I am trying to sort out my thoughts on the pickle Israel finds itself in today. As you read this, keep in mind that this is a moving target. Tomorrow, I might look at this differently. But today……

I think you have to start with two completely unbelievable things. First, that Hamas has been working for a year or two on a plan to break through the Israeli border with the presumed object to kill and to capture, as well as to create havoc. Second, that Israel’s touted security capacity failed so completely, as did the strength of its border installations, which were expected to keep out any and all ground excursions. Of course, these things are tied together: if Israel had discovered what Hamas had been doing, and if the border wall had performed as promised, it didn’t make any difference what Hamas was planning, or what Hamas had started to plan. The scheme would have been nipped in the bud. And if Israel’s security system missed this, what else may they have missed?

Obviously, you can’t turn the clock back. But you can plan for the future, and I am sure this is being and will be done. But how deep was this failure? And what will it take for the security apparatus to regain the expertise and the confidence of the nation? And can it happen at all with the current coalition government in place, a government that has divided the country as much as this government has. Sure, the war has brought the country back together, they say, but this is only for one reason: to win the war. Once that has been accomplished, the problems leading to the uprisings will not only return to the fore, but will be exacerbated. These are all problems for the future, but the future is not that far off, and the problems are very serious.

Now, the war itself. So much has already been said about the brutality of the “troops” (if indeed they were troops, as opposed to youngsters who just decided to join the fun) and the brutality of the killings and the kidnappings. I don’t have to repeat any of that. But there is a related point: all of those who are commenting on this brutality as unheard of, as inhuman, with the possible exception of the ISIS beheadings, which were done as much for theater as for anything else. The killings in Israel were not done for theater; they were done out of hatred. But are they really that unique? In addition to ISIS, am I wrong in saying that this type of brutality has been seen in many parts of central and western Africa, where Islamic mobs have attacked villages, beheading and killing anyone they could find, and certainly have attacked schools, where tens (hundreds?) of young children have been kidnapped, some returned, and some not?

People say that these activities are in violation of the rules of war. I beg to differ. They may be in violation of the rules of war as propagated by western nations, but the rules of war as propagated by virulent Islamic jihadists everywhere have not been violated here. They have been upheld. And we need to be cognizant of that in working with, or against, fundamentalist Islamic groups. Including those groups headquartered in the West Bank, in Lebanon and elsewhere. Nothing may be beyond them.

That then leads to what is an appropriate Israeli response. There are a number of things to be considered. First, there are the 210 or so Israelis who have been kidnapped – how many are still held, who is holding them, and where they are held, I don’t know. Two have, for some reason, been released. And apparently, the prisoners fall into categories: those who are not Israeli citizens, those who hold dual nationalities, and those who hold only Israeli citizenship. They stand to be treated differently – and prospective “deals” to release hostages possibly will not include those hostages who hold only Israeli citizenship, whom Hamas refers to as opposition soldiers, regardless of age, disability, or health. Here again, there may be difficult decisions ahead – I don’t envy the Israelis who have to make them.

And then there are the Gaza Palestinians themselves. Over 2 million of them and, yes, half are under 18. They may not live in a prison camp, as their supporters like to say, but they live under very circumscribed conditions, where they need to be reliant on themselves, since so little comes in from the outside world and their ability to visit the outside world is so limited. And, as we see, they are reliant on their enemy, Israel, for certain basic supplies and utility flows.

Who are they? Who is innocent and who is not? What about their schools which teach hatred of Jews, and promise that one day the Zionists will be chased out of the territory they now control, and everything will be handed back to the Palestinians? And what about the mullahs, who teach the same things? And do the majority of the adult Palestinians really want peace? I assume they do, but at what cost? Do they want peace living next to the Zionists, or do they want peace after they eliminate the Zionists. It obviously makes a difference.

At any rate, the question is how the Israelis should treat the Gaza Palestinians? Israel wants to eliminate Hamas and says it will do anything possible to eliminate the threat from Hamas. Is that even possible? And what are the limits of what Israel should do? They obviously are dropping unbelievable numbers of bombs on Gaza. They continue to threaten a land invasion. They have asked those in the north of Gaza to move to the south. Most, but far from all, have done so, but resources are fast dwindling. A hospital in Gaza City was struck and hundreds (maybe not the 500 Hamas claims, but hundreds) were killed. It appears that this tragedy was not the fault of Israel, but came from a Palestinian rocket that misfired. Well and good, but nobody in the Arab world believes it – and won’t for a long time.

What should Israel do about the half of Gaza that is under 18? If Israeli air strikes or ground forces wind up causing the death of young Gazans, is that really any different than the Gazans causing the death of young Israelis? If young Gazans die because insufficient food, water and power are allowed into their country, is that equally an Israeli problem?

Remember (as I have said before), the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States totally firebombed Tokyo, and Dresden and Berlin. As Germans or Japanese were starving during the last stages of the war, no one even suggested that the United States or its allies send food into Berlin or Hamburg to feed the Nazis or their starving children. There was a war and it had to be won.

And when you are in a war, you don’t want to be shown as weak, or as nice guys. You want to be seen as more powerful than you are, and – if truth be told, and why not? – you want to be seen as ruthless and a bit crazy.

And then there is the question of publicity. For true believers (either side), the publicity simply confirms your feelings. For others, those who may be influenced, Israel and the Palestinians have differing strategies. For Israel, it’s all about the individual – the young children just starting out, the hard working mothers and fathers who are struggling to make a life for themselves and their children, the elders, who have already been through so much. We know, or can find out, so much about each individual who has been murdered or kidnapped, just by tapping on our phones. On the Palestinian side, it is the opposite. We know that buildings have been leveled, that hundreds of thousands are now homeless, and so forth, but we know nothing about the individual families. Would it make a difference if we did? Perhaps.

One day the war will be over. Tomorrow, probably not. But a month from tomorrow, perhaps. Then the region will be changed. There will be no going back. Two peoples will have to learn to live together, and will have to agree to give up some of their belief of their “God-given rights” to live in this land, and cooperate more closely with other. If not, the next peace will simply again be a waiting time before the next war. How will they be able to do this?

Final note: Edie tells me my blog posts are too long. I am sure she is correct (as usual). But, I am afraid to say, they are what they are.

By the way, I have not proofed this post. Why? Because it is so, so long.

So long….