First things first: ask yourself if any other policy on the part of Israel would have concluded the war earlier and resulted in the release of hostages?
Netanyahu was told by Biden/Blinken not to bomb Gaza while there were still tunnels under civilian infrastructure and terrorists/combatants (as well as hostages) in them. Would that have resulted in a decision by Hamas to release the hostages and stop attacking? That does not seem credible to me.
If Israel had agreed to leave the southern border crossing (Philadelphi Corridor) open, would that have resulted in a peaceful solution? I am not convinced.
If Israel had not destroyed much of Hezbollah's leadership with exploding pagers and follow-up bombing, would Hezbollah have agreed to stop attacking settlers in the north, including rocket attacks as far south as Tel Aviv? It does not appear likely.
Netanyahu opted right out of the gate for a total war strategy, knowing that he would become a pariah for much of the world, and especially for the one he need most to convince: Barack Obama. If he had agreed to the feckless war strategy Obama insisted on (acting through his even more feckless former Vice President), would that have hastened the end of the fighting, allowed food and fuel to enter the enclave without being hijacked by Hamas? I don't believe it would have, and I find it hard to believe there is anyone who honestly thinks it would have.
I admire Bibi not just for standing up to Palestinian terrorists, but even more so for standing up to Obama, Biden and Sullivan.
"Tout est relatif." Yes, Netanyahu has his faults. But other politicians in Israel do not have his greatness. If Bibi hadn't been the leader in this war, I shudder to think what would have been the results. We are all astounded how incredibly strong Netanyahu is.
Bibi, the leader everyone loves to hate has been able to guide the Jewish State between the Scylla of the Biden administration and the Charybdis that is the feckless Western world and is now giving the feckless Western leaders an example of what leadership looks like. Israel has demonstrated that it has the best army, air force, navy, intelligence, and leaders in the world!
Trump and Netanyahu both are incredibly strong leaders - they face incredible abuse from political opponents who think this is a sport of some kind (Alan Dershowitz - big liberal, right? - agrees that the “lawfare” Bibi has been experiencing for years in Israel is not justified) - the Peter Berkowitz article, as you note, must be well salted with consideration of his media class - I have lived in Israel/Jerusalem since 1984 (good year, eh?) and could say a lot more on the subject, but kudos to you Roger, you’ve already said a lot very well (and more reasonably than I would). I have followed you and “pj"media for a long time, and I am very appreciative of what you have done and are doing!
In rereading the book of Joshua, there is more suggestion that Bibi is more of an historical figure than we have realized. Perhaps he has all along had more insight of the course of action in Gaza than anybody realized.
Ben Gurion was a schlub and a socialist; a piker compared to, say, Menachem Begin who did the actual fighting to defeat the British and create the Jewish homeland.
Otherwise a great column. Netanyahu is, unfortunately, irreplaceable.
Basically, I concur and also admire Begin whom I once saw speaking in front of the wall of the Old City. But giving the dog his due, though Ben Gurion was indeed a socialist --I'm not, obviously--he had the strength to guide Israel through its founding. Hard not to applaud that.
I will give him that, Roger. But he was very hostile to Begin in those days, the days of the Irgun, and only later came to appreciate Begin for his contributions. I read Begin's The Revolt last year. I highly recommend it as a blow by blow account of the years leading up to independence. Bon Voyage! Doug Eaton.
Thanks, Doug. I will pick up Begin's book. I have always wondered which side I would have been on during the days of the split between the Irgun and the Haganah. I like to think I would have gone with the Irgun, but it' idle speculation.
I am not a socialist, but as a younger man, recognized the need for limited socialism in certain situations - these are situations where pursuit of wealth would misalign interests with the objective. (It is rare, but point of care medicine (not all that feeds it) seems a case in point.) It would seem that Socialism was a means to "crystallize" the Jewish Diaspora in Israel.
I don't think we ever got the truth about Begin's isolation. He was an exceptional leader and without him the Brits would have given the Arabs everything.
