ah@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n<\/u>11 April 2025 | 12:00 CAT
\n2 min read<\/p>\nIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy to crush Palestinian resistance through the destruction of Hamas is “doomed to failure,” according to Middle East analyst James Dorsey. Eighteen months into Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, Hamas remains active, and the human toll, alongside global condemnation, continues to mount.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen, what the purpose was of the last eighteen months of Israel’s war against Gaza, in addition to retaliating for October, was really to crush the Palestinian resistance. If you look at the balance eighteen months later, Israel has failed,\u201d Dorsey noted.<\/p>\n
Despite the relentless military campaign, Hamas persists. This week, it launched 10 rockets at Israeli cities and towns, highlighting the continued operational capacity of the group. Dorsey pointed out that Hamas is importing or smuggling through Israeli Bedouins cheap off-the-shelf drones worth $40. \u201cHamas is paying top dollar\u2026 a million dollars per drone. In other words, they still have the funds to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s belief that forcing the population of Gaza to flee might resolve the conflict also appears to be flawed. \u201cThat\u2019s not going to solve the problem. The Strip is uninhabitable, but expelling people won\u2019t end the resistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu’s diplomatic efforts are also yielding little. His recent talks with former U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly ended in disappointment. \u201cHe got nothing! He wanted tariff relief. He didn\u2019t get that. He wanted a blank check for the war in Gaza. He didn\u2019t get that,\u201d Dorsey said.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s position appears to favour a near-future ceasefire. According to Dorsey, Trump is set to visit the Gulf in mid-May, with major investment deals worth up to $2.4 trillion on the table from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Those deals are unlikely to come without conditions, and it’s doubtful that Netanyahu\u2019s war in Gaza will be seen as worth jeopardising such massive economic interests. This may be the point at which Washington begins to apply real pressure for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump was really noncommittal in that sense\u2014or emphasising an end to the war, or a ceasefire at least in the near future\u2014in his talks with Netanyahu. Trump is scheduled to go in mid-May on his first overseas trip to the Gulf, primarily Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. I would question whether Netanyahu, in Trump\u2019s eyes, is worth $2.4 trillion. With other words, that\u2019s the point-the latest point\u2014at which the United States is going to have to start getting serious about the ceasefire in Gaza, which would involve pressure on Netanyahu,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked about Netanyahu\u2019s intentions, Dorsey said, \u201cI think he wants to prolong the war as long as he can\u2026 for personal and political reasons.\u201d He added that the forced displacement of Gazans appears to be part of Netanyahu\u2019s strategy: \u201cIts 2.3 million inhabitants are now squeezed into 35% of the territory. That, I think, is Netanyahu\u2019s goal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Hamas is taking an unprecedented legal step in Britain, seeking to overturn its terror designation. \u201cWhat the case is about is whether the Palestinians, as a matter of principle\u2026 [can] declare military resistance to occupation as legitimate,\u201d said Dorsey.<\/p>\n
If successful, the case could shift international narratives and alter how the conflict is viewed in courts and capitals worldwide.<\/p>\n
LISTEN<\/strong> to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Dr James M. Dorsey, an Award-winning scholar & journalist, here<\/a>.<\/p>\nABOUT THE AUTHOR
\n<\/strong>Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist, scholar, and Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore\u2019s Middle East Institute. He is the author of \u2018The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za 11 April 2025 | 12:00 CAT 2 min read Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy to crush Palestinian resistance through the destruction of Hamas is “doomed to failure,” according to Middle East analyst James Dorsey. Eighteen months into Israel\u2019s war on Gaza, Hamas remains active, and the human toll, alongside global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":97015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-and-analysis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Middle-East-Report-20.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-peK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 13:32:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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