Bibi says he wants to finish the job, destroy Hamas, and bring the hostages home—both the living and those who have died. The numbers of the living are slowly dwindling. Is there any connection between a prolonged conflict and the likelihood that more hostages will die as a result?
Netanyahu obviously has some sort of plan, but his obstinacy and consistent reluctance to consider any ceasefire proposals seems counterproductive, somehow heartless.
His address to Congress yesterday was vintage Bibi—predictably blunt, bordering on belligerent, critical of the “useful idiots” protesting outside, since he makes no distinction between Hamas and the masses of civilians who have been caught in the crossfire, and he makes no effort to hide his disdain for anything Palestinian.
Netanyahu and the military minds around him have made the decision to ignore the Hamas tactic of hiding among civilian populations, which really is a cowardly, bush league move but also contributes to the devastating and mind-numbing casualty numbers.
Israel attacks wherever they think Hamas figures are hiding, regardless of civilian losses. They will claim that they try their best to be careful, even… surgical? But that’s much easier said than done in the fog of war. It must be easier to lump innocent civilians and complicit combatants together, and let history decide who held the moral high ground.
3 Cents' 