The unmoving, undeterred Benjamin Netanyahu needs to rethink his handling of the Gaza disaster. Has it ever crossed his mind that he’s doing to the Gazans what he feels has so often happened to his people?
Yes, there is no getting around what occurred on October 7, but have there been any moments when Bibi and his cohorts have stopped and wondered if they haven’t already killed enough Palestinians—and some Israeli hostages— and done enough damage, destroyed enough of their infrastructure and leveled enough homes and made it impossible for nearly the whole territory to return to anything familiar?
How can people live this way? On the one hand, how can Hamas operate in such a cowardly manner by running tunnels underneath hospitals and even consider using the civilian population as built-in hostages? What is this mentality? Civilians, human beings as meat, as acceptable collateral damage.
Anyway, it sounds like some cracks are appearing among Israeli government officials, some differing opinions and a building frustration with the scorched earth policy on which Netanyahu seems so unyielding.
Good. Maybe this leads to a pullback, a reconsideration, a ceasefire.
Netanyahu has always been a hardliner, and talking tough on war is one thing hardliners do. But one might dare imagine that somewhere in Bibi’s thinking might emerge the thought that the relentless, scorched earth violence being perpetrated on Gaza will not—maybe cannot—eradicate Hamas, and will actually serve to create a whole new brand of animosity with different players, motivated by dreadful loss and seething anger and desire for vengeance.
The same old fuel sources, with a whole new generation of actors.
It is sad to think that there aren’t enough people who want to sit down and hammer out a solution that leads to coexistence, a two-state solution, where the sides create a framework for a lasting peace, where people have grown so averse to war that they are able to put aside their religious zeal and actually take a step down a more peaceful, trusting path.
The people of Israel, the people of Gaza– all Palestinians– must be exhausted beyond empty, and tired of living constantly under some threat of annihilation, caught in an endless cycle of defense and retaliation. How can anyone live this way forever?
If peace talks and discussions ever materialize, maybe the participants will need to leave their Tanakhs and Qurans at home. Leave the holy books out of it. Because there will never be peace if this boils down to just another godfight.
3 Cents' 