Why the Recipe of and for Deradicalization of Gaza Is Dangerously Unrealistic
One of the most persistent — and pernicious — myths being bandied about in the debate over how to achieve some peaceable resolution to the violence induced by radical Islam in Gaza is the proposed "panacea" of "de-radicalization" of extremist Islamist elements.
The rationale underlying the prescription of deradicalization is as glib as it is deceptive.
After all, what could be more reasonable?
If radical Islam is the problem, then surely the solution is deradicalization.
However, this deceptively sound reasoning begs two crucial question:
"How is this to be achieved — and by whom?"
Beware of False Narratives
In this regard, it's crucial to bear in mind that, while extremist ideologies were defanged in the past, (as in post-World War II Germany and Japan), before extrapolating from such success to radical Islam, it's essential to be aware of the substantive differences separating the two cases.
Any suggestion that policy-relevant conclusions be drawn from comparisons between authoritarian ideologies of the World War II-era and modern-day Islamism rests on glaringly false analogies.
After all, Nazi Germany was not surrounded by a swath of Teutonic nations, nor Imperial Japan by a swathe of "Nipponic" nations that could undermine any moderating influences introduced by the victorious Allied powers.
Thus, unlike challenges posed by radical Islam, there were no significant sources of subversion generating adversarial incitement or insurgence among their vanished kinfolk.
This, however, is the situation with Islam.
So, unlike Germany and Japan, Gaza is adjacent to extensive Muslim-majority areas and in close proximity to others, which can provide platforms for hostile incitement and subversive operations.
Radicalization's Trans-Border Reach
However, amenable geography is not the sole difference facilitating continued preservation of radical ideology compared to conditions in the post-World War II era.
The other is technology — chiefly the advent of the internet, cell phones, and social media. Those avenues enable conveyance of extremist content to large sections of the population, exposing them to subversive sermons from Islamist clergymen in far-flung mosques.
Accordingly, there is likely to be little correspondence between the physical location of sources of radicalization and the targets of deradicalization efforts.
Thus, even if meaningful deradicalization initiatives are launched in educational and other institutions in Gaza, it's likely that they will be countered and undermined by Islamist messages conveyed over the ether — from pulpits of fanatical imams and mullahs across the region to the hearts and minds of receptive audience, via laptops, mobile phones, and other devices readily available today.
Indeed, the perpetrators of the 2025 Bondi Beach atrocity in Sydney, one resident in Australia for two decades - the other a native-born Australian — illustrates just how far-reaching the influence of the agents of radicalization is — and how immune it is to national frontiers/geographical distance.
Deradicalization Will Take Decades
A third element differentiating the challenges facing deradicalization today from those of the past is that of time — both in terms of the duration of the extremists' regime and in terms of the period required to uproot its ideology.
While the Nazi Party ascended to power in 1933 and was totally demolished by 1945, Hamas has been the dominant element in the Palestinian polity at least since 2006, when it won the Palestinian parliamentary election — just a year before it violently ejected Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah from Gaza.
The fact that Abbas has put off further elections since then — fearing another Hamas victory — is telling evidence of its continued political prominence.
The Islamic terror group has thus had two decades to inculcate its noxious credo into the population's psyche — especially that of the younger generation, who has never experienced any other type of regime.
Thus, the expunging of radical ideas from the hearts, minds, and souls of the population will not be an instantaneous process.
Far from it!
Indeed, even under favorable conditions, informed estimates suggest a 20-25-year transformation period, as this must entail not just disarming militants and restructuring the education system but rebuilding civic institutions and political culture.
The Only Practical Path
Moreover, with regard to time, apart from the issue of duration, there is the issue of who will undertake the deradicalization process.
After all, if it is to be Israel, this would necessitate at least a two-decade-long Israeli presence in Gaza — in effect implying continued "occupation," with all the attendant uncertainties entailed in such an extended timeframe.
Alternatively, if it's seen as being left to external forces, the pertinent question is which foreign power would have the will and stamina for such an undertaking, in which it is likely to be viewed as a foreign interloper, and in the face of stiff opposition from countervailing Islamist forces, both internal and external.
Seen in this context, the prospect of deradicalization is nothing more than a forlorn hope for avoiding this harsh reality:
The only way Israel can ensure how Gaza is governed, and who will govern it, is to govern it itself.
Moreover, the only way Israel can govern Gaza without becoming an external oppressor of "another people" is to remove "the other people" from the confines of the Gaza Strip itself.
This is the only feasible path to the durable deradicalization of Gaza.
Dr. Martin Sherman spent seven years in operational capacities in the Israeli defense establishment. He's the founder of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a member of the Habithonistim-Israel Defense & Security Forum (IDSF) research team, and a participant in the Israel Victory Project. Read mofre Dr. Martin Sherman Insider articles Dr. Sherman's Reports — Click Here Now.
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