In her second piece from Israel, Jen Gerson on how journalists cover the war, on power and agency, and the most heartbreaking thing she saw near the frontlines.
It appears to me that you hit the emotional wall, when writing this piece, and just stopped. And that that "period" at the end, is not just an end point to the sentence, but a symbol of sadness and perhaps despair. But is hard not to feel that way; so I thank you for writing this piece nonetheless.
Jen, I would add just one phrase to the sentence "ordinary people have been made subject to Islamist warlords whose stated goals are to retake control of Israel at the expense of all the Jews living in it" to read "at the expense of all Jews living in Israel and all Palestinians living in the strip." Hamas cares not one whit for them.
Exactly. Gaza might look quite nice now if the aid money had been spent on housing and infrastructure rather than tunnels and weapons. Yet the people of Gaza voted for Hamas.
I felt like crying after your 2 pieces. I believe you presented from the heart and head, very difficult to do. Thank you for 2 well written pieces…this is a terrifying time for the Middle East and all the regular people that live there.
In your two pieces you write of early Israelis bringing life to scrub land. David Eby is upset with you for your confirmation of Selena Robinson’s words which lead to her being evicted from the B.C. NDP caucus. As a reminder to all, most of such land was purchased from Arabs at great expense.
As someone who is definitely more familiar with that part of the world than most Canadians i fully agree with your observations and questions related to going forward. And on!
Selena Robinson didn’t got in hot water because she credited “early Israelis bringing life to scrub land.” It was because she said the land worked by Arabs/Palestinians was just scrub land, implying that they hadn’t developed land for agricultural purposes and that they didn’t know how. Both claims were, and remain, false and derogatory.
This is the quote “They don’t understand that it was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it – you know, there were several hundred thousand people but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy. It couldn’t grow things it didn’t have anything on it…
And it is not derogatory or false as it was the reality.
Selena Robinson was repeating the creation myth of Israel. A story meant to say it is okay for us to be here because nothing else was here before us. Of course that wasn't true, there were empires there before Israel and one of the Empires reshaped the land to include them as it reshaped the surrounding land to create other countries too. It is high time the myths are dropped on all sides.
Very sensitive piece. I appreciate that you commented that Hamas knew exactly what they were doing when they attacked so horrifically on 7 October and then got the harsh response from Israel that they desired. Yes, that was the point.
I think Hamas is in it for a long game ; knew the response for Israel doing what any other country would do, would result in the unfair vilification of Israel ultimately.
This cold calculation of Hamas to so use the people of Gaza in this way is reprehensible.
Iran is a malevolent force in the Middle East and is the spider in the middle of the web, so to speak, stirring up trouble around the region.
Iran has stated its desire for the total destruction of Israel and its Jewish population since 1979 when the Ayatollah Komeini returned to Iran from exile in France. And still does.
There is some relief on the horizon: Trump will stop the flow of billions to Iran, a project started by Obama, stopped in Trump’s first term, then restarted by Biden. Iran funds Hamas and Hezbollah.
The claim that Democrats flowed billions to Iran in aid of Hamas and Hezbollah is untrue, and has been fact-checked in its various forms over the years by The Washington Post, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, Newsweek, AP News, and others.
You are quoting media outlets who were complicit in spreading the misinformation about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, the infamous ‘he’s sharp as a tack.’ Why should anything they write be taken as fact?
The Democrats did send billions to Iran, but it was not to directly fund Hamas or Hezbollah, it was meant as aid to help them rebuild their country after the sanctions the US imposed over the past few decades. The fact that they are funding terrorists now is mo different than UNRWA funding not meant to fund Hamas, but that’s what it ended up doing.
We need to question these facts instead of accepting them at face value. I don’t always agree with their conclusions, but it is because of sites like The Line and the work of Jen and Matt that allow us to see through the bullshit. It what journalism is, don’t tell us what to think, give us the facts and we decide what is or isn’t misinformation.
Great read. You nailed the most important aim of the Hamas strategy “…peaceful coexistence (would be) effectively impossible.” The point was the to hit the nuclear button as the Israeli response with Netanyahu in charge was predictable and the more Palestinians to die the better for Hamas to let world opinion, especially the feckless UN, fight their battle for them. The invasion set any realistic peace settlement back decades which was the point from the beginning.
If Israel wants a guaranteed safety from further attacks from Gaza then Israel would be wise not to allow Gaza to be rebuilt. Israel would most certainly take some serious flack from some parts of the world but they would have their western border secure. Nasty, difficult decision to make.
