The continuation of Israel’s war in Gaza is madness. Initially, Israel’s invasion was a righteous response to the heinous atrocities of October 7. Israel has the right of self-defense.
But Netanyahu’s determination to eliminate every trace of Hamas is an insane goal. He will never succeed because the violence he is inflicting on Gaza is creating new recruits for Hamas.
He should declare success and end the war. There is nothing to be gained other than more hatred, more death, and more destruction by continuing to drop bombs on helpless people.
One day, he orders a million or so Gazans to move to the south of Gaza to avoid the bombing; then he bombs the south. No place is safe. Unless his goal is to kill all life in Gaza, his battle plan is madness.
The bombing is not only destroying civilians, it is destroying historic mosques, churches, museums, and precious cultural archives. Attacking such sites is contrary to international law and serves no purpose.
End the war. Stop the killing. Bring home the hostages. Talk peace.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Netanyahu is a war criminal.
LikeLike
INDEED!
LikeLike
Great post, Diane. AGREE…totally.
LikeLike
I’m so glad to see these comments, Diane! I have always supported Israel’s right to exist. As a boy in grade school, we studied the ongoing creation of that nation. We sent donations to do our little part. It is literally true that my best friends are Jewish Americans. My brother-in-law is right now studying and working in Israel. But Netanyahu is going way too far. I worked in the field of arbitration and know that most any dispute can be settled IF the parties want to settle it. I do believe our governments–Biden’s or a Republican one–can and should do more to promote negotiations and peace. I hope you and all your readers will contact our government officials and push for peace!
LikeLike
At the start of the bombing / invasion, I said Israel’s actions will create 3 generations of implacable enemies. I think I was wrong. It may go well beyond 3 generations. Sad beyond description.
LikeLike
I don’t understand this post. You use the phrase “every trace of Hamas” to suggest that there are degrees of destroying Hamas—i.e., that perhaps it is reasonable to wage war to remove Hamas from power, or to render it functionally powerless, but that it is unreasonable to continue to wage war to go further and seek to destroy “every trace” of Hamas.
Is Hamas still in power in Gaza? Has Hamas been rendered functionally powerless? Is it clear Israel has achieved those goals? Or are those goals no longer legitimate in your view?
LikeLike
FLERP,
I do not believe Netanyahu’s goal is feasible. He has inflicted maximum damage yet says the campaign will continue for months. That is unrealistic. How will he know that he has “destroyed” Hamas? How many more thousands of civilians will die in those months? How many habitable buildings will remain standing? There comes a time when enough is enough.
LikeLike
I agree these are really difficult and perhaps unanswerable questions. But I recall (maybe I’m misremembering) you being supportive of the war initially on the basis that there could not be peace until Hamas was removed from power. That made sense, given that Hamas is openly against peace. It’s not clear to me now that Hamas has been extirpated. If it hasn’t, then your proposal that the parties should “talk peace” doesn’t make sense.
To be clear, I don’t really have any answers here. My own view is that this area is probably damned to near-eternal violence and war.
LikeLike
FLERP,
I don’t have the answers either.
And yes I do support Israel’s right to defend itself. I despise Hamas, which squandered billions of dollars on armaments and a vast tunnel network instead of spending it to improve the lives of Gazans.
But the level of destruction is appalling and indiscriminate.
I agree with the Biden administration that the Israelis should track and find those who perpetrated the atrocities, rather than leveling entire districts with unguided missiles.
I don’t believe Israel can continue this campaign for months, as its leaders now expect. Israel is used to international condemnation, but this time is different. A time will come when even their staunchest allies will detach.
Instead of weakening popular support for a terrorist organization, Israel’s brutal tactics are turning Hamas into heroes.
As I said in an earlier post, Hamas anticipated Israel’s response and has succeeded in luring Israel into a trap. Clearly, Hamas was willing to pay with the lives of others, their own people for this bloody win. Most Hamas leaders are safe in luxurious quarters in Qatar.
I read Haaretz daily. Israeli families want the hostages returned; that will happen only with a peace deal.
I can’t say whether the eternal cycle of violence will end, but the current war will only perpetuate it.
Egypt has brokered a peace deal. I hope both sides take it.
LikeLike
The daily scenes of desolation, wholesale demolition of neighborhoods, the battered bodies of the children and collective slaughter are heart rending beyond comprehension. Many of the children who survive the bombings have lost their parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts and friends. They are orphans with grievous injuries, some paralyzed for life. Yes, I wish Netanyahu would declare victory and put an end to the daily massacres.
LikeLike
Some of the survivors will seek revenge and continue the violence with another wave of terrorism.
