Hamas-Terror against Israel: How will it change the Middle East? | To the point

The Hamas terror attack on Israel is the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, says Israel’s president. What he called his country’s darkest hour has cast a long shadow worldwide.

The assault on October 7th is prompting comparisons to massacres perpetrated by the terrorist group ISIS. Hamas fighters killed more than 1,000 Israelis, including babies, children, old people.

They seized an unprecedented number of hostages. So far at least 1,000 Palestinians have died during counterattacks by the Israeli army, which has blocked the Gaza strip and mobilized a record 300 thousand reservists.

Why were Israel’s vaunted military and intelligence services caught off guard? What will the attack mean for an already precarious region? Our topic today: Hamas-Terror against Israel: How will it change the Middle East?

Our guests:
Guido Steinberg is a terrorism expert at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs SWP
Daniel-Dylan Böhmer is a Senior News Editor on the Foreign Affairs Desk at the German daily Die Welt
Shani Rozanes is a commentator and editor here at DW who has also worked for media in her home country Israel.
Ofer Waldmann is an independent author and musician equally at home in Germany and Israel. He joins us via Skype from Israel.

Chapters
00:00 The attack caught Israel unprepared
02:00 People felt safe, they trusted the border wall
03:40 Hamas is now comparable to ISIS terror
04:03 Motive for Hamas’ attack may have been to stop ties between Israel and Saudis
05:40 Where does Hamas ideology evolve?
06:00 People in the north fear Hezbollah could get involved
08:40 Campaign to eliminate Hamas will be difficult
10:00 Civilian suffering can prompt recrimination in the Arab world
11:40 Hamas has a record number of hostages
13:00 Will there be negotiations on a possible swap?
14:00 The terror is not done for Palestinian civilians
14:30 So far only a few moderate Palestinians have condemned the terror
18:00 Criticism of Netanyahu in Israeli media
19:00 Netanyahu is very much under pressure
19:30 Egypt warned Israel
21:20 Where was the military?
23:30 Iran's ongoing support for Hamas and Hizbollah

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