What do you do with the 2 million people who live there? I don't think ethnic cleansing is a possibility; that leaves you with rebuilding. I don't see what other choices are on the table. JG
Jen, in your excellent piece you say that the victor in war has the obligation to repair the damage it did to the vanquished. Is that really true? The famous example was the rebuilding of Germany under the Marshall plan. But this was realistically self-interested, a voluntary effort. The Allies knew that a de-Nazified rebuilt (West) Germany would be a good trading partner and a good world citizen, AND would be less likely to get sucked into the Soviet orbit. The bet paid off all three ways. I don’t see a similar calculation applying to Gaza. I don’t think Israel owes Gaza anything. Certainly not a state!
I don’t know what happens to the people there, either. Israel will still have to blockade the place by land and sea to keep arms out. A belligerent is supposed to allow food, water, and medicine (but not fuel or anything else) to come in but it does not itself have to supply the aid or use its own logistics.
Thanks for visiting and sharing what you learned. I hope my subscription helped a little.
Jordan, Syria, maybe Egypt. It would be a hard, nasty decision to make with serious political repercussions for Israel, but their western border would be secured. Israel would turn Gaza into a major tourist/business destination centre. The rest of the mid east would bitch and moan and loudly complain, but go along with it.
Well, there is history. Yasser Arafat and the PLO found refuge in Jordan. He used Jordan as a base to attack Israel and when he attempted a coup to bring down the Jordanian government of King Hussein , he and his Palestinian followers were kicked out of the country in 1970and went to Lebanon for refuge. Then mounting attacks on Israel once they were settled there.
That involved way fewer people than we're talking about here. Also, considering the people Jordan accepted tried to overthrow the government of Jordan, that's a reason for Jordan to NOT accept any more ever.
For all intents and purposes Jordan or Lebanon could be re-named Palestine. The major financial/petroleum players in the Mid East, Saudi's the UAE, Kuwait etc. would welcome Israel taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities and taking out the influence of the Shia religion in the Mid East.
Hi Jen. I really liked both pieces; thank you for such insights. You’re a brave woman to travel to a war-torn country. Of course you’re struggling with what would fix such a mess. That’s a very human response. Your young children need you more than a trip to Gaza is worth. They want a mother, not a dead hero. Regarding the content of the articles—just remember that humankind has been at war forever. Right now Israel and Palestine are in the news. Let’s not forget that all over the world today, people are suffering, and will continue to suffer, and one doesn’t need to be at war to suffer. My parents used to say, “First take care of your own back yard.” I would prefer to hear more about anything and everything closer to home, as in, our provinces, territories, and Canada as a whole. On a lighter note, my daughter met you at a talk a few months back in Edmonton. She was impressed!
After reading both pieces, I think the old saying is "you saw the elephant". And I believe your final sentence is sadly very correct. There will be no peace in that region. Thank you for your observations.
I feel the need to play this out a bit further. Hamas expected the Israeli response and was prepared to sacrifice civilians - I accept this and can't argue with it.
But what is Hamas long game then? Did they underestimate Israel's ability to respond? Are they currently trying to deplete Israel's arms so that Iran can make a move? They must have had a long game plan if they fully expected this to be the response. I have to admit that the idea that Hamas has a "next step" or that Iran has a "next step" in mind concerns me much more than what is currently happening. Hamas has to view themselves as martyrs - so they went into the attack prepared to die, with the end goal in mind. They had to know they wouldn't beat Israel on Oct 7.
Am I missing something here? Has anyone else had this thought? Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran - they can't be done yet. Which means there is a next stage that's been enacted yet unless the Israeli attack is at a much higher level than they anticipated or they underestimated the resolve of Israel. But assuming they didn't - then our understanding of the conflict is still lacking because there have to be more plans. Nobody signs themselves up to die thinking they'll take a few hundred hostages, upset Israel, and then have their own organization destroyed. (I guess my disbelief is showing - but I just realized we've only seen the first few pawn moves of this chess game, and Israel may not be in control of the board at all.)
Hamas's plan is to have enough Gazans die for the world to hate Israel and demand it stop. This requires the cooperation of the world's media - which they've been getting, with the media presenting Hamas' claims as fact and giving zero perspective (for example, that Israel has done a far better job of preserving civilian life than Canada did in Afghanistan - which is not a knock against Canada, Fighting terrorists while trying to kill as few civilians as possible is hard). Then with Gaza in rubble and thousands involuntarily martyred, Hamas aims to rebuild. And do it again.
