The “there” that I am talking about is Israel. Israel is facing world wide condemnation. Okay, so that happens now and then, we know. But this time, maybe it’s deserved?

Israel has been engaged in devastating Gaza for 10 1/2 months now, after the horrible invasion by Hamas on October 7 of last year. If Hamas’ statistics can be believed (and no one has proven that they can’t yet), there have been over 40,000 killed and about 100,000 injured out of a population of 2 million. Almost everyone there has been displaced more than once, most homes and businesses have been destroyed, and there is no end in sight. (Yes, I know there are “ceasefire” talks, but gee……)

At the same time, there have been consistent reports that Jewish settlers on the West Bank have harassed Palestinians living there in ways excessive than before (and that is saying something) and now (now being yesterday) Israel has announced it is conducting a large “counter-terror” operation in the northern part of the West Bank, deaths have been confirmed, and some Israeli ministers, including the Foreign Minister Israel Katz, has suggested that Israel needs to tell West Bank Palestinian civilians to move away from their homes, so that Israel can undertake a Gaza-like operation in the Occupied Territories.

Last week, as Israel saw Hezbollah ready their armaments for a fight on its northern border, Israel launched a major, and apparently successful for now, air attack in southern Lebanon, hoping to avoid an attack from the north.

Last month, or so, in its promise to kill major opponents, it orchestrated the murder of a very high ranking Hamas official in, of all places, Tehran. Iran has promised retribution – but on its own terms and schedule.

Decades ago, when Israel was responding to some border provocation in a very strong way, I remember someone asking me: do you think they are right to respond this way? I guess I could today repeat the answer I gave then. If they are successful, everyone will conclude they did the right thing. If they are not, everyone will conclude they took the wrong actions.

My answer then, and my answer today, might be the wrong one. For one thing, they have never been successful, because success can’t be measured in how many bombs you can drop or buildings you can flatten, or people you can kill. Success has to be measured in what happens after you do all those things. And yes, bombing your neighbor can give you temporary quiet, but now we see that, in the long term, it doesn’t really help. You will have to face the problem again and again, and each time it will be more difficult.

And we should also see that not only maintaining, but increasing, enmity between you and your neighboring countries, is not the way to solve a problem. But here we are.

Now, Israel is a small country, so to speak. Fewer than 10 million residents, of whom about 8 million are Jewish and most of the rest Muslim. The Muslims, primarily Arabs related to those living in Gaza and the West Bank, have been quiescent for the most part, but it won’t take much to set them aflame, and to convince the militant Israelis that they, too, are fifth columns in the region who must be disposed of, one way or another. Just wait and see.

Israel is a great country, a miraculous country, able to succeed beyond its founders’ dreams, under terribly adverse conditions. But we are now seeing that even strong Israel might be fragile.

I could write about this all day long, but don’t have time to. And it’s really not what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to talk about the American presidential campaign and especially the Kamala Harris campaign, and how all of this puts her in a lose-lose situation. What should her position be? She has fourchoices, as I see it:

First, she could take a strong pro-Israel position, try to maintain her Jewish support and antagonize Arabs who would otherwise vote for her, and who are important in several tough states.

Second, she could take a strong pro-Arab position, which would have the opposite effect of the first choice.

Third, she could listen to her advisors and ask them what position she should take which would cause her the least damage.

Fourth, she could take the position that she thinks would be in the best interest of our country.

What would you have her do?

Sorry…….I gotta run.