Those (military intelligence, Mossad, and elected Israeli officials) in the know need to make the decisions, not public opinion polls, not journalists, not foreign governments nor the worthless UN. We on the outside looking in lack depth perception. How many of us would have known or guessed Israel to take out terrorist/scientific leaders in Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran???
It’s lunacy to think Israel can wipe out Hamas, unless it wipes out everyone in Gaza, since anyone there who didn’t want Israel stone cold dead before October 8, surely does want it all dead now. If you’re a Jew who sympathizes with Israel’s desire to annihilate Hamas and the Amalek Gazans after October 7, how can your knowledge of human psychology not take it for granted that all Gazans now have over 50 times as much reason for genocidal blood lust against Israeli Jews as those Jews have had for vengeance against Gazans?
Palestinians, and most Arabs, have been bred from the cradle to hate Israelis, Jews, Americans, Westerners, and Infidels. The idea that they hate them even more after October 7th is plausible. Do you remember how joyfully children celebrated the 10/7 massacre? Should that make Israel reconsider its need to protect themselves? Israel must finish the job or face another 10/7 in the future.
The irony Hamas has successfully counted on is that Israel’s disproportionate slaughter of Gazans and destruction of 70% of their buildings has devastated Israel’s standing in the West. Most of the rest of the world, of course, was already very hostile. Hard to see how Israel’s relations with the Arab states—from Egypt West—won’t be harmed for years to come, too, just as Hamas wanted. And there will obviously be more, not less, Gazan men anxious to kill Jews from now on than there were on Oct. 7. Just look at the vengeful bloodlust Hamas created that day among Jewish men and imagine how much more fervent the Gazan male vengeful bloodlust will be. And if Israel thinks the West will let it kill all Gazan males out of self-defense, it is living in a suicidal dream world like that of the South African Boers.
What is really depressing—and tragic—is that Bibi eagerly took Hamas’ bait, not least to stay in power and out of jail as long as possible. It’s absurd to think Israel’s only choice was to go full Amalek on the Gazan masses. And it was always nuts to think Hamas could ever be “eliminated,” since it was totally obvious that Hamas makes the ancient Hydra look like nothing.
Tom Friedman accurately warned Israel of exactly what would obviously happen worldwide if they went “Amalek.”. And it has played out even worse for Israel and Jews than even he predicted.
Here is the not so brilliant military advice offered by Thomas Friedman in his oh so clever NYT column of October 16, 2023.
“If Israel were to announce today that it has decided for now to forgo an invasion of Gaza and will look for more surgical means to eliminate or capture Hamas’s leadership while trying to engineer a trade for the more than 150 Israeli and other hostages whom Hamas is holding, it would not only avoid further traumatizing its own society, as well as Palestinian civilians in Gaza; it would also give Israel and its allies time to think through how to build — with Palestinians — a legitimate alternative to Hamas.”
Since then the IDF. Mossad and Shin Bet under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu,
the all time worst leader of Israel, according to Thomas Friedman, has crushed Iran, Hezbollah. Hamas the Houthis.
That’s not nothing! Yes Israel has paid and will pay an unfathomable price in life. This because Hamas is prolonging the war to stay in power not Benjamin Netanyahu.
With all due respect, I simply do not buy this accusation that has been leveled against Benjamin Netanyahu. I am not one to credibly assess Israel’s war tactics and strategies but I do not believe the Prime Minister of Israel let potential jail time influence his decisions. In any case before leveling such a scurrilous accusation people should have proof. No one has presented proof. Hamas has certainly prolonged the war to stay in power.
Full Amalek would have been over in a week. As Bibi said recently. Some did want that not so much as to attack any civilians but to save IDF lives. Number lost equal to that on 10/7 again. Hashem Yakom Damo.
I am not sure this is accurate. IsraAid and GHF have been helping some. Everyone there has received vaccinations, phone calls, texts to move as opposed to bombs on their heads. Don’t you think some may realize Israel is after Hamas only (tho some say Hamas is more or less than 50% of the population). Would be good to know the real figure.
The real irony is the Monarchs of the “civilized” Arab countries would love nothing more than for Israel to wipe terrorists like Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, et. al. off the map. Netanyahu knows this. Trump knows this. But as monarchies, they have to keep their subjects in line by pretending to show support for the Palestinians without giving them any real help.
The standard assertion that Hamas “will always keep a few hostages” always strikes me as a bit contradictory. If everyone is so certain that’s true, then why is Bibi so frightened of deals that would explicitly require Hamas to release them all?
Israel is in the position that Hamas always wanted, which is a "lose/lose" situation. The world is already piling on in support of Hamas, with the assistance of the supposedly "objective" media, who scream "mass starvation" and "genocide" every chance they get. And this is all without Israel having yet gone into Gaza City.
