David Brooks: What Would You Have Israel Do to Defend Itself?
If the current Israeli military approach is inhumane, what's the alternative? Is there a better military strategy Israel can use to defeat Hamas without a civilian blood bath? In recent weeks, I've been talking with security and urban warfare experts in search of such ideas.Biden and Harris throw Israel under the Gaza bus
This war is like few others because the crucial theater is underground. The tunnel network is where Hamas lives, holds hostages, stores weapons, builds missiles and moves from place to place. Building these tunnels cost the Gazan people about a billion dollars. Hamas built many of its most important military and strategic facilities under hospitals and schools. Its server farm was built under the offices of the UN relief agency in Gaza City.
As Barry Posen, professor at the security studies program at MIT, has written, Hamas' strategy is to maximize the number of Palestinians who die and in that way build international pressure until Israel is forced to end the war before Hamas is wiped out. Hamas' survival depends on support in the court of international opinion and on making this war as bloody as possible for civilians, until Israel relents.
John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, told me that Israel has done far more to protect civilians than the U.S. did in Afghanistan and Iraq. Israel's measures to warn civilians when and where it is about to begin operations "have prolonged the war, to be honest."
As the leaders of Hamas watch Washington grow more critical of Jerusalem, they must know their strategy is working. Yet if this war ends with a large chunk of Hamas in place, it would be a long-term disaster for the region. Victorious, Hamas would dominate whatever government was formed to govern Gaza. Hamas would rebuild its military to continue its efforts to exterminate the Jewish state, delivering on its promise to launch more and more attacks like that of Oct. 7.
Moreover, if Hamas survives this war intact, it would be harder for the global community to invest in rebuilding Gaza. It would be impossible to begin a peace process. So I'm left with the tragic conclusion that there is no magical alternative military strategy.
The lack of viable alternatives leaves me to conclude that Israel must ultimately confront Hamas leaders and forces in Rafah rather than leave it as a Hamas beachhead. Absent some new alternative strategy, Biden is wrong to stop Israel from confronting the Hamas threat in southern Gaza.
President Joe Biden has prioritised a ceasefire over and above the safe return of the 134 hostages — including five Americans — held by Hamas.Jake Wallis Simons: Feeble Britain is now letting Hamas win the propaganda war
The implication of this is that the Israeli military should lay down their guns and let Hamas continue torturing and raping the hostages who will be left with no hope of rescue.
Of course, he didn’t announce this shift in policy from the Oval Office. It was slipped out in the text of last week’s US resolution at the UN that was designed to fail, but also to telegraph his callous change in position.
A month ago the US floated a draft resolution that gave equal importance to a ceasefire and release of hostages, tying the two together tightly.
Biden dropped that direct link in the final resolution last week. It stated that a ceasefire is imperative for the protection of civilians. But merely expressed support for diplomacy “to secure such a ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.”
There we have it. Biden has again, as in Afghanistan, given up on Americans and America’s allies.
The resolution was vetoed by Russia and China, as the US knew it would be, but its insidious message was received loud and clear.
By forcing a ceasefire, Biden will allow Hamas to claim victory and force Israel to remove its boot from the neck of the terror group, the only thing pressuring them to release the hostages. Without it, all hope for their safe return is surely lost.
Even talk of a ceasefire may embolden Hamas to hang on and reject a hostage deal, anticipating that the US will eventually force Israel to stop its military campaign.
We have entered a topsy-turvy universe. International institutions are used as weapons of Hamas, while those fighting for freedom and democracy are smeared as the agents of genocide.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has vowed to halt arms sales if Israel attacked Rafah. Given their small amount, it is hard to see what this is supposed to achieve.
But showing that you care about the Palestinians is apparently more important than destroying jihadism.
While Israel has achieved a civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio that is likely lower than in any comparable theater of war, Hamas has convinced the world that it is acting out of wanton bloodlust.
In the broadcast media, footage of suffering civilians is ubiquitous, but have you ever seen a picture of the thousands of dead or wounded terrorists?
Hamas censors this material. No Western media outlet makes this clear to its viewers.
This is a deceit that turns public opinion against Israel, furthering the aims of Hamas.
In a sane universe, the democratic world would pull behind Israel until the war is won. It would express its differences behind closed doors, working together to limit civilian casualties while freeing the hostages and beating the jihadis.
This would reassure Saudi Arabia that the West stands by its friends, encouraging it to normalize relations with Israel.
Instead, the international community is mobilizing to block an Israeli victory, and at the same time it is blocking peace.
Deep underground, the leaders of Hamas must be licking their lips.