That may be their end goal - but it is likely not what they have mapped out in the short or mid-term. I hope that Israel is thinking about the plans because otherwise if they're busy in their current response they may be walking straight into a trap. I read an article recently about US ammo supply limiting what can be sent to Ukraine. I know Germany has not much ability in their tank department as they sent some old tanks to Ukraine and there was discussion that even those weren't really very functional. Think strategically - big picture. What would happen if Western nations drained their ammo reserves too quickly? Think about the state of Canada's military - we count on allies to protect us - we really aren't equipped to fully protect ourselves.
Hamas may care about Israel and state that's their end goal - but they're funded by Iran. What's Iran's goal? Most military actions don't accept a response without having a counter move planned. The only way to stop/limit whatever comes next, is to hope that some intelligence agency somewhere knows what their strategy is and is aiming to stop it. You're stating the obvious that I think most people know - but surface goals and strategic goals aren't always the same thing. I don't think this is exclusively a war against Israel in this current context. It's a kinetic war there - but I've underestimated Hamas as a bunch of criminal terrorists who just happen to have weapons they're using. No - they may also have a complex web of plans. That's something I haven't considered. I viewed them as a one-trick pony and Israel would easily prevail, but that may have been wrong. They may have more things up their sleeve. Maybe I'm stating something that's been painfully obvious to everyone else for a long time. But it strengthens my feelings that the hate crimes in Canada need to be hastily addressed, and support for Israel provided on a UN level in no uncertain terms. I'm just one person and have zero influence over those things - but I tend to assume that I'm not unique in having missed parts of the equation and so I think it's valuable to say these things in the public square so that others can consider it as well.
Could you ask your husband to give you a big hug for me......it won't remove the load your carrying; I'm not even sure there's a vodka that will. But it's a step.
There is nothing like a firsthand look at a situation to gain insight. Congratulations on making that time and effort, Jen Gerson.
From a distance what seems to be completely missing from Israel is a vision for the future. The most effective solution to conflicts always involves the carrot as well as the stick.
The Arab-Palestinian cause has shown incredible tenacity over 70 plus years. It has been pointed out by others that the world was awash with refugees in the late 1940’s and all have been resettled and resolved since. Those refugees moved on with their life and become invisible to the world. The exception being Arab- Palestinians. An estimated 750,000 ethnic Arabs left or were expelled from Israel in 1948. Now there are 5 million “refugees” living in Gaza and the West Bank.
With an education system as illustrated here, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBMv9gzYc_4 ) the idea of ignoring them and they'll go away is ludicrous and actual genocide repulsive to the world.
I wrote about this a year ago ( https://fromtheboulevard.substack.com/p/the-innocent-civilians-of-gaza ) and said we should look to examples of success from the past. The rebuilding of Germany and Japan, with substantial help from the victors has produced stable, prosperous and peaceful nations from the ashes of war.
Israel and the western powers need to work on the carrot end of the solution. Give the people of Gaza some hope and an alternative to Hamas.
The Arab countries are not like Germany and Japan. They’re mired in tribalism with a repressive religion that teaches them they’re meant to rule the world. But they’re so far from that. So old fashioned violence is their only answer. You can’t change a culture.
It sounds like you—and not just you; I’m replying to you because you are admirably succinct—believe the Israelis are in an “it’s either us or them” situation that justifies ethnic cleansing, or, if that proves impossible, extermination of the people of Gaza. A replay of the American policy to the Indians. Perhaps that is the logic of “settler colonialism” as our friends on the left put it. As I understand it, this was how territorial disputes were resolved in the ancient world: kill all the men; enslave the women and children. But is this acceptable in today’s world?—to Israel’s allies, to its enemies? I don’t think it is. I honestly don’t know what Israel ought to do. Hamas has effectively killed the two state solution, and the Israelis are not going to pack up and leave. It’s a dilemma.
It appears to me that you hit the emotional wall, when writing this piece, and just stopped. And that that "period" at the end, is not just an end point to the sentence, but a symbol of sadness and perhaps despair. But is hard not to feel that way; so I thank you for writing this piece nonetheless.
