Israelis confident war is just, even as world’s sympathy wanes

At a time when world sentiment has begun to sour on Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza, the vast majority of Israelis, across the political spectrum, are convinced of the justice of the war.
Still under rocket and missile attacks on several fronts, they have little tolerance for anyone railing against the steep toll the conflict has exacted on the other side.
Capturing the prevailing sentiment in Israel, former prime minister Ehud Barak said other countries would have reacted the same way to such a cross-border attack with mass casualties.
“The United States would do whatever it takes,” Barak recently told the magazine Foreign Policy. “They would not ask questions about proportionality or anything else.”
Israel has carried out weeks of relentless airstrikes and launched a ground operation in what it says is a mission to destroy Hamas.
Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened, more than half of the enclave’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and food, water, fuel and medical supplies have dwindled dangerously under an Israeli siege.
To be sure, Palestinian citizens of Israel on the whole sympathise with the plight of the people of Gaza, while relatives of some hostages have expressed concern about what the bombing campaign means for their loved ones.
But since the October 7 attack, the acrimonious polarisation that had gripped Israel over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to weaken the country’s courts has largely been replaced with an outburst of national unity.
Israelis are hanging the blue and white national flag on homes and cars, turning out in throngs to support hostage families, and handing out food at road junctions to soldiers headed to the front.
TV stations broadcast under the slogans, “Israel at war” and “Together we will win”. A month after the attack, coverage focuses heavily on stories of grief and heroism, with little mention of the situation in Gaza.
AP