loss of life — but the goal that Netanyahu set at the outset of this
war, ensuring sustained quiet, can only be achieved through the
long-term weakening of Hamas or its ouster. If there is no viable
political solution, that means Israeli military action – bolstered by
our fortunately burgeoning security partnership with Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi’s Egypt, preventing the influx of weaponry and materials into
the Strip. (One fervently hopes there’s a great deal of Jerusalem-Cairo
coordination going on right now.) Israel needs Gaza demilitarized, and
the UN, US, EU et al are no more capable of ensuring that than the
international community was capable of disarming Hezbollah in south
Lebanon.
Israelis don’t doubt that the army can prevail
in Gaza — to degrade Hamas’s capacity to harm us in the near term,
maybe even the medium term. If the ground offensive proceeds for another
week or two — the government and the generals say, and most Israelis
believe — Hamas’s fighting force, its tunnels, its rocket capabilities
will be devastated. At a terrible cost. And with nothing to prevent
Hamas’s prompt revival.
in Gaza — to degrade Hamas’s capacity to harm us in the near term,
maybe even the medium term. If the ground offensive proceeds for another
week or two — the government and the generals say, and most Israelis
believe — Hamas’s fighting force, its tunnels, its rocket capabilities
will be devastated. At a terrible cost. And with nothing to prevent
Hamas’s prompt revival.