Hamas declared the most hideous war on Israel and Jewish People, and the world did nothing. Israel can easily deal with Hamas if it is given the freedom to prosecute the war properly.
I agree with everything you say. Hamas, Iran and its proxies work together against Israel aided by the UN. There is now only one course of action, to purge Hamas and to rid Iran of its bedfellows. Israel must continue on this course!
You can forget about any ethical epiphanies coming out of Europe. The only thing I can imagine that could get them to mitigate their foundational antisemitism is if they're so afraid of Russian conquest that they come to Israel begging for defense technology.
That's an interesting angle: Europe indeed needs Israeli defense technology in order to become independent of its former ally, the USA.
And with a EU military budget of E 800 billion, Israel could bring down its dependency on their somewhat whimsical allies across the Atlantic in doing business with their European friends . Furthermore, I agree with mr. Kaplan that Hamas should have no future.
But in Germany, it was not only the stick that did the trick, it was the carrot as well in the form of the Marshallplan.
Unconditional surrender of Hamas and expulsion of all Arabs from Gaza and the West Bank is the only way that Israel will be secure. Anything else is a waste of time and energy.
You have done something that many pundits from many sources have failed to do over the last few months or so...
You have laid out the Gaza situation and its implications for the future in simple, straightforward terms that even as a singularly non-political hillbilly, (born, raised, and educated in the middle of Hatfield & McCoy territory of eastern Kentucky; now a resident of western N. Carolina)
I now have a better understanding of how much harder it is for Israel to get a fair hearing when it comes to their side of the story, and how the world seems to be doing its damnedest to keep the rhetoric and lies flooding the MSM daily.
(UN, I'm looking at you!!!)
I'm not saying that I'm totally ignorant about the history of the Middle East and Israel's place there.
I am a Christian and have done a fair amount of studying concerning the history of Israel and its central place in prophecy concerning the "end times", in which, I truly believe, we now find ourselves living.
I fully believe that we must must fully support Israel just as the Lord commands us to do.
We ignore His words at our own peril.
Thank you, and may the Lord Bless you and your family...
Yes, the writing was great--and I would add "humorous," too. Some of the way he put things had me chuckling. Anyway, I'm a fellow North Carolinian (Raleigh) and Jewish and I greatly appreciate all the Christian support that has emerged during the past year and a half. Thank you!
Not mentioned are the Israeli useful idiot leftists, of which some forty thousand plus protested last night against the continuation of the war, demanding continued dialogue for release of the hostages and the hostages freedom. All the Israeli left does serves to aid Hamas. Dialogue is a two way street; if the Arabs refuse to negotiate or make demands that are untenable the only alternative is to not only continue the war but make it more brutal and cruel until all the Arabs are either dead or they unconditionally surrender. There’s no middle ground here. The left doesn’t or refuses to understand that and their useful idiot protesters demanding something that the government can’t deliver without a willingness by the enemy Arabs to negotiate in good faith, plays right into the enemy’s hands. Their willingness to be useful idiots of the Arabs should be reason to be condemned by all segments of Israeli society but that doesn’t appear to be the case. When leftist opposition serves the interests of the enemy they’re become domestic enemies and should be treated as such.
As for the termination of the head of the Shin Bet, if he was the same individual in charge on 10/7, you can blame Netanyahu for not having fired him by the close of business on 10/7 and you can blame that individual for not having the honor or integrity to have resigned. Just as it took over a year for the head of the Army to resign. He also should have been fired by Netanyahu by close of business on 10/7 and he also lacked the honor and integrity to have not resigned until over a year later.
In Trump, Israel has an American President who will let them execute the war as they see fit to achieve victory not the usual Israeli fight to a stalemate; it’s the Israelis who appear to lack the willingness to make the hard decisions and sacrifices required to achieve victory. My Israeli friends always complain how their children have to grow up to fight the Arabs and that’s true because their parents don’t finish the job when they fought the Arabs. It’s well past time for Israeli society and leadership to cowboy the fuck up, no longer fight to a stalemate but fight to victory and to finish the job permanently, so that Gazan Arabs can never be a threat ever again; even if it means exterminating every last Arab in Gaza to do it. Even if it means accepting that as much as we want to save the remaining hostages and get the bodies of our dead back, the future security of Israel’s seven million plus Jews takes precedence. And not be concerned with world opinion or the opinion of the leftists in Israeli society. Anything less and the Arabs will have won and future Israeli citizens will be exposed to another 10/7 and their children will be fighting and dying because their parents didn’t finish the job they didn’t ask for but were presented with.