Finish off what you intended to do all along: destroy Hamas!! Level Gaza and start anew! Forget about how the world perceives you, you are damned if you do or don’t!! So, do it!!!!
This speculation promotes impatience and undermines resolve. The defeat of Hamas and the release of all hostages is the goal. Ask what other pressure poinrs are ignored so far. Why do
certain players escape accountability? Clarity ought to expose duplicitous behavior.
Fair enough. Definitely transactional. Maybe absurd. Current situation seems to be an F. If it were A-, I'd hesitate to indulge in absurd and transactional notions but almost anything seems better than the status quo.
The death cult will abhor its demise when faced with destruction? Two opposing thoughts in one end sentence, which assumes rational thought where there may be none.
Netanyahu may or may not decide to climb further up “the tree”. Either way it would be helpful if the leaders of liberal democracies, who have been at best sitting on the fence between Hamas’ war of terror against Israel and Israel’s war of defense against Hamas, would climb down from their high horses to stand firmly on the side of democracy and civilization.
“Hamas reportedly being ready to make a deal”. Is Israel’s longtime mistake. You don’t make deals with Terrorists, you eliminate them. Hamas will say and do anything to stretch out their bargaining chips. Deals are illusions that Have Never achieved any long term solutions. I know, all this is easier said than done, the behind the scenes complexities vs ramifications are all critical mass moments that are precariously positioned on a knife’s edge for the future of Israel, short & long term.
If Terrorists that have their Enemy hamstrung and a whole country held hostage, are not eliminated, the Country as a Whole is dying in slow motion and more of it’s people will continue to die going forward.
Swift, Sudden Decisive Total Elimination will break the siege. Whether one does it or doesn’t their will be casualties, that is the reality of war.
Both have Life & Death consequences, does Israel nip it in bud, or prolong the status quo.
Those (military intelligence, Mossad, and elected Israeli officials) in the know need to make the decisions, not public opinion polls, not journalists, not foreign governments nor the worthless UN. We on the outside looking in lack depth perception. How many of us would have known or guessed Israel to take out terrorist/scientific leaders in Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran???
Why hasn’t the Mossad eliminated all Hamas leaders who are living in the lap of luxury in Qatar?
Because the U.S. has a military base in Qatar and doesn’t want to rock the boat.
If Israel leaves any scintilla of Hamas in tact, Hamas will declare victory over Israel and begin the process of reestablishing it’s control.
It’s lunacy to think Israel can wipe out Hamas, unless it wipes out everyone in Gaza, since anyone there who didn’t want Israel stone cold dead before October 8, surely does want it all dead now. If you’re a Jew who sympathizes with Israel’s desire to annihilate Hamas and the Amalek Gazans after October 7, how can your knowledge of human psychology not take it for granted that all Gazans now have over 50 times as much reason for genocidal blood lust against Israeli Jews as those Jews have had for vengeance against Gazans?
Palestinians, and most Arabs, have been bred from the cradle to hate Israelis, Jews, Americans, Westerners, and Infidels. The idea that they hate them even more after October 7th is plausible. Do you remember how joyfully children celebrated the 10/7 massacre? Should that make Israel reconsider its need to protect themselves? Israel must finish the job or face another 10/7 in the future.
The irony Hamas has successfully counted on is that Israel’s disproportionate slaughter of Gazans and destruction of 70% of their buildings has devastated Israel’s standing in the West. Most of the rest of the world, of course, was already very hostile. Hard to see how Israel’s relations with the Arab states—from Egypt West—won’t be harmed for years to come, too, just as Hamas wanted. And there will obviously be more, not less, Gazan men anxious to kill Jews from now on than there were on Oct. 7. Just look at the vengeful bloodlust Hamas created that day among Jewish men and imagine how much more fervent the Gazan male vengeful bloodlust will be. And if Israel thinks the West will let it kill all Gazan males out of self-defense, it is living in a suicidal dream world like that of the South African Boers.
I must confess that your argument is logical, it is realistic and it is absolutely depressing.
What is really depressing—and tragic—is that Bibi eagerly took Hamas’ bait, not least to stay in power and out of jail as long as possible. It’s absurd to think Israel’s only choice was to go full Amalek on the Gazan masses. And it was always nuts to think Hamas could ever be “eliminated,” since it was totally obvious that Hamas makes the ancient Hydra look like nothing.
Tom Friedman accurately warned Israel of exactly what would obviously happen worldwide if they went “Amalek.”. And it has played out even worse for Israel and Jews than even he predicted.
Here is the not so brilliant military advice offered by Thomas Friedman in his oh so clever NYT column of October 16, 2023.
“If Israel were to announce today that it has decided for now to forgo an invasion of Gaza and will look for more surgical means to eliminate or capture Hamas’s leadership while trying to engineer a trade for the more than 150 Israeli and other hostages whom Hamas is holding, it would not only avoid further traumatizing its own society, as well as Palestinian civilians in Gaza; it would also give Israel and its allies time to think through how to build — with Palestinians — a legitimate alternative to Hamas.”