Jen, I would add just one phrase to the sentence "ordinary people have been made subject to Islamist warlords whose stated goals are to retake control of Israel at the expense of all the Jews living in it" to read "at the expense of all Jews living in Israel and all Palestinians living in the strip." Hamas cares not one whit for them.
Exactly. Gaza might look quite nice now if the aid money had been spent on housing and infrastructure rather than tunnels and weapons. Yet the people of Gaza voted for Hamas.
I felt like crying after your 2 pieces. I believe you presented from the heart and head, very difficult to do. Thank you for 2 well written pieces…this is a terrifying time for the Middle East and all the regular people that live there.
In your two pieces you write of early Israelis bringing life to scrub land. David Eby is upset with you for your confirmation of Selena Robinson’s words which lead to her being evicted from the B.C. NDP caucus. As a reminder to all, most of such land was purchased from Arabs at great expense.
As someone who is definitely more familiar with that part of the world than most Canadians i fully agree with your observations and questions related to going forward. And on!
The Ottomans (Ottoman Empire) owned a lot of the land in that region too, and were willing to sell it to the Jews from Europe, escaping persecution.
Selena Robinson didn’t got in hot water because she credited “early Israelis bringing life to scrub land.” It was because she said the land worked by Arabs/Palestinians was just scrub land, implying that they hadn’t developed land for agricultural purposes and that they didn’t know how. Both claims were, and remain, false and derogatory.
This is the quote “They don’t understand that it was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it – you know, there were several hundred thousand people but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy. It couldn’t grow things it didn’t have anything on it…
And it is not derogatory or false as it was the reality.
Selena Robinson was repeating the creation myth of Israel. A story meant to say it is okay for us to be here because nothing else was here before us. Of course that wasn't true, there were empires there before Israel and one of the Empires reshaped the land to include them as it reshaped the surrounding land to create other countries too. It is high time the myths are dropped on all sides.
And when were you there?
Does a place not exist if one has not been there? Object permanence would say otherwise.
You talk as if you have, but actually your words say you have not.
So you’ve visited there?
Very sensitive piece. I appreciate that you commented that Hamas knew exactly what they were doing when they attacked so horrifically on 7 October and then got the harsh response from Israel that they desired. Yes, that was the point.
I think Hamas is in it for a long game ; knew the response for Israel doing what any other country would do, would result in the unfair vilification of Israel ultimately.
This cold calculation of Hamas to so use the people of Gaza in this way is reprehensible.
Iran is a malevolent force in the Middle East and is the spider in the middle of the web, so to speak, stirring up trouble around the region.
Iran has stated its desire for the total destruction of Israel and its Jewish population since 1979 when the Ayatollah Komeini returned to Iran from exile in France. And still does.
It is all so very sad. .
There is some relief on the horizon: Trump will stop the flow of billions to Iran, a project started by Obama, stopped in Trump’s first term, then restarted by Biden. Iran funds Hamas and Hezbollah.
The claim that Democrats flowed billions to Iran in aid of Hamas and Hezbollah is untrue, and has been fact-checked in its various forms over the years by The Washington Post, FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, Newsweek, AP News, and others.
You are quoting media outlets who were complicit in spreading the misinformation about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, the infamous ‘he’s sharp as a tack.’ Why should anything they write be taken as fact?
The Democrats did send billions to Iran, but it was not to directly fund Hamas or Hezbollah, it was meant as aid to help them rebuild their country after the sanctions the US imposed over the past few decades. The fact that they are funding terrorists now is mo different than UNRWA funding not meant to fund Hamas, but that’s what it ended up doing.
We need to question these facts instead of accepting them at face value. I don’t always agree with their conclusions, but it is because of sites like The Line and the work of Jen and Matt that allow us to see through the bullshit. It what journalism is, don’t tell us what to think, give us the facts and we decide what is or isn’t misinformation.
Great read. You nailed the most important aim of the Hamas strategy “…peaceful coexistence (would be) effectively impossible.” The point was the to hit the nuclear button as the Israeli response with Netanyahu in charge was predictable and the more Palestinians to die the better for Hamas to let world opinion, especially the feckless UN, fight their battle for them. The invasion set any realistic peace settlement back decades which was the point from the beginning.
So sad.
Yeah. JG
Just want to say I appreciate you going & appreciate your 2 articles. There's nothing I want to shit on you about. Weird, eh?
That's nice! JG
If Israel wants a guaranteed safety from further attacks from Gaza then Israel would be wise not to allow Gaza to be rebuilt. Israel would most certainly take some serious flack from some parts of the world but they would have their western border secure. Nasty, difficult decision to make.
