No one starts a war without being of the view that the objective to be attained by it is worth the human and material cost of the attempt, and when war is commenced, each party to it signs a blank check drawn on the people and social material of both sides, payable in quantities of suffering to be filled in later by events. From the point of view of Hamas, killing or driving out the Jews of Israel seems worth any number of dead and maimed Palestinians: from the point of view of Israel, wrecking Hamas as an armed body seems worth any number of dead or maimed Palestinians. This is the reality of the situation, and it is that which shapes, and will continue to shape, its course.
Personally, I support only my country's present leadership. Should their view not accord with mine, that will alter neither my support for Mr. Biden's policies, nor my own views of the matter. It seems that the goal of our government's policy is to convince Arab powers in the region to eschew material support for Hamas, to cease turning a blind eye to its procurement of arms and otherwise tolerating, if not facilitating, its activities. One tool in this is the hostility between Iran, the chief sponsor of Hamas, and the Sunni states neighboring Israel. Another is the longstanding antipathy between Egypt's military and the old Moslem Brotherhood, from which Hamas sprang, and the longstanding dislike of the Jordanian monarchy for the bodies which are at the root of the Palestine Authority in the Jordan valley. I hope they succeed, diplomatic persuasion, and money, can be effective in achieving the goal of neutralizing an armed body dependent on the tolerance of established states.
But absent sufficient diplomatic and economic persuasion being brought to bear by neighboring states on Hamas, or the intervention of a military powerful enough to enforce its will on Israel, Israel will continue to attempt achievement of its objective in this war by military means.
"This is the best world possible everything in it is a necessary evil."
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