The Hamas attack against Israel is not only a massive Israeli intelligence and military (as well as a U.S. intelligence) failure, but also a dramatic success for Iran’s axis of resistance from Yemen to Gaza. The highly choreographed, multipronged, day-long operation and incursion into Israel itself, involving the use of motorized paragliders and drones and the taking of hostages, required months of planning and training that only Iran and Hezbollah could have provided. Late yesterday, a Hamas spokesperson told the BBC that Iranian support for the assault was a point of pride.

In Tehran yesterday, members of Parliament chanted, “Death to Israel.” The Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh made a televised speech warning Arab countries that Israel could not protect them—an apparent threat against countries that had signed the Abraham Accords, such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which has been considering normalizing ties with Israel. Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s armed wing, said that his group’s action would at last put an end to Israeli air raids against Iranian and Hezbollah assets in Syria.

Hamas and Iran will forever brandish the images of yesterday’s violence as symbols of newfound power: Israeli commanders being dragged out of their barracks in their boxer shorts, the bulldozer tearing down the Erez crossing, Hamas militants parading Israeli tanks. For Palestinian civilians living under siege in Gaza, or suffering under occupation in the West Bank, the overpowering of the mighty Israeli military may bring some satisfaction. They will recall how Palestinians, including underage boys, have been dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers. But they will have also seen the footage of Israeli civilians gunned down at bus stops and mothers pleading for the lives of their children. Hamas may think it has taken revenge, but its victory will be costly and short-lived. The group cannot long sustain what it began today.

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