It is so dangerous and troubling that Israel’s best option, when all is said and done, might be to leave a rump Hamas leadership in power in Gaza.
I argued in October that Israel was making a terrible mistake by rushing headlong into invading Gaza, the way America did in Afghanistan after 9/11.
I thought Israel should have focused first on getting back its hostages, delegitimizing Hamas for its murderous and rapacious Oct. 7 rampage, and going after Hamas’s leadership in a targeted way — more Munich, less Dresden.
That is, a military response akin to how Israel tracked down the killers of its athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and not how the U.S. turned Dresden into a pile of rubble in World War II.
That approach would have won the support, funding and, I think, even peacekeeping troops of moderate Arab states like the U.A.E.
Persons:
Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden, Israel, “
Organizations:
U.S, Hamas, Hamas Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Palestinian Authority
Locations:
Israel, Gaza, Afghanistan, Munich, Dresden, U.S