It is Time to Move On, Even if Alone

Earlier today, after not writing for the last five days, I was pondering how Israel got to this point in time where we seem to be approaching pariah status among the nations and what we can do about it?

After all, think of what we have accomplished here in a short 76 years as a country’s history is measured.  Left with a dysfunctional society surrounded by enemies when the British took down their flag for the last time and sailed out of Haifa’s harbor in May, 1948, we have (a) created the only real democracy in the Middle East, (b) developed into a technological incubator responsible for the creation of much of the world’s expertise in multiple sectors from agrotech to cybersecurity and everything in between, (c) become a regional military super power whose defense industry’s products are sourced by nations worldwide and even reverse engineered by some of our enemies; and (d) increased our standard of living to the level of the world’s most advanced western countries.

Historically, from 1946-1948, Jordan, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Israel all gained their independence.  Can any of the others even hold a candle to what we have achieved during these last 76 years?

Many may not remember that in 2001 the French Ambassador to England, Daniel Bernard, was at a formal dinner party in London hosted by The Daily Telegraph’s Conrad Black when he said: “All the current troubles in the world are because of that shitty little country, Israel.”  After which he is said to have added, “Why should the world be in danger of World War III because of those people?” For the record, he did not deny making these remarks, but claimed they were distorted.  Nothing changes, does it?

So here we are, 23 years later, on the brink of World War III with the world totally focused on what is going on here viewed as the cause of all of humanity’s problems.  Israel, you will note is the culprit…..not Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, not the Chinese persecution of the Uyghurs, not the mass atrocities in South Sudan, and for sure not Iran’s desire for hegemony over the entire Middle East and the funding of their proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

All of this is coming as well with an exponential rise of antisemitism worldwide in the wake of our being attacked by Hamas, the murder of over 1,200 of our people and the taking of 251 hostages into Gaza.

If, in the face of all of this, the good we have created and the destruction we have suffered, the world continues to single us out (i.e. Israel and by association the Jewish people) as the primary cause of all the world’s problems, we must surely conclude that (a) we are always going to be the ones asked to make concessions for peace or for acceptance, (b) we will never be allowed to win a war that lasts more than a few days; and (c) we will never have the luxury of being able to fight the last war….they will always be another one.

Therefore, today, when our leadership is faced with making challenging decisions about our future where an error could lead to the demise of Israel, and taking into account the facts of life as they apply to us, which no amount of success will result in more than a temporary shift in world opinion about us, the following may be our only choices to avoid the “tipping point” that will make it impossible to get back to where we were the last time we went to the polls.

• Admit that there is no deal with Hamas on Gaza. There is no way to make a deal with an entity whose stated objective is to destroy you.
• Given that, admit that there is no way to achieve anything further in Gaza. We have probably achieved all we are going to achieve and have successfully reduced Hamas’ military capabilities, at least in the short term.
• Pull all our troops out of Gaza including those in Rafah.
• Notify Hamas and the rest of the world that Israel cannot be used as a gateway for any aid to Gaza until all of the hostages are returned, both the living and the dead.
• Humanitarian aid can come into Gaza through Egypt but Israel will monitor that activity and should Hamas attempt to bring in military material, Israel’s air force will use precision bombing to disrupt that activity.
• Israel reserves the right to take out any rocket launching facilities in Gaza should Hamas launch rockets at Israel.
• Israel will need to upgrade its defensive position on the border with Gaza so that there can never again be another October 7^th. We know how to defend against that but we dropped the ball last year …Israel should never find itself in that position again.
• Based on a cessation of Israeli military activity in Gaza, we would expect Hezbollah to stop its daily barrage of rockets on the north of Israel.
• Should Hezbollah not stop its aggression on our northern border, Israel should be prepared to create a 5-10km buffer zone inside Lebanon to ensure quiet in the north.
• Finally, we, ourselves, need to stop fighting each other. Resolving our issues with our enemies is one of our problems, but resolving our issues with each other is the other problem.  For two years we have been fracturing our society which is a privilege that is simply not functional for a small people.   Let’s find a way to put our nation into therapy so we can stop our constant bickering.

While I served as an officer in the US Army many years ago, I do not consider myself an expert in military science.   What is clear to me, however, is that we should not be believing our own lies.  The official government position here that we will not leave Gaza until we achieve total victory, eliminate Hamas and get all the hostages released is simply not attainable and we should admit it.   It does not seem as if anyone can even clearly define what they mean by total victory.

Rather than wait for Egypt, Qatar and the US to dictate to us what the terms of disengagement should be, it would seem prudent for us to decide what we believe is the best approach and set the ground rules for the day after. The sooner we extricate ourselves from the quagmire of war the sooner we can start to heal.

A sage once said about the past, “Forget it enough to get over it, remember it enough so it doesn’t happen again.”  We would do well to remember that.