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Israel and Hamas
May. 13th, 2024 09:23 amI've not written a lot about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. But to tie in with this article noting that Israel does not have a plan for how to end the war I've decided to put my thoughts in one spot so I can refer to them later.
First, Hamas and Israel have done and are doing horrible and wrong things in this war. Hamas launched an attack on Israeli civilians with maximal brutality. Hamas, knowing that this attack would invite a counterattack, made absolutely zero effort to protect it's own civilians. None of their vaunted tunnels were used to protect civilians.
Israel, in their counterattack, made little if any attempt to prevent civilian casualties, and in at least some cases appeared to target civilians. Also, the lack of a plan to end the war is both a practical and a moral failure. Lastly, Israel's policy under Netanyahu of playing off Hamas and the PLO to weaken both created the conditions for this war. Nobody's hands are clean in this.
As a practical matter, the US has no leverage against Hamas. They don't need or want anything from us. We do have some leverage against Israel. We have some obvious short-term leverage in that Israel needs US munitions. Potential economic sanctions are a longer-term leverage. Both tools are limited and slow to take hold.
The war in Israel is, to use a technical term, a shitshow. We in the US can attempt to influence events, but at the end of the day Israel has to resolve the problem.
First, Hamas and Israel have done and are doing horrible and wrong things in this war. Hamas launched an attack on Israeli civilians with maximal brutality. Hamas, knowing that this attack would invite a counterattack, made absolutely zero effort to protect it's own civilians. None of their vaunted tunnels were used to protect civilians.
Israel, in their counterattack, made little if any attempt to prevent civilian casualties, and in at least some cases appeared to target civilians. Also, the lack of a plan to end the war is both a practical and a moral failure. Lastly, Israel's policy under Netanyahu of playing off Hamas and the PLO to weaken both created the conditions for this war. Nobody's hands are clean in this.
As a practical matter, the US has no leverage against Hamas. They don't need or want anything from us. We do have some leverage against Israel. We have some obvious short-term leverage in that Israel needs US munitions. Potential economic sanctions are a longer-term leverage. Both tools are limited and slow to take hold.
The war in Israel is, to use a technical term, a shitshow. We in the US can attempt to influence events, but at the end of the day Israel has to resolve the problem.
