By: Prof. Dr. Mohsen Mohammad Saleh.
The resilience of the resistance in Gaza Strip (GS) and the continuity of its effective performance over the past 23 months cannot be regarded merely as an exceptional historical episode, nor simply as an event that confounds military and political experts. Rather, it has become a paradigm that strikes at the very core of the colonial Zionist ideology.
Hamas and the broader forces of resistance have come to represent a “complex” for Israel and its massive, ferocious military machine… A complex rooted in the “fear of failure” to subjugate the “Other.” It is also the dread of witnessing the collapse of the Zionist ideological edifice, which has long rested upon the “dehumanization” of the Other and the “monopolization of victimhood,” thereby justifying the expropriation of land, the killing and the forced displacement of Palestinians. The true fear lies in the reversal of the narrative: the world now perceives “Zionism as devoid of humanity,” while the Palestinian asserts victory through identity, values, humanity and civilized conduct.
The gravity of this transformation lies in the fact that the success of the resistance erodes the very foundations of the Zionist project, stripping it of its dialectical justification and rationale for existence.
The Superiority Complex and the Deification of Power:
The Zionist project intersects with the Western colonial enterprise in two constitutive dimensions:
• The mentality of superiority and “domination” over others. This entails the denial of their basic human attributes and the application of “social Darwinism” through the principles of “the struggle for survival” and “the survival of the fittest” or the strongest. Consequently, all forms of exploitation and brutality against them are legitimized.
• The deification of “power.” Those who possess it are granted the prerogative to impose their own visions, will and hegemony, under the assumption that “might makes right.” Power thus dictates the standards for what is termed “justice,” “freedom,” or “equality,” and even redefines the very notion of “the human.” What cannot be achieved through force, they argue, can be secured through greater force!!
Within Zionist thought, the Arab is depicted as a “debased” being, representing the “goyim” or the “Amalekites” in all their supposed savagery. Accordingly, the Arab is deemed deserving of whatever befalls him, and is held responsible for the historical calamities that afflicted the Jews. From this perspective, the Arab is seen as backward, weak, cowardly, lustful and inherently submissive. Hence, the Palestinian Arab (the victim) is stripped of his humanity, thereby providing justification for his elimination.
One is struck by the Israeli Zionist culture, which speaks casually of killing Palestinians, confiscating their land and holy sites and displacing them, as if such actions were mere routine administrative procedures. Various Israeli currents share this contemptuous view of Palestinians—and, by extension, of Arabs and Muslims. Political leaders, military commanders, intellectuals, and senior clerics within Israel frequently describe Palestinians and Arabs in derogatory terms that diminish their humanity, providing brazen justification for the killing of children, women and the elderly, as well as for the destruction of hospitals, universities, schools and places of worship.
It is also evident that Israeli society, across its different segments and movements, is preoccupied with securing the release of its twenty prisoners and with drawing the world’s attention to “their suffering,” while scarcely any genuine faction expresses remorse for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, the transformation of the lives of some 2.3 million Palestinians in GS into “hell,” or the destruction of homes and mass displacement. Palestinian suffering is largely absent from their discourse.
The Collapse of the Zionist Theory:
For decades, Zionist thought operated under a mindset justified by its victories over Arab armies, its regional dominance and its imposition of normalization pathways. This mindset even culminated in the astonishing outcome of persuading the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to sign the Oslo Accords, cede most of Palestine, and establish a functional entity that serves Israel while pursuing the forces of resistance.
Nonetheless, this mindset encountered a formidable obstacle in GS and was effectively halted by Hamas and other militant Islamic forces…
Following the October 7th attack, the Israeli leadership framed the confrontation as an existential struggle: safeguarding Israeli existence and eliminating the presence of the resistance. The attack decisively challenged Israel’s security theory, demonstrating that it could, in fact, be defeated.
By declaring this confrontation a zero-sum existential battle, the Israelis placed their theoretical framework and the core of their project at stake. What ensued were successive escalations of force… marked by repeated massacres… widespread destruction, bloodshed, dismemberment, the targeting of children, women, and the elderly, as well as displacement, siege, and starvation… yet no submission.
The tyrannical force encountered a resolute, strong and courageous resistance.
Greater force and brutality produced counterproductive results… models of resistance have become a subject of discussion both locally and globally.
