The Forthcoming Disaster

I am seriously disturbed by the latest news: if Hamas does not release all abductees, Israel is going to act in the most aggressive way—which, to me, means killing more and more Palestinians.

In my judgment, it will not make Hamas yield and release all abducted Israelis, as the Trump plan assumes they will. Hamas already announced at the beginning of the war that they are ready to sacrifice a million Palestinians to win, so killing more will not move them to act as Trump and now Bibi believe they will. On the contrary, the sight of dead children, destroyed homes, and devastation will only fuel global hatred against Israel and this massive destruction will NOT defeat Hamas. For every member of Hamas killed, his brothers, children, and cousins will join. In fact, during the present war, they have recruited 15,000 new fighters. The more we kill and destroy; the stronger Hamas becomes.

Even if we do defeat Hamas, as long as the fundamental problem remains—Palestinians having no future, no rights, no prospects—another national movement will emerge, and Hamas will reappear under a different name. No one has ever truly defeated a nation, and when they have, it has only been temporary. At the first opportunity, the people rise up and fight again.

The only, only, only way to defeat Hamas is to eliminate the reasons for its existence: establish a second state and ensure that it thrives, so that Palestinians have a future and no longer need to fight. There will still be religious motivations to spread Islam and to remove the "infidel" Jews from what they consider sacred land, but if Palestinians have a country of their own and a future, that reason may not be compelling enough for them to keep dying for.

Trump's plan to move Palestinians out and rebuild Gaza raises a fundamental question: if the Palestinians are moved out, who will inhabit Gaza? The Israelis? That would push the Palestinians in the West Bank to fully embrace Hamas, becoming even more desperate and suicidal in their attempts to kill as many Israelis as possible—because they will fear they are next.

Trump makes decisions impulsively, without sufficient study of the problem. He shoots first and then waits to see what happens. But this is not a real estate deal—this is about people’s lives. The abducted will be murdered rather than released, and Israeli soldiers will die in vain.