I very much appreciate how you term those people “Arabs from Gaza” and not the fraudulent P word. I am so tired of the P word which is based in complete fiction.
Understandably the opposition to the war want their own family members released. The failure all of us experience when our self interest overwhelms our ability to think as political people. I understand but we must rescue the hostages from captivity not negotiate the reintroduction of thousands of savage Islamist murderers back in to society. The Shalit deal was a really bad precedent. I grew up post WWII and I look at Germany and Japan today 80 years later and see both genocidal countries as respected members of the world community. Let me say this very harsh and taboo statement. The Palestinian Arabs keep talking about our genocide of them, well well well usually Jews do things pretty well or not at all. Fulfill their claim I pray to Hashem I wouldn’t want all those poor oppressed Palestinian Arabs to be liars even if they have taqiyah to fall back on. Perhaps our sages were wrong in abolishing the death penalty, when you have an enemy who believes in a death cult masquerading as a religion it seems it would be just to help them out.
Great essay. I've been saying versions of your points from the beginning and I was dismayed with the ceasefire. However, in retrospect, I'm glad the ceasefire happened: Many hostage lives were saved and Israel proved they would do anything short of national suicide to get the hostages out. They HAD to prove that-- not to the world but to the Jewish people themselves, especially those in Israel. And it showed the world the utter depravity of Hamas during the hostage releases (not that the evil ones cared a whit). But now it's THE time to finish the job (and get Iran's nuke-bomb building sites, for heavens sake!). I pray some hostages can be rescued, and surely the IDF will try; but sadly, I don't think that anything more can be done without creating much greater harm to all of Israel.
I sometimes think the IDF should have leafleted the Gaza Strip starting October 8th with a message in Arabic:
“We are preparing to invade and destroy Hamas. Here's what you must do if you want to live.
1) Give us precise, actionable intelligence regarding the location of our hostages.
2) See this list of people who participated in the October 7th attacks [QR code link]. Give us the corpse of one of these people every day. Dump their body at (such and such location). At least one body per day. The list will grow for a while as we review footage.
We are cutting off all supply of food and water coming from Israel on the day following every day that you do not provide us with a corpse of a fighter and give us precise, actionable intelligence to help us free our hostages.
Every week that passes without action on both of these items will lead to us executing 100 imprisoned terrorists.
If you help us rescue our hostages and avenge our dead, your homes and businesses may be spared. If not, we will stop at nothing to make sure you are never able to attack us again. The choice is yours.”
But it probably wouldn't have made any difference -- not to the Gazan civilians who refuse to trade intel for asylum status and cash rewards, and certainly not to the cry-bullies doing Palestine hasbara. Jihadis want to die for the cause. Nachum Kaplan's land annexation strategy makes more sense.
I love your ideas. The only problem is as has been said elsewhere, Hamas are the only combatants psychopathic enough to want their civilians dead and to go out of their way to ensure it. No one‘s ever fought something like that before.
The issues were seeable on October 8th. I knew from the very beginning that the Israeli leadership was going to lead the IDF youth without political preparation into a war. But this war was started inside the crisis in Israeli leadership. Also within the overall world crisis of leadership. All of the issues of the past which were always hanging in the air had been unresolved. On October 8 Netanyahu had to turn the hostage issue over to Biden and the UN
to solve inside of two weeks. But simultaneously...Set up a report back inside of 2 weeks to state main issues of the calamity to internally act upon. This means a new leadership to be in place by end of 2 weeks. A completely new start with the citizens involved. Then another process...tell fully the story of October 7. In other words always preparing the grounds for the inevitable war but a new type of war fought not on the ground of the enemy!
This killing of humans is a brutal and horrific act. If it must be undertaken,( as it must in Gaza) it should be swift , overwhelmingly violent and without relent until an unconditional surrender is actualized.
Thank you soldiers of the IDF for doing the dirty work of humanity. Without your efforts and sacrifice every day in Israel would be 10/7. I stand in awe at your bravery.
I agree with everything you say. Hamas, Iran and its proxies work together against Israel aided by the UN. There is now only one course of action, to purge Hamas and to rid Iran of its bedfellows. Israel must continue on this course!