LikeLike
The cretins in Gaza don’t need a provocation. They have no interest of n peace, or they would surrender.
LikeLike
Thank you Diane. My heart breaks for the people of Gaza. I also fear this indiscriminate killing will further supercharge the cycle of violence in the Middle East and worsen anti-Semitism here and abroad.
LikeLike
Agreed.
LikeLike
I agree that Netanyahu is a war criminal and another lunatic.
Still, Hamas is just as bad if not worse. The fighting in the south is between IDF and Hamas troops that have deliberately been ordered to move into the south so the IDF would bring the war there too.
When a Hamas mobile missile battery fires missiles from the middle of a Palestinian refugee camp in South Gaza, the IDF will fire back at that same location and that means innocent Palestinas will die.
That is what Hamas wants, and Netanyahu is a lunatic fool to step into that trap and keep stepping into it.
Hamas will not be eradicated no matter what Netanyahu has the IDF do. And the more innocent Palestinians that die, the worse Israel will look to the world and the stronger Hamas will become.
The Palestinians are being used as bait. Netanyahu is a total fool, unless he doesn’t care. Then that makes him just as guilty as Hamas.
LikeLike
Lloyd, my view is the same. Hamas is using the people of Gaza as bait and human shields. And Bibi takes the bait. If Hamas wanted peace, they would release the hostages and stop fighting.
LikeLike
I read once that Netanyahu sleeps in a bed at Jared Kushner’s home when he visits the US. That clarified a lot.
LikeLike
I grew up in a part of the world that had lost a war. Even though it had been a hundred years before, society was still largely concerned with justification of the lost cause, no matter how wrong it was.
If Netanyahu thinks he can win this war, good enough. But he must win the peace. That is a lot harder, and requires sacrifice. He will not be around then.
LikeLike
The commenters and Ms. Ravitch appear to be unaware of a basic fact: Netanyahu is the Prime Minister in a parliamentary system. The strategic direction of this war is decided by the war cabinet as a whole. Netanyahu does not have the individual powers that an American President has who is commander-in-chief.
Everything I’ve read says that a huge majority of the Israeli public and all the main political parties still support this military campaign against Hamas despite its horrendous cost in lives and property destruction. I welcome evidence to the contrary if it exists.
LikeLike
Netanyahu shared power with one of his most popular political opponents, Benny Gantz, to create an emergency unity government. As part of the arrangement, Gantz demanded that all decisions about the war would be deliberated by a small emergency cabinet consisting only of those two men and the current defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
LikeLike
From Slate:
Gallant announced the “complete siege” of Gaza over the weekend, declaring, “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”
LikeLike
Glenn,
Opinion polls in Israel show that Bibi has an approval rating of about 20%.
LikeLike
The authority of the three person war cabinet can be overruled at any time by the wider cabinet and by parliament as a whole. I still have not seen evidence that the current military campaign is opposed by anything close to a majority of the entire cabinet, the entire parliament, or the Israeli public. Criticize Netanyahu to whatever degree, but he does not have sole authority over the conduct of this war even though he obviously has much influence.
LikeLike
Diane, his approval in Israel is 20%. He is widely despised. The only way for him to stay in power is via continuous war. He is Israel’s Trump.
LikeLike
Ralph, I agree. He became deeply unpopular when he tried to weaken the Israeli High Court, to strengthen his own power. There were massive protests in the streets. When the war is over, he will be on trial for corruption.
LikeLike
I wonder if Netanyahu has a vested interest in keeping the war going. From what I have read, he will quickly be ousted when the war ends. That would indicate to me that most Israelis are not “behind” him. I’m sure there are people here that are far better informed than I am, but I have to say that my support for Israel is quickly disappearing. It is a shame since Hamas leaders see the Palestinian people as disposable. They are pure evil.
LikeLike
There have been calls from parliamentarians to hold an election to oust Netanyahu ninety days after punching Hamas in the mouth.
LikeLike
I meant members of parliament. Somehow, parliamentarians sounded right to me for a moment. I’ll blame, let’s say not enough sleep last night.
LikeLike
“…calls from parliamentarians…”
Funny how I didn’t even blink.
LikeLike
Netanyahu is everything you say he is. The Israeli far right and the settler movement worse.
They came to power after a peace deal was rejected by Arafat and then he turned suicide bombers loose on weddings and bus stops. Well that is not not quite true. First Sharon came to power and eventually decided that he would disengage from Gaza and the West Bank. Forcibly removing settlers from all of Gaza with plans to do the same with most of the West Bank till his stroke. Sharon was not a peace nick he was a former Lukid defense minister , who had been booted from office in massive street protests. He felt it would be more expeditious building walls. Before the rejection of the peace deal and the intifada, 55% of the Israeli Parliament was left of center, Peace Now or Arab Representatives. Today there are 4 Labor party members and 22 Arab representatives.
