Gaza Strip from Egypt at the end of the Six-Day War in 1967, the same conflict that saw Israel take control of Jerusalem.
“Eventually, they came to a peace accord with Egypt as the first country to recognize Israel,” he continued, referring to the Camp David Accords in 1978, which came after another war with Egypt, the Yom Kippur War in 1973. “Israel gave [Egypt] back the Sinai Peninsula, tried to give back the Gaza Strip and Egypt said we don’t want it, you can have it.”
That led to the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip.
“Inside the Gaza Strip were a bunch of Palestinians who formed [an offshoot of the] Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt does not like, which is why they did not want the Gaza Strip back,” Taylor said. “The Muslim Brotherhood then became Hamas and Hamas was just dedicated to attacking Israel.”
Israel, which held settlements in Gaza, unilaterally withdrew their nearly two dozen settlements and 8,000 or so citizens in 2005.
“In 2006 the Gaza Strip held elections and Hamas won the elections, so now a terrorist group owns the Gaza Strip,” he said. Hamas did not receive a majority of the votes. “Once they won the elections they said no more elections ever again. Hamas has used the Gaza Strip [as a base] to attack Israel.”
Taylor said the 2006 election was a protest vote against Fatah, the other main political party in Palestine which currently is in power of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“The Palestinian Authority works with the Israelis to secure the West Bank,” he said. Mahmoud Abbas has served as the president of the Palestinian National Authority since 2005.
Egypt and Jordan are the two neighboring Arab nations that have full diplomatic relations with Israel. Prior to the Oct. 7 attack, Israel was negotiating with Saudi Arabia to recognize its existence.
“Hamas can not have that happen, neither can Iran,” he said. “Iran controls Hamas, Iran funds Hamas and that would completely isolate Iran.” [Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi compete for influence throughout the region.]
Taylor believes one of the major objectives of the Oct. 7 attacks was to sever the talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
“In that, they were successful,” he noted. “Saudi Arabia has now backed off and they are not going to do the peace accords in the near term. I think it will happen in the future.”
While groups like Hamas don’t have the weaponry or equipment as a regular army would, they do have anonymity and in the densely populated Gaza Strip, that is a plus, Taylor said.
“You can’t tell who is the good guy and who is the bad guy,” he said. “Most of the people inside of the Gaza Strip do not support Hamas. Israel is going to have to figure that out.”
Meanwhile, concerns are high that Hezbollah in Lebanon could become involved and open up another front to Israel's north. Taylor noted that two American carrier strike groups have deployed to the Mediterranean to deter a second front from opening.
Iran is also in the mix. According to the U.S. State Department, Iran provides around $100 million a year in funding to Hamas and other terrorist groups. Qatar and Turkey have also financially backed Hamas.
“If Hezbollah goes to war in Lebanon and it turns into a two-front war where Israel is literally threatened for its existence, we’re going to get involved in,” Taylor predicted. “If Iran did something overt, we would get involved.”
Taylor’s next book, Dead Man’s Hand: A Pike Logan Novel, will be available on Jan. 23, 2024.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
