Implications of the Hamas Terror Attacks and the Israeli Response on Latin America and the Global Strategic Environment

Abstract

My heart goes out to the almost 1,000 Israelis brutally slaughtered by Hamas on October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks this week. Few not actually living this moment in Israel, and certainly not me, can truly understand the grief and outrage that Hamas’ acts of depravity have sparked among Israelis. A nation forged from history’s most nefarious effort to exterminate a people cannot coexist within miles (sometimes even meters) of a terrorist organization whose principal objective is its destruction. Yet, I fear even more what is likely to come next.

Following the 9-11 terror attacks that killed more than 2,977 in the United States, I watched my own country, in moral outrage and a quest for security framed by “never again…” effectively bankrupt itself over the next two decades while creating enemies around the world, and squandering a generation of military and technological advantage as its geopolitical rival the People’s Republic of China (PRC) rose in the shadows of its distraction. Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks can not be anything less than total, but it must be smart.