Israel has taken steps that weaken its position vis-a-vis Hamas. Instead of doing and saying what the world wants, Israel should do that which brings it closer to a total victory over pure evil.
It has been written on these pages that Republicans oftentimes do dumb things. The 2022 midterm elections were supposed to be a “red tsunami." In the end, with poor national leadership and some lousy candidates, the GOP was barely able to squeeze out a small minority in the House. Reelecting the party leader who is 0-5 in recent elections does not sound like a smart move or a recipe for success.
In July of 1938, delegates to the Evian Conference met in France to discuss the plight of German and Austrian Jews. Laws restricting Jewish participation in the workforce and more generally in society had led to a dramatic increase in applications to leave for other countries. As the delegates met and offered their sincere concern for the Jews, none was willing to significantly increase quotas for Jews allowed to emigrate from Hitler-controlled territory. After the failed conference was over, Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary that it was the first time in human history that nations refused to take in geniuses.
Fast forward to today. Who is the genius who agreed to let “humanitarian aid” into the Gaza Strip in return for nothing? Nothing should go into the Gaza Strip. Any suffering, any civilian death, any hardship—it’s all on Hamas. Israel did not attack Gaza or kill Hamas leaders before the barbaric bloodbath of October 7th that they had planned well in advance. Any collateral damage or suffering from lack of food or water is simply on Hamas’ tab. If the geniuses in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were apparently pushed by Joe Biden to allow trucks with food and medicine into the strip, why did they not demand two captives for every truck? Why does Israel give its enemy and get nothing in return?
There is a story of a famous rabbi who before the creation of the State of Israel went to the port in Haifa to pick up a visiting rabbi from the United States. During that time, travel was dangerous, as Arab Fedayeen fighters would attack Jewish cars and trucks traveling to and from Jerusalem. The local rabbi had hired an Arab driver to do the round-trip. On the way back to Jerusalem, night fell. The driver said that he felt that he should be paid more than previously agreed due to the increased danger of being shot at. The Jerusalem rabbi asked that he pull over to the side. He and the driver got out. The American guest was shocked to see his colleague give the driver a slap to the face that almost spun his head around. The two got back in the car and continued driving. The American rabbi asked his friend in Yiddish why he did not explain that according to Jewish law, if a price is fixed, then neither side could change it. The elder rabbi responded, “The driver asked for more money. I explained to him in a language that he understood that the answer was no. We got back in the car and are now on our way home.”
Israel has taken great pride in showing off a new GPS-controlled mortar shell. It’s supposed to be super accurate, and I am sure that they will use and sell them by the thousands. The problem is that when you are dealing with terrorists who gauge out people’s eyes, cut off their heads, burn them to a crisp in their homes, your response needs to be of a similar proportion. Being highly accurate and overly careful gives the Palestinians the impression that Israel is weak or afraid to fight. I am, as always, in no way suggesting targeting civilians as those ruthless murderers did. Rather, I am suggesting overwhelming force to the point where they will beg Israel to stop fighting. I do not want a mortar shell or JDAM bomb to hit its target perfectly. I want Israeli munitions to hit their targets, kill the bad guys, and scare the daylights out of the rest. The goal of high precision warfare is misdirected. The goal should be crushing an enemy so that he will not be interested in making war for say 50 or 70 years. General Curtis LeMay burned 60 Japanese cities to the ground. More died in one night of firebombing of Tokyo in the Spring of 1945 than in either atomic bombing. Having crushed the Japanese, we have not had any military issues with them in the nearly 80 years since.
And one final note on geniuses. The IDF made a very smart move and put together a highly grotesque 43-minute video related to the attack earlier this month. Source material included smartphone and GoPro video from the murderers as well as video documentation from security and emergency personnel. It was shown to a large contingent of foreign journalists. The images are hard to stomach, but unfortunately, if one does not show what happened—as we see with the issue of decapitated babies—people will make up their own realities, and it will never be in Israel’s favor. So kudos to the army. BUT, the spokesman said that the perpetrators acted against Islam. The fact that on some of the videos, terrorists murder and destroy with a heartfelt Allahu Akhbar somehow goes over the head of our IDF spokespeople. One can legitimately say that not all strains of Islam are necessarily violent and/or antisemitic. But it is clear that card-carrying members of Hamas, Hizbollah, and the Iranian leadership lead their lives as devout Muslims. Their interpretation of Islam includes wishing death to Jews and the destruction of Israel. If Israel vanished, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt would fight for the spoils. You think that they would leave it for the Palestinians? This has nothing to do with the Palestinians for their sake; that is an excuse. It has everything to do with their understanding of Islamic teaching. I remember George Bush saying that Islam is a religion of peace, while Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hizbollah said that it was a religion of war. I would personally go with the Muslim as to the meaning of his religion.
Let’s not be geniuses. Let’s be successful. Wiping out Hamas and reducing existential threats to Israel is the name of the game. Just as winning the House, Senate, and White House in 2024 should be the goal of Republicans. Maybe getting a Speaker installed in the House pronto would be a good start for both tasks at hand.
Note: As I was finishing this piece, I was informed that a friend in Brazil passed away after a fight with cancer. His last act was to send 5,000 watches to the IDF for use in the field.