The Arab world has a problem. They can’t admit defeat, only setbacks. It’s a theological imperative that their god can beat up their enemy’s god. That’s the meaning of their battle cry; “Allah Akbar!” Accepting defeat is accepting that their god is not the greatest.
They weren’t on board with the attack on Israel and initially denounced it. However, now that Israel is winning the war, they are in protection mode to deny Israel the victory.
What will they do? The smart move is to deal with Hamas and Hezbollah themselves to deny Israel the victory while removing a source of consternation.
We’ll see...
It would make sense for the people of Gaza to do exactly that, and kill surviving Hamas members in the colorful, lurid way that is an Arabian specialty. Something worthy of a poem sung to the rhythm of drums, extolling the prowess of the oppressed Gazans, and how they earned the respect of the Israeli soldiers by returning the hostages alive, those that still are. Wishful thinking. I know.
‘The smart move’, yeah, good one. The koranimals are on a road that has no turns.
It’s probably a little more complicated. The Arab countries may not love Israel but there are domestic practical and regional stability issues at stake. They may not like to see Hamas and Hezbullah so thoroughly crushed, but they also know this weakens Iran. Iran is in Iraq and the Arabian peninsula backing the houthis. And then there’s the old Shia/Sunni grudge; and Persians are not Arab. So I’d say they are somewhat conflicted on their opinions. They say one thing in public but probably a different opinion in private meetings.
I think they are capable of understanding what Israel has to do, that no country would put up with what Hamas did and what Hezbullah was plotting and doing. I could see some argument that Israel went over the top - not my opinion but I could see someone making a reasonable case. But generally speaking Israel has no choice. Gaza was no longer contained to sporadic rockets that Israel could mostly knock out of the sky - they were out for bloodlust. They were deeply embedded and could pop up anywhere anytime. Can’t live with that as your neighbor. And most everyone knows this is all orchestrated and financed from Tehran and the IRGC (and not the majority of Iranian people). Israel is cutting off two of its tentacles and someone else or some other tactic will have to be used to contain the others.