Within Israel’s strategic mindset and experience, there is no precedent for such steadfastness. This has generated profound frustration over the absence of victory after such a prolonged period… accompanied by fear that the paradigm’s collapse or fragment. Israel had made a faulty assumption that GS and the resistance would respond like corrupt, oppressive regimes, that are themselves products of the West, or like a nation rendered meaningless and insubstantial.
Ending this war is unlike any other conflict, because a cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of the enemy, and the continued presence of the resistance’s weapons… would strike at the very core of the power system embedded in the philosophy of the Zionist project, for both the Likud and religious Zionism. Consequently, they will endeavor by all means to prevent the war from ending without the disarmament of Hamas and without determining the next day for GS. The steadfastness of resistance and its imposition of its will signals the beginning of a countdown for the Zionist project.
This explains Israel’s ferocity, the prolongation of the war, and the insistence on redrawing regional maps.
The Triumph of Humanity:
Brutal massacres claimed the lives of tens of thousands of victims; children, women and the elderly alike… These atrocities were met with extraordinary displays of patience and steadfastness by a populace that endured unspeakable horrors, yet produced globally inspiring examples of defiance against the enemy and triumph in the battle of will… Thousands of such instances echoed the legacy of great symbols in the Arabic and Islamic history… becoming worldwide icons and luminous symbols in the course of history… The symbols of “sacrifice” and “victimhood” have become increasingly associated with the Palestinian people. For tens of millions around the world, these experiences served as sources of inspiration… prompting many to embrace Islam.
The arrogance of the Israeli power did not merely expose its brutality, false values, lamentations, and monopoly over the notion of victimhood…
It also, conversely, revealed the finest and noblest qualities of this Ummah (Muslim nation): its elevated civilizational ethos, rich heritage, and the authenticity of the Arab Muslim human being, deeply rooted in his land for millennia. Observers witnessed that the Palestinian is neither a “human animal” nor a mere “object” or “biological matter,” stripped of his humanity to justify his killing or erasure.
Simply put, when a person from this region aligns with his Islamic creed, heritage, and civilization, and elevates himself through faith, he becomes not only resistant to subjugation but also reclaims his central civilizational role in leading humanity.
The Zionist mindset, embodied by Israel, has historically divided the world into spheres of civilization and barbarism, positioning itself as the representative of the former. Yet, its conduct has been marked by extreme brutality, rendering it, paradoxically, a symbol of the very barbarism it purports to oppose.
The intensification of Israeli destruction has brought the true victim into stark relief… and has dismantled the longstanding notion of “exclusive victimhood” claimed by the Israelis. This development has enabled the international community to begin moving beyond the “Holocaust complex,” thereby weakening Israel’s persistent strategy of exploiting this narrative to manipulate global opinion.
In this context, the resistance forces, GS and Palestine have effectively prevailed in the battle over values.
The continued Israeli endeavor to substantiate its theoretical claims… now entails protracted military, political, ethical, media, and economic attrition… It signifies a deepening moral and ethical decline, exacerbated social, military and economic losses, and a progressive isolation on both global and humanitarian levels. In effect, the Zionist narrative is collapsing.
Consequently, it is no longer possible to sustain the Western Zionist colonial portrayal of the region’s peoples as weak, cowardly and backward… Undermining this portrayal simultaneously erodes the ostensible rationale for Israel’s existence.
Israel’s apprehension regarding the exposure of these truths explains its systematic targeting of journalists and media personnel, resulting in the deaths of 248 journalists; the largest such massacre in the history of modern warfare. Notably, this figure exceeds the combined journalist casualties of WWI and WWII, as well as the Russia–Ukraine war.
Conclusion:
There exists an Israeli concern regarding the collapse of the colonial Zionist doctrine and the disintegration of the false system of deception constructed by the Western mind around the Arab, the Muslim and the Eastern other… Such a collapse would undermine the very foundation upon which Zionism asserts its superiority and its capacity for subjugation… This prospect is deeply alarming… for confronting and acknowledging it would, in practical terms, signify that Israel no longer holds an established position in this land.
Accordingly, the continuation of the war could precipitate the disintegration of the ideological framework itself… The only viable alternative, therefore, is to halt the war and concede to the truth with genuine acknowledgment.
Consequently, one should anticipate a state of Israeli denial… obstinacy… and defiance… alongside a forward-driven flight that may prolong or attempt to expand the confrontation. For this reason, ending the battle (so long as Israel remains determined to frame it as an all-or-nothing engagement) will demand considerable time, effort and considerable sacrifices.
Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, 10/9/2025
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