Blinken admitted the dirty little secret in his interview by that antisemite Lulu. The state department handcuffing Israel has prolonged this conflict and has created worse conditions for hostage release
It is unbelievable that Blinken, Austin and Sullivan are still traveling the world (Germany, Japan, India, S Korea) THIS WEEK, trying to tie Trump's hands in various int'l arenas.
The Left/Globalist axis never surrenders, hence the need for tough leaders like Trump and Netanyahu.
The only thing to say about that horrid act is that Soros has lived long enough to see many of his crime positive prosecutors voted out of office or recalled. Not all but some. A true luxury belief of the billionaire Soros that crime shouldn’t be prosecuted. Unless of course you have your own guards like him. A thoroughly disgusting man
They are probably getting seats at the kids table. The world knows these guys are done. Though I am sure they are working out the last of the Big Guy cuts.
"Flashback City" I comment on the 60's letter: My sister was fired from job because she gathered my wife and mother and drove them to USNH Bremerton to meet me when I was returning from Viet Nam. And left her job to do so. The last lines on my headstone under my bed read, "I lived times others would say were best forgotten".
"Strong Horse" Israel stands where we did after Okinawa. As General Douglas MacArthur is quoted "The is no substitute for victory" Israel and the West are dealing with an existential threat. Were that Bernard Lewis were alive to write " What Went Wrong-in the West".
Thanks again, Roger, for writing an article which articulates many items of truth ignored by MSM Globally including both the US and Israel. Hamas, Palestinians and most of the Muslim world celebrated the atrocious and sadistic crimes against approximately 1200 innocent victims, comprising mostly of Israeli Jews, on Oct 7, 2023. Beheading an estimated 600 of their victims, raping and torturing many in that number and kidnapping and holding hostage another 251 victims. The method of using their own (Palestinian women and children) people as human shields where they cowardly entrench and fire their missiles and rockets illustrates their debased nature. Prime Minister has boldly lead Israel and confronted this evil with unwavering fortitude. May Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Nation State of Israel overcome their enemies and continue to bless the world in countless areas but in particular the sciences and technological fields.
The people of Israel are fortunate to have a strong leader like Netanyahu because, like President Trump, he is unafraid to make the hard and difficult decisions that will make his country safe from both foreign and domestic terrorists. It is meshugaah not to support such a leader as this. I hope when you are in Israel, you will come away with this truth and tell it to all.
While I like to focus on behaviors and not the man, Bibi displays a great deal of strength. he also garners the needed support. As hideous as this all looks, please consider the options...FIVE elections, while Iran is armed and funded, resulting in a "cartoonish" looking set of militants, all "pointing their weapons" toward Israel.
"If not now, then when?" Nobody likes it, but sometimes we must choose from the least bad option.
Netanyahu followed his experience in this war with Terrorist as he should have. Think back on the Wars the USA has entered with Terrorist Countries and have called the withdrawal a Victory! Vietnam, Korea, and more. Now we have North Korea with a loathing fool at the wheel. There is no Honor in such wars without Total Victory! Go all in and do the job that was meant to be, an All Out VICTORY or Don't GO. JMO.
and has a 75 year history of violence and not wanting peace but only to wipe Israel off the map.
North Korea and Vietnam are Far Away from the USA
The World is Fucked because of Leftist Shithead FDR and his Evil Advisor Joe Kennedy
Kennedy pressured FDR to stay out of the war because he hated the English like most Irish
The war ended around a year after D-Day
Imagine if the USA entered before France fell
Hubritic FDR refused to step down like decrepit Biden and gave away the world at Yalta. Let Germany exist instead of cutting it up so would never exist again.
Had an admin full of commies.
Let Alger Hiss the Soviet Spy lead the way for USA to create the evil UN
Last Good Democratic President was Polk. He might be one of the five best. And he is certainly the most underrated
I grew up in a time where total victory was the only option, Germany, Japan, unconditional surrender.
