Ceasefires are for losers

The incessant clamouring for a ceasefire in Gaza has been annoying from the beginning. Yes, let us just put down our weapons, and come to an agreement. Actually, Israel and Hamas do agree on one thing: Hamas wants to destroy Israel, and kill all the Jews. Other than that…

The ceasefire is the go-to position of the losing side. The fighting ends, they did not surrender, and so are not  subject to the whim and will of the victor. This is, in fact, what has perpetuated and prolonged this conflict. Douglas Murray has been saying it recently, and I have been saying it for years: Israel is never allowed to win. When you think about it, this war is merely a flareup of the War of Independence. The Six-Day-War, the Yom Kippur War, all of the actions and operations we have undertaken to ensure our security have been about the same goal: destroy the State of Israel, and push the Jews into the sea. The players may have changed, tactics may have changed, but that’s it. We get an upper hand, and somebody – sometimes the enemy, sometimes our friends – calls for a ceasefire. The enemy gets to cut a deal, which does not discourage, but rather encourages them to continue the fight. Ceasefires never work.

What is typical of all of this is that U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for a ceasefire in his farewell address, so as to start talking about ‘the day after’. Whatever he thinks will be agreed upon, the day after will be the day Hamas begins to reorganize, rearm, and return to the fight. 

The one thing we have not yet tried in order to stop the war is for Israel to insist on unconditional surrender.  Pressure previously placed on Israel to accommodate the demands of the loser should instead be placed on the loser. It should be made clear to them that their ‘legitimate concerns’, as former president Joe Biden (I like the sound of that) refers to them, are neither legitimate, nor of concern. The quest for ‘a just and lasting peace through negotiations’ has failed, and we will no longer participate. We will decide the method and manner of maintaining security for our people, in our land. Rejecting the terms we set for them is not an option. 

That is our privilege, and our responsibility. Any kind of deal or agreement that stops the fighting now will merely end this round of the War of Independence and make us more vulnerable when it starts up again.