But effectively Gaza had self rule from 2005 on, yet in 2007 they chose the promise of Palestine from River to the Sea and 20,000 + rocket attack over 100s of dates between 2005 before 10/7 . There were walls and a ceasefire on Oct 7. How did that work out . About as well as waiting for the invasion of Poland did for the French.
One question I have , where was Egypt. Why had they not set up a humanitarian zones with right of return for women children and the elderly, right from the start as was requested. From the Northern tip of Gaza to the Rafa crossing is 24 miles. Not like coming 2600 miles from Venezuela through Mountains and Jungles. Surely much of the Humanitarian crisis is due to their refusal. Makes Trumptard’s and fascists in Europe with their anti refugee /immigrant policy look good. There is no doubt of the need for refuge. .
It is easy to talk about fighting a more targeted war against a terrorist army embedded in populations when you are fighting that war with proxy armies . Training Armies of Kurd’s and working with Shia militias. A smattering of US Special Forces providing targeting for Fighter Bombers. As well as Military trainers working with the Kurds and the Iraqi Army. Sure boys go get them we are behind you all the way.
Quite another when your sons are going door to door. And if your sons or daughters life is on the line as he takes fire from a building , you would want to drop the biggest bomb you can to end the threat as quickly as possible. . You would not be asking asking to figure out how many civilians were in the building. As heart wrenching as the scenes from Gaza are they pale in comparison to the bombing of German and Japanese Cities . Hamburg a City of 700,000, in 3 days of bombing (not 11-12 weeks )lost 40,000 civilians . That is what targeting civilians looked like in 1943, Operation Gomorrah. I assure you the tonnage dropped on Gaza was greater.
It is one thing fighting an enemy whose threat is 10,000 miles away another a war on your border. A war against an enemy sworn to kill you, who has demonstrated a willingness to do so in the most brutal manner.
Could you move back anywhere near that border without Hamas being thoroughly defeated.
One thing to have a volunteer army which represents .04% of your population. Another to have 4% of your population called to duty. For the math impaired that is 100x the impact. For how long do you plan on keeping them mobilized on the border.
Thomas Freedmen in a piece this weekend called on Israel to pull out.
“I can tell you from experience what I think will happen. On the first day, Sinwar will strut around the rubble of Gaza like a peacock, declaring how he and his men inflicted terrible damage on the Jews, and supporters will carry him on their shoulders, shouting “Allahu akbar.”
On Day 2, with the Israelis gone, they will scream at Sinwar publicly and privately: What were you thinking? Who gave you permission to launch this war? Who is going to repair my home? Who is going to bring back my loved ones? How are you going to get any help rebuilding Gaza if you keep on lobbing missiles at Tel Aviv? You thought Hezbollah, the West Bankers, Israeli Arabs and Iran would all jump full-scale into this war and rise up against the Jews. It didn’t happen — except at some American colleges — and now all we have are ruins and the dead.”
His point is, it is not necessary to get Sinwar or totally remove Hamas from power. But in the sub context there, he implies that creating more terrorists is not the only scenario in this war. Breaking the will to support Hamas is an alternative. (ask the Japanese and the Germans or even the Vietnamese who said when Clinton visited” a few more months of bombing and they would have packed it in”. Or ask Hezbollah who he also implies does not want a redo of 2006. On the other hand the Lebanese people or Government have not expelled Hezbollah from power and does anyone doubt they are just waiting for the capability to inflict enough damage.
Probably best to rob Sinwar of his victory parade. Sadly the Palestinian people will pay the price.
There is no Israeli leader right back to Barak that would not seek to crush Hamas. Perhaps no Western power given the same circumstances. The question is what comes after. Barak the Peace Now PM still believes in a two state solution. But he sees no chance for it unless Egypt and other Arab Nations supervise an interim period. Something that has been rejected now and in the past, when Barak asked decades ago. We can not even get them to give shelter to women and children.
Anybody remember a Barracks in Beirut?
So by all means put Netanyahu on trial for war crimes but those crimes are not in Gaza but the West Bank. Where he protects violent settlers and IDF soldiers violating the law from prosecution.
LikeLike
Joel,
If I remember correctly, it was Thomas Friedmannin The NY Times who said that neither Egypt nor Jordan will admit Palestinian refugees. Their cover story is that they don’t want Palestinians to leave Gaza or the Weat Bsnk. The reality is they neither Jordan nor Egypt wants Hamas. Jordan expelled the Palestinians in 1970.