You can forget about any ethical epiphanies coming out of Europe. The only thing I can imagine that could get them to mitigate their foundational antisemitism is if they're so afraid of Russian conquest that they come to Israel begging for defense technology.
sooooooo true.
That's an interesting angle: Europe indeed needs Israeli defense technology in order to become independent of its former ally, the USA.
And with a EU military budget of E 800 billion, Israel could bring down its dependency on their somewhat whimsical allies across the Atlantic in doing business with their European friends . Furthermore, I agree with mr. Kaplan that Hamas should have no future.
But in Germany, it was not only the stick that did the trick, it was the carrot as well in the form of the Marshallplan.
Unconditional surrender of Hamas and expulsion of all Arabs from Gaza and the West Bank is the only way that Israel will be secure. Anything else is a waste of time and energy.
And deport Israeli Arabs who support terrorism against, and destruction of, Israel for the traitors they are.
Excellent!!!
You have done something that many pundits from many sources have failed to do over the last few months or so...
You have laid out the Gaza situation and its implications for the future in simple, straightforward terms that even as a singularly non-political hillbilly, (born, raised, and educated in the middle of Hatfield & McCoy territory of eastern Kentucky; now a resident of western N. Carolina)
I now have a better understanding of how much harder it is for Israel to get a fair hearing when it comes to their side of the story, and how the world seems to be doing its damnedest to keep the rhetoric and lies flooding the MSM daily.
(UN, I'm looking at you!!!)
I'm not saying that I'm totally ignorant about the history of the Middle East and Israel's place there.
I am a Christian and have done a fair amount of studying concerning the history of Israel and its central place in prophecy concerning the "end times", in which, I truly believe, we now find ourselves living.
I fully believe that we must must fully support Israel just as the Lord commands us to do.
We ignore His words at our own peril.
Thank you, and may the Lord Bless you and your family...
Yes, the writing was great--and I would add "humorous," too. Some of the way he put things had me chuckling. Anyway, I'm a fellow North Carolinian (Raleigh) and Jewish and I greatly appreciate all the Christian support that has emerged during the past year and a half. Thank you!
UN im looking at you? Sorry about the language Randy, but Fuck the UN and their momma.
Not mentioned are the Israeli useful idiot leftists, of which some forty thousand plus protested last night against the continuation of the war, demanding continued dialogue for release of the hostages and the hostages freedom. All the Israeli left does serves to aid Hamas. Dialogue is a two way street; if the Arabs refuse to negotiate or make demands that are untenable the only alternative is to not only continue the war but make it more brutal and cruel until all the Arabs are either dead or they unconditionally surrender. There’s no middle ground here. The left doesn’t or refuses to understand that and their useful idiot protesters demanding something that the government can’t deliver without a willingness by the enemy Arabs to negotiate in good faith, plays right into the enemy’s hands. Their willingness to be useful idiots of the Arabs should be reason to be condemned by all segments of Israeli society but that doesn’t appear to be the case. When leftist opposition serves the interests of the enemy they’re become domestic enemies and should be treated as such.
As for the termination of the head of the Shin Bet, if he was the same individual in charge on 10/7, you can blame Netanyahu for not having fired him by the close of business on 10/7 and you can blame that individual for not having the honor or integrity to have resigned. Just as it took over a year for the head of the Army to resign. He also should have been fired by Netanyahu by close of business on 10/7 and he also lacked the honor and integrity to have not resigned until over a year later.
In Trump, Israel has an American President who will let them execute the war as they see fit to achieve victory not the usual Israeli fight to a stalemate; it’s the Israelis who appear to lack the willingness to make the hard decisions and sacrifices required to achieve victory. My Israeli friends always complain how their children have to grow up to fight the Arabs and that’s true because their parents don’t finish the job when they fought the Arabs. It’s well past time for Israeli society and leadership to cowboy the fuck up, no longer fight to a stalemate but fight to victory and to finish the job permanently, so that Gazan Arabs can never be a threat ever again; even if it means exterminating every last Arab in Gaza to do it. Even if it means accepting that as much as we want to save the remaining hostages and get the bodies of our dead back, the future security of Israel’s seven million plus Jews takes precedence. And not be concerned with world opinion or the opinion of the leftists in Israeli society. Anything less and the Arabs will have won and future Israeli citizens will be exposed to another 10/7 and their children will be fighting and dying because their parents didn’t finish the job they didn’t ask for but were presented with.
