October 7 provided a brief moment of clarity

An abridged version of the following appeared as an op-ed in the Waterbury Republican-American on February 21, 2024 

How soon we forget

October 7 provided a brief moment of clarity

By Alan Stein

The October 7 Massacre led by Hamas provided a fleeting moment of clarity.

Peace-loving Israelis were disabused of the misconception that it was possible to live next to a de facto terror state ruled by Hamas. They realized providing food, fuel, water and power and transferring massive amounts of goods and providing well-paying jobs for thousands of Gazans would never moderate Hamas.

Israelis realized there is no alternative to rendering Hamas incapable of keeping its leaders' pledge to repeat the October 7 massacre again and again.

Israelis recognized the need for good to prevail over evil.

Most leaders of democratic nations also understood their need for Israel to prevail.

President Biden quickly became the first president ever to travel to Israel during a war, asserted Hamas must be eliminated and pledged to stand with Israel forever.

We have since learned the barbarity of the Gaza terrorists was far worse than initially realized. Unfortunately, memories fade, support has waned and Israel is under increasing pressure to stop short of victory and let Hamas survive.

Early on, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby praised Israel for the lengths it was going to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, doing more than even America would.

This is borne out by the historically low proportion of civilian casualties. The United Nations expects nine non-combatant deaths for every enemy combatant killed in urban warfare. The ratio in Gaza has been less than a quarter of that norm.

Hamas' network of tunnels is more extensive than the New York City subway system and cost Hamas a billion dollars. The underground labyrinth presents a challenge no other military in history has faced. Military academies will study and learn from the innovative methods Israel developed to deal with it.

Thousands of entrance shafts are deliberately located inside homes, schools, mosques and hospitals in order to make it impossible for Israel to defend against Hamas without Gaza's infrastructure being damaged and civilians getting killed. It's called Hamas' "dead baby strategy." 

Here are two examples.

A woman pushing a baby carriage called out to Israeli soldiers for help. As a soldier came to help, she signaled a terrorist, who emerged from a nearby shaft, shot and killed the soldier, and escaped down the shaft.

A boy asked an Israeli soldier for water. As the soldier approached with the water, the boy detonated the suicide belt he was wearing. The soldier was fortunate. Although seriously injured, he survived. The boy who blew himself up is now counted among those children Hamas claims were killed by Israel.

John Spencer, the Chair of Urban Studies Warfare at the Modern War Institute at West Point and one of the world's leading experts on urban warfare, recently wrote "Israel has taken more measures to avoid needless civilian harm than virtually any other nation that's fought an urban war" and "Israel has taken precautionary measures even the United States did not do during its recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." (Israel Implemented More Measures to Prevent Civilian Casualties Than Any Other Nation in History, Newsweek, January 31, 2024)

Despite those facts, Hamas' "dead baby strategy" has been effective in subverting support for Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken now keeps repeating the mantra "far too many Palestinians have died and Israel must do a better job."

During his generally positive speech in Israel on October 18, Biden announced he had prevailed on Israel to agree to the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, even though Hamas has traditionally stolen much of the aid delivered to Gaza. Hamas used stolen aid to build its underground network of tunnels. Recognizing this, President Biden said "Let me be clear: If Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people and it will end."

Sixty percent of that aid has been stolen by Hamas. Yet rather than ending the aid, as he said he would if Hamas stole it, President Biden keeps pressuring Israel to allow even more.

The world quickly loses interest in most wars.

Not so when Israel is attacked. The world is losing interest in the 134 innocent Israelis still being held. Many of those not already murdered are being brutalized by Hamas, but many obsesses over the plight of the people in Gaza even though 98% say they're more proud of being Palestinian after the October 7 Massacre!

Kfir Bibas was nine months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas, along with his four year old brother Ariel and their parents, Shiri and Yarden. Shiri's parents were murdered. Kfir is now thirteen months old and nobody has any idea of whether he and his brother and parents are dead or alive.

