I was going to post another diversionary piece today; in fact, it is pretty well complete. But I am going to save it, I guess, for another day. There is too much going on.

No analogy is perfect, as we all know. So you can read what comes next and respond with “that’s a bad analogy”. I would probably agree with you. But I proceed.

When someone tells me they are “pro-life”, I always ask if they are against capital punishment, if they are against war in general. If they tell me that they are for capital punishment, I tell them they are not “pro-life”.

Hamas attacks Israel. Kills over 1000, including families in their homes, young Israelis at an all-night concert and so forth. And they take 150 hostages. Obviously awful.

Israel responds with bombing attacks on Gaza, dropping (as I have heard) thousands of bombs. Pictures on TV make parts of Gaza look like an earthquake has hit, a very severe earthquake. Israel has apparently killed as many Palestinians at this point as Hamas has killed Israelis. Because Gaza is an area where half of its residents are under the age of 18 (enormous birthrate – what else is there to do?), many of those killed in Gaza have been children.

Israel has also cut off all supplies to Gaza which come through Israel as well as electricity and water. It has stated that this blockade would end as soon as the hostages are returned. Hamas has not returned any hostages (Hamas this morning said that 13 of the hostages have been killed by Israel’s bombs – we don’t know if this is true).

Over the last two days, preparation has begun for a land invasion (I wrote about this yesterday), with 300,000 Israeli troops at or near the border. Israel has told over 1,000,000 Gaza residents who live in the north of the Strip to move south, leaving Gaza City empty. Hamas has told Gaza residents to stay where they are.

Complicating all of this is Egypt. Egypt and Israel have had diplomatic relations for the past 50 years, since the end of the Yom Kippur War. Residents of Gaza can leave Gaza only through three “gates” – the two that go to Israel are understandably closed. So is the Rafah gate, that goes to Egypt. If Egypt opened the gates, refugees from Gaza would have somewhere to go….at least temporarily. But Egypt is not opening Rafah. I doubt that this is per an agreement with Israel. I assume that Egypt knows it would be very hard for it to take in so many refugees. But it makes things much harder. And don’t forget that Egypt controlled Gaza between 1948 and 1967, so it does bear some responsibility; it was offered control over Gaza in 1973 and said, politely, “no, thanks”.

So, I can ask Israel: if Hamas’ killing of children and innocent civilians in Israel is so awful (and it obviously is), is the killing of children and innocent civilians in response by Israel any less abhorrent? I am not looking here to answer this question (I don’t even think I have an answer), but to put it out there. If Israel could get at Hamas without harming many civilians, there would not be a question as to what Israel should do. But it doesn’t appear that this is possible. And it’s not even clear that they can destroy Hamas, even if there is so much collateral damage. So, the question it out there.

Now, though, I will turn it around. For those who think that Israel should stop where it is now, I ask: Should the U.S. have dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Should the Allied Forces in WWII have firebombed Dresden, or carpet bombed Berlin? Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed in these three actions alone – yet it ended with Western Europe prepared for a democracy which has lasted to this day.

So if it is possible to change the politics of Gaza drastically, can one say that the full out attack on Gaza is wrong? Or would that be hypocritical?

Of course, there are more complications. Let me mention two of them. First, there is Hezbollah and Iran – if a second front is begun in the North of Israel, not only will Hezbollah and Lebanon be drawn into the battle, it is likely that Iran, the United States and other countries (on both sides) will also become more intensely involved. Where this would end, no one can say. Is this possibility so frightening that Israel (and the United States) should tread more softly? It’s another question that I have no answer for.

Secondly, it’s the question of the population of Gaza itself. It’s too easy to say that the problem is Hamas, and that – in the most recent polling – less than 50% of Gaza residents support Hamas. But virtually all residents of Gaza were born after 1948, after the birth of the State of Israel. They have only known Israel as a powerful neighbor, and since 1967, 56 years ago, as a controlling neighbor. They have all grown up with schooling that teaches them that Israel and Jews are not only the enemy, but evil incarnate. This hasn’t been a side subject in Gaza schools, but it has been the core of the education of all Gaza children. It won’t be easy to find moderate political leaders to run a Gaza government.

Again, I have no answers. That isn’t a problem. No one cares if I have any answers. But there is a problem. The problem is that nobody has an answer. That is a real problem.