End the War

Why it is time all lovers of Israel stand together to call for an end to this war

Israel’s war against Hamas was justified. It is not any more. Yes, Israel should continue to do everything short of war to rid the world of Hamas, the political party, the movement, and the idea. Yet it is high time that all who love Israel – in Israel and around the world – raise their voices to this current government to demand an end to the war.

The war must end because of three reasons: first, because of the hostages. No hostages were released by Hamas in 2024, and it is believed that far more died in captivity or in tragic operational mistakes than were saved by our forces. Second, because Hamas is willing to fight until the last Palestinian child dies. That is an immoral and unnecessary price to pay, and every additional civilian death is unjustifiable if it does not achieve our war aim of returning the hostages. Last, because the war is harming Israel: it has hollowed our economy, destroyed our international relations, and distracted us from the rebuilding that needs to occur to honor the dead and support the survivors. For Israel to have a future, we need to end the war today.

The reasons given by the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his party for why to continue the war are shallow at best, deliberately misleading at worst. It is worth taking a look at each for what they are worth.

Claim 1: By ending the war before Hamas surrenders we are accepting the fact that Hamas will emerge and declare itself victorious. A victorious Hamas will rebuild and return to an offensive posture. Unless Hamas is thoroughly defeated, our enemies will know that we are unwilling to go all the way to destroy them, inspiring them to conduct future attacks.

It is true that a deal with Hamas that ends the war will enable the genocidal murderers in its surviving leadership to claim victory. Yet it is not true that making such claims will enable Hamas to rebuild itself. Hamas cannot immaculately reconstitute. It will need external material support. Despite our victory over our enemies from Lebanon through Iraq, Iran remains sworn to destroy us and the war in Gaza works against our campaign against Iran.

Ending the war against Hamas does not mean that Israel returns to Israel’s pre-Oct 7 policy of supporting the Islamist movement, as was championed by Netanyahu and his allies. Those who love Israel and want to support its best interests should look east towards Tulkarem and Jenin for a better example for how Israel can continue to fight Hamas while avoiding all out war and its collective consequences. Just as Hamas failed to turn the Palestinian Authority into a terrorist den, so, too, a post-War Gaza need not fall under Hamas control. War is therefore not necessary to end Hamas’ threat against Israel, and an impediment to Israel’s goal of stopping Iran.

Claim 2: Hamas hasn’t returned the hostages, and only military might will return them. 

Of the 117 hostages released by Hamas, only 8 were released in military operations. As numerous former and current intelligence officials have been reported to state, our intelligence penetration of Hamas has suffered. Chances of rescue are slim. There is no realistic sense we can rescue all 96 left, nor that Hamas will keep alive those who have survived so far.

We need to face the limits of our power: Israel is very, very good at destroying formal military organizations, eradicating weapons facilities, and penetrating military organizations. We cannot, it turns out, convince a death cult to compromise beyond a point. Since the lives of our loved ones should be more precious to us than the deaths of our enemies, it is time to make a deal.

Claim 3: We can’t compromise because, if we do, our enemies will know that kidnapping our people is our weakness and will continue to do so. 

The current Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir summed up this position when he told a freed hostage: that any deal with terrorists will lead to “tens of thousands of girls being raped.” The logic is simple: if we show Hamas that we care if our loved ones are raped, they’ll just go out and rape more of them. The idea is that if we show them that we don’t care, well, they’ll give up rape and murder and kidnapping as weapons of war.

This idea is wrong, for a few reasons. First, because we cannot hide that our love for our people is our weakness. No matter what the government does, the fact that Israeli society at large has been protesting for over a year to urge a deal proves to our enemies that we are devoted to our loved ones and their freedom. Deal or no deal, that fact will remain.

Second, because it is irrelevant. Israel has shown time and again that terrorist attacks will not unwind the State. Yet they persist. The answer isn’t to ignore the victims, but to improve our security, our preventive capacity, our intelligence and response apparatus, and to create conditions that make it harder for future attacks to land their mark. Until the war ends we will not have the space to learn from our many failures which enabled a band of murderers and rapists to penetrate our border. Those lessons are critical if we are to put in place the mechanisms that will prevent similar pogroms in the future.

It takes courage to go to war. It takes courage to make peace. It is time for every lover of Israel – every Jewish leader, every pro-Israel organization – to remind the current government that ending the war to facilitate the full return of the hostages is a position made possible by strength, not weakness. We must make it clear: we value the lives of our loved ones in captivity so much that we are willing to compromise our current military position for their return. We will not give up our commitment to eradicate Hamas, just as Hamas will not lose their religion. But we are willing to compromise given that the reward far outweighs the punishment. It is time to end the war.