What do you do with the 2 million people who live there? I don't think ethnic cleansing is a possibility; that leaves you with rebuilding. I don't see what other choices are on the table. JG
Jen, in your excellent piece you say that the victor in war has the obligation to repair the damage it did to the vanquished. Is that really true? The famous example was the rebuilding of Germany under the Marshall plan. But this was realistically self-interested, a voluntary effort. The Allies knew that a de-Nazified rebuilt (West) Germany would be a good trading partner and a good world citizen, AND would be less likely to get sucked into the Soviet orbit. The bet paid off all three ways. I don’t see a similar calculation applying to Gaza. I don’t think Israel owes Gaza anything. Certainly not a state!
I don’t know what happens to the people there, either. Israel will still have to blockade the place by land and sea to keep arms out. A belligerent is supposed to allow food, water, and medicine (but not fuel or anything else) to come in but it does not itself have to supply the aid or use its own logistics.
Thanks for visiting and sharing what you learned. I hope my subscription helped a little.
Jordan, Syria, maybe Egypt. It would be a hard, nasty decision to make with serious political repercussions for Israel, but their western border would be secured. Israel would turn Gaza into a major tourist/business destination centre. The rest of the mid east would bitch and moan and loudly complain, but go along with it.
How do you make these country's accept them? If any of them were going to accept huge numbers of refugees they would have done it long ago.
Well, there is history. Yasser Arafat and the PLO found refuge in Jordan. He used Jordan as a base to attack Israel and when he attempted a coup to bring down the Jordanian government of King Hussein , he and his Palestinian followers were kicked out of the country in 1970and went to Lebanon for refuge. Then mounting attacks on Israel once they were settled there.
That involved way fewer people than we're talking about here. Also, considering the people Jordan accepted tried to overthrow the government of Jordan, that's a reason for Jordan to NOT accept any more ever.
For all intents and purposes Jordan or Lebanon could be re-named Palestine. The major financial/petroleum players in the Mid East, Saudi's the UAE, Kuwait etc. would welcome Israel taking out Iran's nuclear capabilities and taking out the influence of the Shia religion in the Mid East.
Hi Jen. I really liked both pieces; thank you for such insights. You’re a brave woman to travel to a war-torn country. Of course you’re struggling with what would fix such a mess. That’s a very human response. Your young children need you more than a trip to Gaza is worth. They want a mother, not a dead hero. Regarding the content of the articles—just remember that humankind has been at war forever. Right now Israel and Palestine are in the news. Let’s not forget that all over the world today, people are suffering, and will continue to suffer, and one doesn’t need to be at war to suffer. My parents used to say, “First take care of your own back yard.” I would prefer to hear more about anything and everything closer to home, as in, our provinces, territories, and Canada as a whole. On a lighter note, my daughter met you at a talk a few months back in Edmonton. She was impressed!
After reading both pieces, I think the old saying is "you saw the elephant". And I believe your final sentence is sadly very correct. There will be no peace in that region. Thank you for your observations.
Wow! How sad. The cold, hard truth is that it takes two to make peace.
I feel the need to play this out a bit further. Hamas expected the Israeli response and was prepared to sacrifice civilians - I accept this and can't argue with it.
But what is Hamas long game then? Did they underestimate Israel's ability to respond? Are they currently trying to deplete Israel's arms so that Iran can make a move? They must have had a long game plan if they fully expected this to be the response. I have to admit that the idea that Hamas has a "next step" or that Iran has a "next step" in mind concerns me much more than what is currently happening. Hamas has to view themselves as martyrs - so they went into the attack prepared to die, with the end goal in mind. They had to know they wouldn't beat Israel on Oct 7.
Am I missing something here? Has anyone else had this thought? Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran - they can't be done yet. Which means there is a next stage that's been enacted yet unless the Israeli attack is at a much higher level than they anticipated or they underestimated the resolve of Israel. But assuming they didn't - then our understanding of the conflict is still lacking because there have to be more plans. Nobody signs themselves up to die thinking they'll take a few hundred hostages, upset Israel, and then have their own organization destroyed. (I guess my disbelief is showing - but I just realized we've only seen the first few pawn moves of this chess game, and Israel may not be in control of the board at all.)
