Is it Time to Flip the Script?

Since October 7 when Hamas invaded Israel and killed and tortured over 1,200 innocent men, women, and children and kidnapped over two hundred people, the United Nations has said that we need a ceasefire. First Israel was told by other countries not to send in ground forces, then they were told not to go into populated areas where Hamas was hiding in  tunnels under and within civilian housing, schools, and hospitals.

As the war progressed they were told not to go into Rafah because there was too high a civilian population and it would cause massive casualties. It also borders Egypt which we now know had numerous tunnels including some crossing into Egypt that could be used to smuggle weapons and terrorists. The U.S. has not mentioned it, because we do not want to embarrass our friend. The United States and EU stalled Israel from entering Rafah and wanted the IDF contained in their present area of operation. This reminds me of the old story of the man in Chelm who was searching for money he lost one night. When his friend asked why he was searching there, since he lost the money down the road, the man replied, “the light is better over here.”

The U.S. even threatened to withhold necessary military hardware if not enough precautions and planning were taken in Rafah. The closer the IDF got to the Hamas leaders, the more pressure there was to stop.  Israel has taken every precaution to protect civilians by setting up humanitarian zones and warning residents when to vacate certain areas. Israel took more precautions in Gaza than the United States was able to do in Iraq or Afghanistan. They dropped leaflets and sent text messages and phone calls to notify civilians to vacate. They also used precision guided weapons to minimize casualties and set up humanitarian zones for civilian passage. Israel issues warnings weeks in advance of civilian evacuation, more than other armies would. When Israel finally entered Rafah they were able to relocate the population faster and with far less casualties than what was projected.

We now know after the latest tragedy of finding six murdered hostages under Rafah why Israel needed to be in that area as quickly as possible and wasted valuable time dealing with pressure and threats from the United States and England. Now, after all of the tragedy and heartbreak of the recent discovery, President Biden says that we are close to a hostage agreement, but Prime Minister Netanyahu is not doing enough for a deal. Israel wants to retain control of the nine-mile area along the Gaza border with Egypt called the Philadelphia corridor. They are concerned about more smuggling of weapons and terrorists from the Sinai.

U.S. and E.U. politicians try to move the conversation toward a two-state solution. The main parties involved, both Israelis and Palestinians do not seem to be interested in that name or concept any longer. The current Palestinian protesters are chanting “from the River to the Sea”, which doesn’t sound like two states. A new name may be in order like “peaceful coexistence”, or “peaceful self-determination”. The Palestinians had a chance at self-determination in Gaza when Israel pulled out, but determined Hamas, a terrorist organization, to be their proper leadership.

Nothing about the current situation is logical or normal. Trying to negotiate a hostage return of innocent people including young people whose crime was attending a music festival, in exchange for ten times the number of terrorist mass murderers is hard to fathom. It makes as much sense as international funding of corrupt governments including using the funds to compensate families of terrorists. It’s as logical as putting pressure on the victim to agree to a ceasefire instead of the terrorists.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have said this war needs to end as if we can just flip a switch. Most countries of the world have put more pressure on Israel than the aggressor, Hamas. Maybe it’s time to try something else like putting pressure on Hamas. If the United States and other countries really want to end this war, maybe they should send intelligence and anti-terrorism teams to help Israel find the hostages and seek out and capture terrorists and encourage the release of all of the hostages. At the same time, create all possible economic sanctions against Iran to reduce the funding of all terrorist proxies. In almost a year we have tried everything else without success. It’s time to flip the script.