After October 7: Geopolitical Tremors Reshaping the Middle East
Israel’s response to the Hamas terrorist attack is rewriting the region’s strategic and diplomatic playbook.
Since the unprecedented Hamas-led terrorist assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Middle East has undergone a profound geopolitical reordering. The attack, which resulted in mass casualties and ignited Israel’s most intensive military response in decades, triggered a cascade of political, military, and diplomatic shifts across the region.
Israel, reeling from the scale of the violence, swiftly mobilized its military for an extended campaign in Gaza. The country’s often divided political factions have coalesced in the face of national crisis, while civilian resilience has been praised and tested.
One year after October 7, the attack seems to have permanently altered the calculus for Israel’s military leaders.
“Repelling such a war of annihilation is not pretty, especially for a democracy governed by the consent of the governed, which is therefore charged by its citizenry with protecting their physical and material well-being,” Robert D. Kaplan reflected in “Israel’s New Rules of War,” for The National Interest on October 2, 2024. “Indeed, democracy entails obligations that are not always benign.”