Since then the IDF. Mossad and Shin Bet under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu,
the all time worst leader of Israel, according to Thomas Friedman, has crushed Iran, Hezbollah. Hamas the Houthis.
That’s not nothing! Yes Israel has paid and will pay an unfathomable price in life. This because Hamas is prolonging the war to stay in power not Benjamin Netanyahu.
With all due respect, I simply do not buy this accusation that has been leveled against Benjamin Netanyahu. I am not one to credibly assess Israel’s war tactics and strategies but I do not believe the Prime Minister of Israel let potential jail time influence his decisions. In any case before leveling such a scurrilous accusation people should have proof. No one has presented proof. Hamas has certainly prolonged the war to stay in power.
Full Amalek would have been over in a week. As Bibi said recently. Some did want that not so much as to attack any civilians but to save IDF lives. Number lost equal to that on 10/7 again. Hashem Yakom Damo.
I am not sure this is accurate. IsraAid and GHF have been helping some. Everyone there has received vaccinations, phone calls, texts to move as opposed to bombs on their heads. Don’t you think some may realize Israel is after Hamas only (tho some say Hamas is more or less than 50% of the population). Would be good to know the real figure.
Hamas has already won. Look at the depraved government of Australia. I’m disgusted to be an Australian.
The real irony is the Monarchs of the “civilized” Arab countries would love nothing more than for Israel to wipe terrorists like Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, et. al. off the map. Netanyahu knows this. Trump knows this. But as monarchies, they have to keep their subjects in line by pretending to show support for the Palestinians without giving them any real help.
The standard assertion that Hamas “will always keep a few hostages” always strikes me as a bit contradictory. If everyone is so certain that’s true, then why is Bibi so frightened of deals that would explicitly require Hamas to release them all?
Israel is in the position that Hamas always wanted, which is a "lose/lose" situation. The world is already piling on in support of Hamas, with the assistance of the supposedly "objective" media, who scream "mass starvation" and "genocide" every chance they get. And this is all without Israel having yet gone into Gaza City.
Publicizing photos such as the one in this article showing a recent (August 2025) market scene in Gaza City might help. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/how-important-is-gaza-city-to-hamas/ar-AA1KP1La?ocid=sapphireappshare
Finish off what you intended to do all along: destroy Hamas!! Level Gaza and start anew! Forget about how the world perceives you, you are damned if you do or don’t!! So, do it!!!!
This speculation promotes impatience and undermines resolve. The defeat of Hamas and the release of all hostages is the goal. Ask what other pressure poinrs are ignored so far. Why do
certain players escape accountability? Clarity ought to expose duplicitous behavior.
An interesting essay.
However, Israel has very little choice.
Hamas must be eliminated and all the kidnapped hostages freed.
You don't piss off a scorpion in your bed, you eliminated completely before it stings you again.
Go read the Scorpion and the Frog story.
We all pray Isreal has learned its lesson.
sad
Is the idea to swap the Palestinian population in Gaza for the Druze population in Syria crazy?
Possible win for both communities that solves problems for both countries?
We should swap those in Manhattan with ours in Brooklyn. Absurd and transactional
Fair enough. Definitely transactional. Maybe absurd. Current situation seems to be an F. If it were A-, I'd hesitate to indulge in absurd and transactional notions but almost anything seems better than the status quo.
The death cult will abhor its demise when faced with destruction? Two opposing thoughts in one end sentence, which assumes rational thought where there may be none.
The Genocide must stop and all terrorists held accountable for their crimes
Go up!
Netanyahu may or may not decide to climb further up “the tree”. Either way it would be helpful if the leaders of liberal democracies, who have been at best sitting on the fence between Hamas’ war of terror against Israel and Israel’s war of defense against Hamas, would climb down from their high horses to stand firmly on the side of democracy and civilization.
“Hamas reportedly being ready to make a deal”. Is Israel’s longtime mistake. You don’t make deals with Terrorists, you eliminate them. Hamas will say and do anything to stretch out their bargaining chips. Deals are illusions that Have Never achieved any long term solutions. I know, all this is easier said than done, the behind the scenes complexities vs ramifications are all critical mass moments that are precariously positioned on a knife’s edge for the future of Israel, short & long term.
If Terrorists that have their Enemy hamstrung and a whole country held hostage, are not eliminated, the Country as a Whole is dying in slow motion and more of it’s people will continue to die going forward.
Swift, Sudden Decisive Total Elimination will break the siege. Whether one does it or doesn’t their will be casualties, that is the reality of war.
Both have Life & Death consequences, does Israel nip it in bud, or prolong the status quo.
🫡🇮🇱