How many people who obsess about the suffering of Gazans ever think about the Bibas family?

That Israel is fighting against evil hasn't changed, even as memories have faded.

For good to prevail over evil, Israel must render render Hamas and the other terror groups in Gaza incapable of resurrecting themselves and repeating their barbaric slaughter.

This remains a necessity for America as well.

Let's Talk About What's Really Unhelpful

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have ganged up on Israel for having the audacity to build housing for its citizens in its capital, with both falsely calling it "unhelpful."

According to a Reuters article Rice chides Israel on new home-building plan:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Israel on Friday its plan to build 300 housing units in east Jerusalem threatened US-backed efforts to reach peace with Palestinians.

"We are in a time when the goal is to build maximum confidence with the parties and this doesn't help to build confidence," she said in rare US criticism of Israel.

"There should not be anything which might prejudge final-status negotiations," Rice said after talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on the sidelines of a NATO meeting.

In an Agence France-Presse story UN chief: Israel's settlement expansion plan 'not helpful', the UN Secretary General further piled it on the Middle East's only democracy.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday said Israel's decision to expand a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem was "not helpful" and he would discuss the matter with his partners in the diplomatic Quartet for Middle East peace.

"The UN position on the illegality of settlements is well known," he told reporters.

"This new tender for 300 new homes in east Jerusalem so soon after this Annapolis Middle East peace conference, I think, is not helpful," he added, referring to a recent US-hosted peace summit.

"I will be discussing this matter with my Quartet partners."

But the Palestine Liberation Organization's powerful executive committee issued a statement in which it blasted the expansion project as a "serious violation" and called on the United States and the UN Security Council to put pressure on Israel.

I'd like to mention a few things that really are unhelpful.

• Pandering to Arab extremism is unhelpful.
  
  Criticizing Israel for building homes in its capital is pandering to Arab extremism and is most unhelpful.
  
  There is clearly zero probability that Har Homa and other Jewish neighborhoods would be given to the Palestinian Arabs. Pretending otherwise only feeds absurdly unrealistic hopes to the contrary and lowers the probability of the Arabs accepting the existence of Israel, which is the major requirement needed for peace.
• The showering of Israeli towns, particularly Sderot, with thousands of Kassam missiles is unhelpful.
  
  If the interlocutors which to be truly helpful, they might work on civilizing Hamas, although they might have a slightly easier job starting with Fatah.
• Pressuring one side to freeze construction in the disputed territories while turning a blind eye to the other side carrying on massive construction is unhelpful.
  
  Connected to this is:
• Ignoring the seminal United Nations Resolutions and agreements between the parties.
  
  The Armistice Agreements signed in 1949 specifically stated the Green Line was not to prejudice negotiations over permanent borders. United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 call for negotiations to determine secure borders.
  
  Acting as if the Green Line should be the basis of any negotiations subverts both the letter and intent of both. If nothing else, it lessens confidence that any future agreements will be honored. (Of course, since the Palestinian Arabs have yet to honor any of their agreements, that confidence can't get much lower anyway.)
• Pretending Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, is a moderate interested in peace is not helpful.
  
  He may wear a suit, but the Holocaust denier who serves as leader of the Palestinian Authority has shown no inclination to compromise, a prerequisite for peace. Both the PLO and Fatah, Abu Mazen's PLO faction, continue to call for the destruction of Israel is their charters.

The list could go on and on.

The major point is everyone is pressuring the wrong side.

The Palestinian Arabs don't need their confidence raised; they need it to be lowered. They already know that they'll get their own independent state in most of the disputed territory whenever they choose to join the civilized world; the need is to get them to finally believe continuing their quest to destroy Israel will be counterproductive.

On the other hand, Israel has no basis for confidence in the Palestinian Arabs adhering to any agreement they make. It is also the Palestinian Arabs who continue with unhelpful actions, of which terrorism is just the beginning. The various interlocutors ought to start pressuring the Palestinian Arabs to make some confidence building gestures.