Hamas's plan is to have enough Gazans die for the world to hate Israel and demand it stop. This requires the cooperation of the world's media - which they've been getting, with the media presenting Hamas' claims as fact and giving zero perspective (for example, that Israel has done a far better job of preserving civilian life than Canada did in Afghanistan - which is not a knock against Canada, Fighting terrorists while trying to kill as few civilians as possible is hard). Then with Gaza in rubble and thousands involuntarily martyred, Hamas aims to rebuild. And do it again.
The end game is the destruction of Israel and the expulsion or death of the Jews there. There is no other goal. They brainwash their kids.
That may be their end goal - but it is likely not what they have mapped out in the short or mid-term. I hope that Israel is thinking about the plans because otherwise if they're busy in their current response they may be walking straight into a trap. I read an article recently about US ammo supply limiting what can be sent to Ukraine. I know Germany has not much ability in their tank department as they sent some old tanks to Ukraine and there was discussion that even those weren't really very functional. Think strategically - big picture. What would happen if Western nations drained their ammo reserves too quickly? Think about the state of Canada's military - we count on allies to protect us - we really aren't equipped to fully protect ourselves.
Hamas may care about Israel and state that's their end goal - but they're funded by Iran. What's Iran's goal? Most military actions don't accept a response without having a counter move planned. The only way to stop/limit whatever comes next, is to hope that some intelligence agency somewhere knows what their strategy is and is aiming to stop it. You're stating the obvious that I think most people know - but surface goals and strategic goals aren't always the same thing. I don't think this is exclusively a war against Israel in this current context. It's a kinetic war there - but I've underestimated Hamas as a bunch of criminal terrorists who just happen to have weapons they're using. No - they may also have a complex web of plans. That's something I haven't considered. I viewed them as a one-trick pony and Israel would easily prevail, but that may have been wrong. They may have more things up their sleeve. Maybe I'm stating something that's been painfully obvious to everyone else for a long time. But it strengthens my feelings that the hate crimes in Canada need to be hastily addressed, and support for Israel provided on a UN level in no uncertain terms. I'm just one person and have zero influence over those things - but I tend to assume that I'm not unique in having missed parts of the equation and so I think it's valuable to say these things in the public square so that others can consider it as well.
Could you ask your husband to give you a big hug for me......it won't remove the load your carrying; I'm not even sure there's a vodka that will. But it's a step.
Thank you for both pieces Jen !
There is nothing like a firsthand look at a situation to gain insight. Congratulations on making that time and effort, Jen Gerson.
From a distance what seems to be completely missing from Israel is a vision for the future. The most effective solution to conflicts always involves the carrot as well as the stick.
The Arab-Palestinian cause has shown incredible tenacity over 70 plus years. It has been pointed out by others that the world was awash with refugees in the late 1940’s and all have been resettled and resolved since. Those refugees moved on with their life and become invisible to the world. The exception being Arab- Palestinians. An estimated 750,000 ethnic Arabs left or were expelled from Israel in 1948. Now there are 5 million “refugees” living in Gaza and the West Bank.
With an education system as illustrated here, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBMv9gzYc_4 ) the idea of ignoring them and they'll go away is ludicrous and actual genocide repulsive to the world.
I wrote about this a year ago ( https://fromtheboulevard.substack.com/p/the-innocent-civilians-of-gaza ) and said we should look to examples of success from the past. The rebuilding of Germany and Japan, with substantial help from the victors has produced stable, prosperous and peaceful nations from the ashes of war.
Israel and the western powers need to work on the carrot end of the solution. Give the people of Gaza some hope and an alternative to Hamas.
The Arab countries are not like Germany and Japan. They’re mired in tribalism with a repressive religion that teaches them they’re meant to rule the world. But they’re so far from that. So old fashioned violence is their only answer. You can’t change a culture.
It sounds like you—and not just you; I’m replying to you because you are admirably succinct—believe the Israelis are in an “it’s either us or them” situation that justifies ethnic cleansing, or, if that proves impossible, extermination of the people of Gaza. A replay of the American policy to the Indians. Perhaps that is the logic of “settler colonialism” as our friends on the left put it. As I understand it, this was how territorial disputes were resolved in the ancient world: kill all the men; enslave the women and children. But is this acceptable in today’s world?—to Israel’s allies, to its enemies? I don’t think it is. I honestly don’t know what Israel ought to do. Hamas has effectively killed the two state solution, and the Israelis are not going to pack up and leave. It’s a dilemma.