Since the October 7 massacre people on the left and right alike have been arguing that the roots of the disaster lie in Israel’s disengagement and unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. A review of American documents from the time of the disengagement shows that these claims are completely baseless.
Just a few days before Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, The director of Military Intelligence at the time, Amos Yadlin, met with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones. Yadlin told the ambassador that Israel would be “happy” if Hamas took over Gaza, because the IDF would then be able to “deal with Gaza as a hostile state.” The ambassador wondered whether Yadlin wasn’t worried about Hamas’ ties with Iran. Yadlin “dismissed the significance of an Iranian role in a Hamas-controlled Gaza ‘as long as they don’t have a port.’”
“Hamas is the least of my concerns”, explained Marwan Kanafani, a senior advisor to the PA, in a meeting with American diplomats.
