Where Does Israel Go from Here?  

Where do we go from here?  Not sure I know.  But one thing I do know and that is that the status quo is not sustainable.

• Not being committed to rescuing the remaining hostages as soon as possible is not sustainable.
• Continuing the war without specific attainable goals understood by all of us living here is not sustainable.
• Waiting for the next air raid alert and running to the shelter because of an incoming Houthi rocket is not sustainable.
• Constantly sending our best and brightest off to war is not sustainable.
• Continuing to use humanitarian aid as a tool of war forcing people to face daily threats of starvation is not sustainable

And yes, I know that no war situation in the world requires one combatant power to feed the other.  But in normal situations (Ukraine for example) people who choose to do so can leave the war zone.  In the war in which we are presently engaged that option does not exist for the Gazans as both our border and Egypt’s are closed.

While we were all encouraged last week by the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, it is not clear what the prognosis is for the remaining 58 nor if this present escalation on our part will help get them out.  US President Trump did post: “Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!”  May it be so.

For some of us the question for Trump is whether he is willing to leverage the good feelings created during his visit last week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE into some practical solution for Gaza.

Perhaps if he could be the catalyst for an explicit, unified demand from key Arab states, including Hamas’ backers in Qatar to pressure Hamas to lay down their weapons and return the remaining hostages in return for which the oil-rich Arab countries would rebuild the infrastructure and govern Gaza as well for some set period of time.  That has the potential to end this current insanity.

This approach has been suggested previously but never materialized. The question is whether times have changed sufficiently to make this possible?

Truth be told, the vast majority of Israelis want this war to end in exchange for the release of the hostages.  The inconvenient truth is that Hamas agreed to this framework long ago.  However, Netanyahu has openly and repeatedly expressed his refusal to end the war, even if the hostages are released. After all, it was Netanyahu, not Hamas, who reneged on the ceasefire deal in March.

So where does that leave us today?

Given the low probability of success based on the history of the conflict, the only way to end the war may very well be the return of all the hostages for a long-term ceasefire.  Once that is in place we can address the real threat to the long-term stability of the region and that is destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities.  We need to get that done with or without America’s cooperation or sleepless nights will be ours forever.