Hamas’ brutal and unexpected Oct. 7 attack on Israel has been rightly compared to the
American experience of 9/11. The aftermath of the explosion at al-Ahli hospital on Oct. 17, in
which hundreds of Gazans were killed, evokes another consequential historical parallel:
Israel’s errant mortar shell, launched in response to Hezbollah fire, that killed over 90 women
and children at a U.N.-protected compound during its 1996 incursion into Lebanon. That
explosion halted Israel’s military operation, and the fiasco contributed greatly to then-Prime
Minister Shimon Peres’ loss to Benjamin Netanyahu in the May 1996 election.
In that case, there was no question that it was an Israeli mortar shell but there was a strong
belief in the Arab world — and elsewhere — that Israel had deliberately targeted the
compound. For what it’s worth, Israel’s contention that it was a failed Palestinian Islamic
Jihad rocket that struck the hospital in Gaza on Oct. 17 seems persuasive to me, a non-
expert in missiles 7,000 miles away. However, whatever forensic proof the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) can muster, it is highly unlikely to diminish the immense and growing anger in
the Arab world over Israel’s bombing of Gaza. Nor is that anger likely to have much effect on
Israel’s campaign, fueled, as it is, by Israelis’ equally immense rage over the Hamas attack
and the hostages still held in Gaza, now estimated as at least 199.
Walking a knife-edge path
