This time it is another episode in the ongoing strife between Hamas from the Gaza Strip and Israel — but on a vastly larger scale.
Hamas has launched unprecedented co-ordinated attacks into Israel. Several hundred Israelis have been killed including hundreds massacred at a music festival.
The incursion from Gaza across Israel’s border has shaken Israel to its core. Little did it expect to be so vulnerable.
It has reacted with horror and a determination to avenge.
Where that will lead is frightening. The consequences for civilians in Gaza are already dire. And there are even fears of potential conflict between Middle Eastern powers Israel and Iran.
It is still too early to ascertain the extent of what has occurred or to predict the course of what will happen next.
What can be said is that Israel has received its biggest shock since the October 1973 war when Egypt and Syria mounted a surprise assault on Israel.
Israel has always known it was vulnerable and had enemies at every quarter. However, somehow it had become complacent. It had also been seriously distracted by internal politics and division.
Now, Hamas, even knowing it could never "win", has had a "victory" of sorts. It has badly wounded Israel and displayed Israeli weakness to the world.
Its operation was far more sophisticated than would have been predicted, heightening fears that Iran was involved in some way.
Obviously, there was a massive intelligence failure. Obviously, Israel is not as secure as it thought it was.
Israel might now speak of invading Gaza but warfare in such a cramped urban and hostile territory would be a nightmare.
The strip has been described as a large open-air prison. It is only 365sq km — a little less than the size of Invercargill City, and 2.3 million people are jammed in.
Who could possibly govern such a seething mass?
Meanwhile, the Israeli settlements expand on the West Bank and the situation of a possible two-state solution grows ever more distant. After Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination in 1995, Israel’s hardline governments under Benyamin Netanyahu have made comprehensive peace all the more unlikely.
While Israel has secured pacts with significant Arab states in recent years, Palestinian issues remain fraught.
The Hamas attack also threatens the developing rapprochement between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
New Zealand has condemned the attacks on Israel. This is appropriate because there is no doubt about the terrorist nature of Hamas. Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s tweet early on Sunday morning more broadly calling for the cessation of violence was inadequate and ill-judged.
Israel is garnering more sympathy from the West than it has received for some time. It has always been the Palestinians as the primary claimants of injustice. For now, Israel is the victim.
If this conflict expanded into a battle between Israel and Iran — unlikely but possible — the worldwide consequences would be marked. Communications, supply chains and trade would be disrupted in what would be international upheaval. New Zealand would be affected like everywhere else.
New Zealand as a nation is a distant spectator, like us as individuals. The country’s influence is minimal.
The Middle East has become a byword for intractability and complexity. The relationship between Israel and Gaza and the long-term future of the strip is similarly laced with difficulties and modern historical travails.
The world will watch with concern as events unfold over the coming days, and then on to a messy short and long-term future.
