Finish Hamas, Make Peace the Only Choice

Before October 7th I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the Middle East. I was, generally speaking, for Israel and against Netanyahu. I also agreed with Barack Obama’s policy, late in his term, to deemphasize the region as an American foreign policy priority. With a decline in our dependence on Mid East oil and with the problems there so intractable, it didn’t seem like it was any longer worth the intense investment of our resources.

Then Hamas attacked innocent Israelis enjoying a music festival. They killed about 1,200 people, some children in front of their parents or parents in front of their children. They raped and mutilated. And they took hostages, some of whom have died in captivity either from neglect or murder.

What increased my outrage was the reaction of the American hard-left. A group of Harvard students praised the attack and said it held Israel, not the killers, 100% responsible for all of the mayhem in October and in the months to come. It was referred to as a “prison break.” At a pro-Palestinian rally in Madison the day after the attacks protesters chanted “praise to the martyrs.” The tent cities that popped up on campuses this spring continued some of those themes and added a strong dose of anti-Semitism.

In the immediate aftermath of October 7th I supported Israel’s response, but I hoped it would be more or less proportional. When Netanyahu announced that the goal would be to eliminate Hamas altogether I thought that was unrealistic. Hamas, and Palestinian terrorism whatever its name, is like a weed. You can knock it back but it keeps springing up from the soil. And, of course, the daily images of human suffering and death, especially among the children of Gaza, have been heart-breaking. Something like 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly innocent civilians. For a while, I thought Israel had gone much too far.

But now as the war has dragged on and while pro-Palestinian protests in this country have become even more one-sided, I find myself becoming an all-in supporter of the war on Hamas. I support the Israeli invasion of Rafah because it’s the last stronghold of Hamas terrorists and what’s left of their leadership. They’ve been driven here and it’s time to finish the job. I still don’t think Israel can ever wipe out Hamas, but reducing them to a shadow of what they were is, in fact, happening and this is good.

But I mostly support the Israeli offensive because of what might come next. At some point all of this madness has to come to an end. The status quo could not hold. What has to happen is that Hamas and all other radical groups need to lay down their arms, recognize Israel’s right to exist and get to work on a two state solution. As long as the Hamas radicals remained in power and influence that couldn’t happen. Destroy them as a functioning entity, bolster moderate leadership, and we’ve got a chance. And, speaking of moderate leadership, at some point Netanyahu also must go.

So, I think it’s a mistake for Pres. Biden to back off now. As noted in a previous post, this won’t stop the Rafah offensive from going forward and it won’t mollify the American hard-left. Other presidents have tried this to the same dead end. And now it’s reported that Biden is releasing $1.2 billion in military equipment including tank ammunition, mortar rounds and tactical vehicles. You don’t think those things will be used to attack Rafah?

The U.S. interest in the region is to support a western style democracy and an ally in a region that would otherwise be dominated by Iran. That’s worth our attention and resources and it’s worth making some hard choices to stick with an ally that isn’t perfect.

At this point it’s too late and I think it’s a mistake for the U.S. to hedge on its support for Israel, even an Israel led by the far right and probably corrupt Benjamin Netanyahu. Show that the U.S. support is wavering and it will only encourage the terrorists to continue. But back Israel to the hilt so that there is no doubt that it is there to stay and then there might be an opening for peace and rebuilding.