Today, daily rockets fired into a country, rape and murder a music festival, think of the children do not retaliate, an iron dome will stop some of them, the few that get through, acceptable.
The U.S., tens of millions invaders cross the southern border aided and abetted by our duly appointed leaders.
Europe? Grooming and dooming.
Today, as back in the day, total victory is the only option but sadly it seems we've lost the will to go that way.
The future of Gaza, and Lebanon for that matter, depends on the disarming of Hamas (and allied terrier groups) and Hezbollah. Absent that, any reconstruction money will be wasted when these groups inevitably reorganize, rearm and attack Israel.
So, the plan should be a united Western and Arab front demanding such a disarmament as a pre-condition for rebuilding. Lebanon, which actually has no reason to war against Israel, should abandon the Palestinian veto that has so destabilized its politics and impoverished its people. A peace treaty with Israel would open the way for its joining the Abraham Accords.
As for Gaza, Egypt should be made to open its border to Gazan civilians seeking safety. After that, Israel should be allowed to act under the Laws of Armed Conflict that expressly provides for withholding food and other supplies to civilians where there is a reasonable fear of diversion by enemy combatants - a diversion that is a fact not a hypothetical fear. This would cut off Hamas’ financial lifeline, making it unable to pay its fighters.
The West and the Sunni Arab states must then demand the surrender of the terror groups and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages living and dead) in exchange for permanent exile.
Obviously, the Biden Administration found itself incapable of taking this stronger approach. Will a Trump Administration make the necessary policy changes, backed by the threat of military force against Iran, to rearrange the Middle East chessboard and, just perhaps, give peace a chance?
First things first: ask yourself if any other policy on the part of Israel would have concluded the war earlier and resulted in the release of hostages?
Netanyahu was told by Biden/Blinken not to bomb Gaza while there were still tunnels under civilian infrastructure and terrorists/combatants (as well as hostages) in them. Would that have resulted in a decision by Hamas to release the hostages and stop attacking? That does not seem credible to me.
If Israel had agreed to leave the southern border crossing (Philadelphi Corridor) open, would that have resulted in a peaceful solution? I am not convinced.
If Israel had not destroyed much of Hezbollah's leadership with exploding pagers and follow-up bombing, would Hezbollah have agreed to stop attacking settlers in the north, including rocket attacks as far south as Tel Aviv? It does not appear likely.
Netanyahu opted right out of the gate for a total war strategy, knowing that he would become a pariah for much of the world, and especially for the one he need most to convince: Barack Obama. If he had agreed to the feckless war strategy Obama insisted on (acting through his even more feckless former Vice President), would that have hastened the end of the fighting, allowed food and fuel to enter the enclave without being hijacked by Hamas? I don't believe it would have, and I find it hard to believe there is anyone who honestly thinks it would have.
I admire Bibi not just for standing up to Palestinian terrorists, but even more so for standing up to Obama, Biden and Sullivan.
Well said!
Agree.
"Tout est relatif." Yes, Netanyahu has his faults. But other politicians in Israel do not have his greatness. If Bibi hadn't been the leader in this war, I shudder to think what would have been the results. We are all astounded how incredibly strong Netanyahu is.
Bibi, the leader everyone loves to hate has been able to guide the Jewish State between the Scylla of the Biden administration and the Charybdis that is the feckless Western world and is now giving the feckless Western leaders an example of what leadership looks like. Israel has demonstrated that it has the best army, air force, navy, intelligence, and leaders in the world!
Trump and Netanyahu both are incredibly strong leaders - they face incredible abuse from political opponents who think this is a sport of some kind (Alan Dershowitz - big liberal, right? - agrees that the “lawfare” Bibi has been experiencing for years in Israel is not justified) - the Peter Berkowitz article, as you note, must be well salted with consideration of his media class - I have lived in Israel/Jerusalem since 1984 (good year, eh?) and could say a lot more on the subject, but kudos to you Roger, you’ve already said a lot very well (and more reasonably than I would). I have followed you and “pj"media for a long time, and I am very appreciative of what you have done and are doing!
