It is time and past time for Israel to declare victory, pull out of Gaza and do all it can to help the civilians who are suffering because of the war, regardless of which side they are on.
It’s a given, at least I would think any person with even a passing knowledge of the area’s history, that Hamas does not care about the lives of the civilian children, women, and men it is supposed to be protecting. Otherwise, they would not have embedded their military infrastructure in the middle of residential neighborhoods, and in schools and medical facilities. Civilian deaths are a propaganda tool for that terrorist organization.
It is also obvious, to anyone who pays even passing attention to news from the area, that the majority of Gaza residents cheered when Hamas fighters slaughtered innocent Israeli children, women and men on October 7, when they raped and killed, and when they dragged innocent children, women and men through Gaza’s streets on their way to captivity.
Hamas has had to know that the Israeli response would be heavy-handed in response. Perhaps that was what Hamas leaders were counting on in their aim to divert world attention from what they did and swing world opinion in their favor, inciting the anti-Semitism which has been growing in the United States and around the world.
But having said all that, Israel should not play Hamas’ game for two reasons, one moral and one practical.
The moral reason is using a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel has led to the deaths of more than 30,000 civilians, many of them children, and the injuring of thousands more. It has led to mass starvation and the lack of medical care.
I understand Israel’s desire to keep its own casualties to the absolute minimum. Israel is a small country, about the size of New Jersey, with a population of less than 10 million people, which is about the same as New Jersey. Israel has been fighting for its right to survive since 1948. It has suffered repeated attacks, both by Muslim armies and terrorists. The Palestinian leadership has repeatedly rejected proposals for a two-state solution.
Now Israel, unfortunately, has a government that is not interested in real peace or a two-state solution, and is acting more like the brutal dictatorships that abound in that region than the democracy it is.
I am an American Jew. As I understand my faith, killing civilians is prohibited except in the most extreme circumstances, such as when it is accidental and unavoidable.
Perhaps at the beginning of the war, those conditions applied.
But not now. The majority of starving Gaza residents are squeezed into a corner of their land, hemmed in by the Israeli Defense Force on the one hand and an Egypt that refuses to help them.
I would think it is time, and past time, for Israel to end the fighting. Yes, some Hamas fighters will remain. Yes, Hamas will try to rebuild and attack in the future. That is all regrettable.
However, that does not justify the continued deaths of the innocent children trapped in the middle of this war. Israel needs to allow massive humanitarian aid to reach these children and other civilians. Hamas will no doubt benefit from that aid, but isn’t the preservation of innocent life worth that price?
As for the practical side of this: Right now, Hamas is winning the propaganda war, which will inflict long-term harm to Israel. Look at the protests on college campus just in the United States. Those students will grow up to be politicians, leaders, and just plain voters. They will have children to whom they will pass their anti-Semitism.
Israel probably will not lose U.S. support in the near future. But what about 20 years from now?
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