LikeLike
Actually Egypt and Jordan are towing the party line. They could easily control who comes through the border at Rafa. In fact Israel would control it as it was Israels proposal. Limiting the access to Woman,Children and the Elderly pretty much solves that. As it would solve the humanitarian crisis. It would not be pleasant but it would eliminate death and hunger for the most innocent.
The party line (Nakba)goes along with the chants of from the River to the Sea. It dates back to 1946-48(and 20 years before) when Arab attacked Jewish Village and Jew attacked Arab Village.
When the dust settled 700,000 Palestinians had fled to Gaza,Jordon and the West Bank. Some driven driven out most fleeing in fear.
At the same time roughly 1/2 the number of Jews were expelled or fled in fear from the West Bank and neighboring countries.
The Nakba as the Muslim World calls it was a baby (as NYCPSP pointed out) compared to the partition of India where 12 million refugees fled the regions of Kashmir, Bangladesh and West Pakistan along religious lines. Hindus running one way. Muslims running the other. “India from the mountain to the sea” or Pakistan ! After 3 wars, Nuclear Arms (MAD) keep the peace (we hope).
But the party line is to never forget the Nakba and never accept the results of 4 + wars. Go read “The Source” 1965 , if you haven’t. Mitchner nails it. An almost messianic belief that that over millenniums Palestinians have prevailed over many invaders and if God wills it we will prevail again. Ehud Barak actually says he walked away from Camp David feeling that Arafat never had negotiations in mind. That this belief was always in his head.
el-Sisi would face internal rebellion for selling out the cause. The party line is that this would be the second Nakba. And Israel will never let the people back. Suits Hamas well. el-Sisi as every other Arab ally is pandering to their mobs. None have had an honest discussion with their people.
The dirty little secret about the Black September War was Israeli(American) tanks were given a fresh coat of paint a Jordanian flag and delivered across the Jordan river .The majority of Jordanians are Palestinian. The Royal Family the Bedouin minority.
LikeLike
This is a really good comment.
LikeLike
Netanyahu is a maniac, and he must go after this war in Gaza ends, but the war indubitably cannot end yet. I will make two points, the first logistical and the second geopolitical. More than half of Hamas’ military commanders had been killed as of a few weeks ago. Getting enough of them dead to make Hamas nonfunctional is only a few to several more weeks away, as long as there are no more pauses for hostage exchanges that let Hamas resupply and redeploy. The Israeli government must wage a better public relations war, but the fighting itself seems to be going well. There haven’t been any real counteroffensives. Israel is winning.
The geopolitical argument is the crux. Russia, China, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and all the terrorist organizations from Yemen to, well, everywhere cannot be given the green light to attack the world order. Let’s face it, if NATO and especially the United States choose not to project power in the world, all of our allies are in danger, starting with Israel and ending with Europe or the South China Sea. If Israel wimps out of Gaza before the deal is done, it will NOT end the war; it will escalate it. Early withdrawal would empower Hezbollah and the rest to attack. Hamas would attack again too. The war would come to have multiple fronts with the shipping lanes vastly more gravely endangered and a world war because of that possible. It would help Putin’s push to reestablish the Iron Curtain. And so on. Showing squeamishness over bloodshed will only cause a great deal more bloodshed.
Israel must win total victory. It must occupy Gaza like it did before 2006. It must. Then, Netanyahu must go. The West Bank must stop being invaded by Israeli settlers enabled by Netanyahu. With Israel back in power and Netanyahu gone, Gaza and the West Bank could be granted the ability to form democratic government(s) and there could be peace. It’s counterintuitive, but more bloodshed in the short term means less bloodshed in the long run.
Support President Biden. Support Israel. Am Yirael Chai!
LikeLike
It is of extreme relevance at least to me to remember that Israel was built on the ashes of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was insanity that destroyed Jewish life and culture as it had been for centuries the world over except for those safe in North America. This insanity has informed the psyche of survivors and children of survivors. I do not condone or defend Netanynahu yet there needs to be UN and international recognition and acknowledgement of Jew hatred for what it is. There is a tipping point of explosion to say no more. Where is the same outcry against the actions of Russia in Ukraine? For the tiny percentage of humanity that Jews represent there is inordinate attention foisted upon the people of the book.
LikeLike
Well said.
LikeLike
Thank you for your acknowledgment. From an east coast teacher.