@Ghost
I very much appreciate how you term those people “Arabs from Gaza” and not the fraudulent P word. I am so tired of the P word which is based in complete fiction.
Understandably the opposition to the war want their own family members released. The failure all of us experience when our self interest overwhelms our ability to think as political people. I understand but we must rescue the hostages from captivity not negotiate the reintroduction of thousands of savage Islamist murderers back in to society. The Shalit deal was a really bad precedent. I grew up post WWII and I look at Germany and Japan today 80 years later and see both genocidal countries as respected members of the world community. Let me say this very harsh and taboo statement. The Palestinian Arabs keep talking about our genocide of them, well well well usually Jews do things pretty well or not at all. Fulfill their claim I pray to Hashem I wouldn’t want all those poor oppressed Palestinian Arabs to be liars even if they have taqiyah to fall back on. Perhaps our sages were wrong in abolishing the death penalty, when you have an enemy who believes in a death cult masquerading as a religion it seems it would be just to help them out.
Great essay. I've been saying versions of your points from the beginning and I was dismayed with the ceasefire. However, in retrospect, I'm glad the ceasefire happened: Many hostage lives were saved and Israel proved they would do anything short of national suicide to get the hostages out. They HAD to prove that-- not to the world but to the Jewish people themselves, especially those in Israel. And it showed the world the utter depravity of Hamas during the hostage releases (not that the evil ones cared a whit). But now it's THE time to finish the job (and get Iran's nuke-bomb building sites, for heavens sake!). I pray some hostages can be rescued, and surely the IDF will try; but sadly, I don't think that anything more can be done without creating much greater harm to all of Israel.
Outstanding essay, Nachum! It’s far past time for an “ass-kicking or beat down!”
Wow. That was some jeremiad. And every single word is true.
I sometimes think the IDF should have leafleted the Gaza Strip starting October 8th with a message in Arabic:
“We are preparing to invade and destroy Hamas. Here's what you must do if you want to live.
1) Give us precise, actionable intelligence regarding the location of our hostages.
2) See this list of people who participated in the October 7th attacks [QR code link]. Give us the corpse of one of these people every day. Dump their body at (such and such location). At least one body per day. The list will grow for a while as we review footage.
We are cutting off all supply of food and water coming from Israel on the day following every day that you do not provide us with a corpse of a fighter and give us precise, actionable intelligence to help us free our hostages.
Every week that passes without action on both of these items will lead to us executing 100 imprisoned terrorists.
If you help us rescue our hostages and avenge our dead, your homes and businesses may be spared. If not, we will stop at nothing to make sure you are never able to attack us again. The choice is yours.”
But it probably wouldn't have made any difference -- not to the Gazan civilians who refuse to trade intel for asylum status and cash rewards, and certainly not to the cry-bullies doing Palestine hasbara. Jihadis want to die for the cause. Nachum Kaplan's land annexation strategy makes more sense.
I love your ideas. The only problem is as has been said elsewhere, Hamas are the only combatants psychopathic enough to want their civilians dead and to go out of their way to ensure it. No one‘s ever fought something like that before.
Love you
Well said.
The issues were seeable on October 8th. I knew from the very beginning that the Israeli leadership was going to lead the IDF youth without political preparation into a war. But this war was started inside the crisis in Israeli leadership. Also within the overall world crisis of leadership. All of the issues of the past which were always hanging in the air had been unresolved. On October 8 Netanyahu had to turn the hostage issue over to Biden and the UN
to solve inside of two weeks. But simultaneously...Set up a report back inside of 2 weeks to state main issues of the calamity to internally act upon. This means a new leadership to be in place by end of 2 weeks. A completely new start with the citizens involved. Then another process...tell fully the story of October 7. In other words always preparing the grounds for the inevitable war but a new type of war fought not on the ground of the enemy!
(Many issues in the above need expanding upon)
Ot azoy!
This killing of humans is a brutal and horrific act. If it must be undertaken,( as it must in Gaza) it should be swift , overwhelmingly violent and without relent until an unconditional surrender is actualized.
Thank you soldiers of the IDF for doing the dirty work of humanity. Without your efforts and sacrifice every day in Israel would be 10/7. I stand in awe at your bravery.
I am happy to see my U.S. tax money finally put to good use.
Israel doesn't need to justify defending itself, period and end of the discussion!