Spot on
In rereading the book of Joshua, there is more suggestion that Bibi is more of an historical figure than we have realized. Perhaps he has all along had more insight of the course of action in Gaza than anybody realized.
Ben Gurion was a schlub and a socialist; a piker compared to, say, Menachem Begin who did the actual fighting to defeat the British and create the Jewish homeland.
Otherwise a great column. Netanyahu is, unfortunately, irreplaceable.
Basically, I concur and also admire Begin whom I once saw speaking in front of the wall of the Old City. But giving the dog his due, though Ben Gurion was indeed a socialist --I'm not, obviously--he had the strength to guide Israel through its founding. Hard not to applaud that.
I will give him that, Roger. But he was very hostile to Begin in those days, the days of the Irgun, and only later came to appreciate Begin for his contributions. I read Begin's The Revolt last year. I highly recommend it as a blow by blow account of the years leading up to independence. Bon Voyage! Doug Eaton.
Thanks, Doug. I will pick up Begin's book. I have always wondered which side I would have been on during the days of the split between the Irgun and the Haganah. I like to think I would have gone with the Irgun, but it' idle speculation.
Ben Gurion HATED Begin and shot at the Altelena killing 23 Jews.
I am not a socialist, but as a younger man, recognized the need for limited socialism in certain situations - these are situations where pursuit of wealth would misalign interests with the objective. (It is rare, but point of care medicine (not all that feeds it) seems a case in point.) It would seem that Socialism was a means to "crystallize" the Jewish Diaspora in Israel.
I don't think we ever got the truth about Begin's isolation. He was an exceptional leader and without him the Brits would have given the Arabs everything.
Blinken admitted the dirty little secret in his interview by that antisemite Lulu. The state department handcuffing Israel has prolonged this conflict and has created worse conditions for hostage release
It is unbelievable that Blinken, Austin and Sullivan are still traveling the world (Germany, Japan, India, S Korea) THIS WEEK, trying to tie Trump's hands in various int'l arenas.
The Left/Globalist axis never surrenders, hence the need for tough leaders like Trump and Netanyahu.
Sullivan even worse than Blinken who is an idiot. Does Austin even have a brain? All these people do is project weakness
And advance globalist ideology and policies. No surprise that the criminal Biden awarded the criminal George Soros a medal! Totally disgusting.
The only thing to say about that horrid act is that Soros has lived long enough to see many of his crime positive prosecutors voted out of office or recalled. Not all but some. A true luxury belief of the billionaire Soros that crime shouldn’t be prosecuted. Unless of course you have your own guards like him. A thoroughly disgusting man
They are probably getting seats at the kids table. The world knows these guys are done. Though I am sure they are working out the last of the Big Guy cuts.
"Flashback City" I comment on the 60's letter: My sister was fired from job because she gathered my wife and mother and drove them to USNH Bremerton to meet me when I was returning from Viet Nam. And left her job to do so. The last lines on my headstone under my bed read, "I lived times others would say were best forgotten".
"Strong Horse" Israel stands where we did after Okinawa. As General Douglas MacArthur is quoted "The is no substitute for victory" Israel and the West are dealing with an existential threat. Were that Bernard Lewis were alive to write " What Went Wrong-in the West".
Dean in Idaho
Thanks again, Roger, for writing an article which articulates many items of truth ignored by MSM Globally including both the US and Israel. Hamas, Palestinians and most of the Muslim world celebrated the atrocious and sadistic crimes against approximately 1200 innocent victims, comprising mostly of Israeli Jews, on Oct 7, 2023. Beheading an estimated 600 of their victims, raping and torturing many in that number and kidnapping and holding hostage another 251 victims. The method of using their own (Palestinian women and children) people as human shields where they cowardly entrench and fire their missiles and rockets illustrates their debased nature. Prime Minister has boldly lead Israel and confronted this evil with unwavering fortitude. May Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Nation State of Israel overcome their enemies and continue to bless the world in countless areas but in particular the sciences and technological fields.
