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Israel ‘Stuck’ in War After 200 Days

Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border (AFP)
Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border (AFP)
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Israel ‘Stuck’ in War After 200 Days

Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border (AFP)
Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border (AFP)

Despite 200 days passing since Israel’s war on Gaza, few in Israel, except Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claim a clear victory. Even the usually boastful army now speaks more modestly.

Expectations have shifted from “destroying Hamas” to “weakening its rule” and from “forcefully freeing captives” to “negotiating their release.”

While Netanyahu insists on the narrative of overwhelming victory, top experts are warning of significant failure, with some even suggesting defeat.

Ron Ben-Yishai, a security expert at the “Yedioth Ahronoth” newspaper, cautioned that Israel was at a strategic deadlock. He noted that regarding prisoners, Israel has lost its leverage over Hamas.

Regarding the invasion of Rafah, Netanyahu is still in talks with Washington about the scope of Israel’s actions, with no American approval yet.

Concerning the “day after,” Israel is still uncertain, with its proposals seen as impractical. Although Hamas has lost much of its military power, it still controls many areas.

Tensions are also rising on the Lebanese front, but there’s no clear path to war or a political deal, with everyone waiting for Gaza’s fighting to end.

As for Iran, Israel struggles to form a regional alliance due to its lack of progress on the Palestinian issue, which is seen as crucial for resolving other problems.

Ben-Yishai affirmed that Israel must soften its stance on Palestine and heed calls from Washington.

Without strategic cooperation with the Biden administration, not only will Israel remain stuck but also face defeat in the war, he warned.

In a recent piece for Israeli daily “Haaretz,” Israeli thinker Yuval Noah Harari emphasizes that war is a tool to achieve political goals.

Harari argues that the success of war should be measured by whether these goals are met. He pointed out that after the Oct. 7 tragedy, Israel aimed to free captives and disarm Hamas, but it also needed to strengthen alliances and establish regional stability.

However, he criticizes Netanyahu’s government for focusing on revenge rather than these broader objectives, failing to release all captives or eliminate Hamas.

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Climate Change Imperils Drought-Stricken Morocco’s Cereal Farmers and Its Food Supply

A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
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Climate Change Imperils Drought-Stricken Morocco’s Cereal Farmers and Its Food Supply

A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)

Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco. A six-year drought has imperiled the country's entire agriculture sector, including farmers who grow cereals and grains used to feed humans and livestock.

The North African nation projects this year's harvest will be smaller than last year in both volume and acreage, putting farmers out of work and requiring more imports and government subsidies to prevent the price of staples like flour from rising for everyday consumers.

"In the past, we used to have a bounty — a lot of wheat. But during the last seven or eight years, the harvest has been very low because of the drought," said Al Housni Belhoussni, a small-scale farmer who has long tilled fields outside of the city of Kenitra.

Belhoussni's plight is familiar to grain farmers throughout the world confronting a hotter and drier future. Climate change is imperiling the food supply and shrinking the annual yields of cereals that dominate diets around the world — wheat, rice, maize and barley.

In North Africa, among the regions thought of as most vulnerable to climate change, delays to annual rains and inconsistent weather patterns have pushed the growing season later in the year and made planning difficult for farmers.

In Morocco, where cereals account for most of the farmed land and agriculture employs the majority of workers in rural regions, the drought is wreaking havoc and touching off major changes that will transform the makeup of the economy. It has forced some to leave their fields fallow. It has also made the areas they do elect to cultivate less productive, producing far fewer sacks of wheat to sell than they once did.

In response, the government has announced restrictions on water use in urban areas — including on public baths and car washes — and in rural ones, where water going to farms has been rationed.

"The late rains during the autumn season affected the agriculture campaign. This year, only the spring rains, especially during the month of March, managed to rescue the crops," said Abdelkrim Naaman, the chairman of Nalsya. The organization has advised farmers on seeding, irrigation and drought mitigation as less rain falls and less water flows through Morocco's rivers.

The Agriculture Ministry estimates that this year's wheat harvest will yield roughly 3.4 million tons (3.1 billion kilograms), far less than last year's 6.1 million tons (5.5 billion kilograms) — a yield that was still considered low. The amount of land seeded has dramatically shrunk as well, from 14,170 square miles (36,700 square kilometers) to 9,540 square miles (24,700 square kilometers).

Such a drop constitutes a crisis, said Driss Aissaoui, an analyst and former member of the Moroccan Ministry for Agriculture.

"When we say crisis, this means that you have to import more," he said. "We are in a country where drought has become a structural issue."

Leaning more on imports means the government will have to continue subsidizing prices to ensure households and livestock farmers can afford dietary staples for their families and flocks, said Rachid Benali, the chairman of the farming lobby COMADER.

The country imported nearly 2.5 million tons of common wheat between January and June. However, such a solution may have an expiration date, particularly because Morocco's primary source of wheat, France, is facing shrinking harvests as well.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization ranked Morocco as the world's sixth-largest wheat importer this year, between Türkiye and Bangladesh, which both have much bigger populations.

"Morocco has known droughts like this and in some cases known droughts that las longer than 10 years. But the problem, this time especially, is climate change," Benali said.