LikeLike
I just saw an interesting news story about a study done by a Berkley political science professor. When students who had been in the streets chanting “from the river to the sea” learned what the river was, what the sea was, and what the phrase meant, 85 percent of them regretting having joined in this chant.
So, they were basically clueless.
LikeLike
Surprised?
LikeLike
I shouldn’t have been, I suppose. Thanks, btw, for your incredibly informed posts, Joel. I learn a lot from them. Happy holidays to you and yours.
LikeLike
Bob Shepherd
And a Happy Holiday to you and yours as well Bob. I learn a lot from you as well. And you are a lot funnier.
LikeLike
Bob, that sounds right to me (that most of the students chanting “from the river to the sea” did not know they were calling for the eradication of Israel.
I oppose the West Bank settlements. I favor a two-state solution.
I will never chant “from the river to the sea” or praise the barbarism of October 7 or call former intifada. Those are calls for more violence, not an end to violence.
LikeLike
Thanks for these analyses, all, and thank you Diane for initiating it. For weeks I have avoided thinking much about this war: a dark curtain of dread comes over me. It is wonderful to have this salon, where people I respect bring their thoughtfulness and clear-eyed intelligence to bear on thorny and momentous issues.
LikeLike
I have seen clear-eyed intelligence so often in your post, Ginny! It is difficult to think about Israel and Gaza without that “dark curtain of dread.”
LikeLike
Thanks, Ginny. Respectful debate and disagreement are welcome, and everyone has the right to change their mind.
What I don’t care for are the drop-by comments that start by insulting me. As I have stated in the past, this blog is my virtual living room and I expect civility, at the least.
LikeLike
At all cost, even if, the, innocent, civilians DIE, we must, eradicate, the, oppositions, and, nobody would be charged with, the, genocide!
LikeLike
Genocide: You mean like 300,000 in Sudan , 500,000 in Syria and 300,000 in Yemen. That you were in all probability silent about. I am certain .
21,000 (if that number is accurate)8,000 (?) of whom are Hamas fighters after 12 weeks of intense fighting in populated cities is hardly genocide. Civilians given warning who refused to,were unable to or were prevented from moving from a combat zone. Moving from a few 1000 feet to a few miles. A combat zone that would cease to be if Hamas surrendered and released the Hostages.
You debase the memories of those who actually were victims of SYSTEMATIC and DELIBERATE Genocide.
“Genocide, the DELIBERATE AND SYSTEMATIC. destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race.”
None of these involve combat operations. Nor could any actions on the part have changed their fate. Jews would have loved the opportunity to move 25 miles . The Chinese in Nanking, Armenians … as well.
1) the Armenian genocide refers to the physical annihilation of Armenian Christian people living in the Ottoman Empire from spring 1915 through autumn 1916. There were approximately 1.5 million Armenians living in the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire in 1915. At least 664,000 and possibly as many as 1.2 million died during the genocide, either in massacres and individual killings, or from systematic ill treatment, exposure, and starvation.
2)In spring 1933 death rates in Ukraine spiked. Between 1931 and 1934 at least 5 million people perished of hunger all across the U.S.S.R. Among them, according to a study conducted by a team of Ukrainian demographers, were at least 3.9 million Ukrainians” This is debatable . However the concentration in Ukraine tells you what you need to know.
3) From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war.
4) 6 million Jews in the Nazi Holocaust as well as Gypsies…
5)”Lasting for four years (between 1975 and 1979), the Cambodian Genocide was an explosion of mass violence that saw between 1.5 and 3 million people killed at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, “
LikeLike
Yes, Joel, thank you.
LikeLike
“Many of the hostages released from detention in Gaza by Hamas in November still require intensive treatment for the trauma from their weeks in captivity, a leading Israeli psychiatrist has said…
Of the 14 hostages treated by Eitan’s team, nine are under 18 and two are under 10… Eitan said the children among the group of hostages treated at her centre had all been given ketamine or benzodiazepines in captivity… Eitan alleged that all of the hostages in her care had either directly experienced or witnessed sexual abuse, adding to the widespread accounts of other female hostages. Even small children, she said, had witnessed such abuse.
One of the women treated at the centre had been kept with a second woman in a cage measuring 1 metre by 1.5 metres, while another female hostage under Eitan’s care spent four days underground in complete darkness.”
–The Guardian today
Any ceasefire must depend on the captors being brought to justice, not allowed to walk free. Yeah, Bibi is a maniac. Imagine living next to the maniacs who tortured the hostages. And they tunneled under your house. And they want to do it again. And again. And they know they can do it again because they got away with it the first time.
LikeLike
Yes.
LikeLike
monsters
LikeLike