The people of Israel are fortunate to have a strong leader like Netanyahu because, like President Trump, he is unafraid to make the hard and difficult decisions that will make his country safe from both foreign and domestic terrorists. It is meshugaah not to support such a leader as this. I hope when you are in Israel, you will come away with this truth and tell it to all.
While I like to focus on behaviors and not the man, Bibi displays a great deal of strength. he also garners the needed support. As hideous as this all looks, please consider the options...FIVE elections, while Iran is armed and funded, resulting in a "cartoonish" looking set of militants, all "pointing their weapons" toward Israel.
"If not now, then when?" Nobody likes it, but sometimes we must choose from the least bad option.
Netanyahu followed his experience in this war with Terrorist as he should have. Think back on the Wars the USA has entered with Terrorist Countries and have called the withdrawal a Victory! Vietnam, Korea, and more. Now we have North Korea with a loathing fool at the wheel. There is no Honor in such wars without Total Victory! Go all in and do the job that was meant to be, an All Out VICTORY or Don't GO. JMO.
One big difference between North Korea and Gaza
Gaza is adjacent to Israel
and has a 75 year history of violence and not wanting peace but only to wipe Israel off the map.
North Korea and Vietnam are Far Away from the USA
The World is Fucked because of Leftist Shithead FDR and his Evil Advisor Joe Kennedy
Kennedy pressured FDR to stay out of the war because he hated the English like most Irish
The war ended around a year after D-Day
Imagine if the USA entered before France fell
Hubritic FDR refused to step down like decrepit Biden and gave away the world at Yalta. Let Germany exist instead of cutting it up so would never exist again.
Had an admin full of commies.
Let Alger Hiss the Soviet Spy lead the way for USA to create the evil UN
Last Good Democratic President was Polk. He might be one of the five best. And he is certainly the most underrated
Who's to say in the world today?
I grew up in a time where total victory was the only option, Germany, Japan, unconditional surrender.
Today, daily rockets fired into a country, rape and murder a music festival, think of the children do not retaliate, an iron dome will stop some of them, the few that get through, acceptable.
The U.S., tens of millions invaders cross the southern border aided and abetted by our duly appointed leaders.
Europe? Grooming and dooming.
Today, as back in the day, total victory is the only option but sadly it seems we've lost the will to go that way.
Prove me wrong. Please prove me wrong.
The future of Gaza, and Lebanon for that matter, depends on the disarming of Hamas (and allied terrier groups) and Hezbollah. Absent that, any reconstruction money will be wasted when these groups inevitably reorganize, rearm and attack Israel.
So, the plan should be a united Western and Arab front demanding such a disarmament as a pre-condition for rebuilding. Lebanon, which actually has no reason to war against Israel, should abandon the Palestinian veto that has so destabilized its politics and impoverished its people. A peace treaty with Israel would open the way for its joining the Abraham Accords.
As for Gaza, Egypt should be made to open its border to Gazan civilians seeking safety. After that, Israel should be allowed to act under the Laws of Armed Conflict that expressly provides for withholding food and other supplies to civilians where there is a reasonable fear of diversion by enemy combatants - a diversion that is a fact not a hypothetical fear. This would cut off Hamas’ financial lifeline, making it unable to pay its fighters.
The West and the Sunni Arab states must then demand the surrender of the terror groups and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages living and dead) in exchange for permanent exile.
Obviously, the Biden Administration found itself incapable of taking this stronger approach. Will a Trump Administration make the necessary policy changes, backed by the threat of military force against Iran, to rearrange the Middle East chessboard and, just perhaps, give peace a chance?
Netanyahu is not the man of the future. But he is the man of right now, brilliantly so.
For times as these; Fabulous article! Preach on brother!
Even Blinken’s body language exudes weakness. Weak man!