Meanwhile on the International front....

I wish I had a good answer. I don't envy Mr. Netanyahu. I'm only saying that many of the people screaming Apartheid! would be shouting Murderer! at the guy in the trolley car (if he were Israeli).

 

I have to believe someone somewhere is trying to negotiate a hostage release or a prisoner swap.

Hope so.

 

By thoroughly and utterly defeating it to the point that it is no longer a viable entity. I'm sure some will find the form that takes to be unpalatable. I think everyone wishes it didn't have to come to this. But, because of Hamas' barbaric actions, I also think we're past the point of settling it through debate or negotiations so it appears it'll be settled on the battlefield.
Hamas picked the fight, and it picked the rules. It does not deserve anyone's sympathy.

 

Who here has sympathy for Hamas? I certainly don't.

I have sympathy for the scores of Palestinian children who want nothing to do with Hamas and are going to suffer and/or die. I also have sympathy for the Israeli victims and hostages. It's not hard to have sympathy for both.

 

Agreed. Now what?

 

Now what what?

Nothing Israel is planning to do will eliminate Hamas. And even if you eliminate Hamas, you'll never eliminate the overall issue as long as other countries, including Russia, are willing to aid/arm Palestinian dissidents. It just won't be called Hamas anymore.

 

So you just let them go about their business and call it square?
Knowing that their business is, of course, literally murdering and butchering Israelis in their homes.

 

Not what I said either. But you knew that. And thank you for continuing to state the obvious of what Hamas does. I don't think any of us saw it the first 14 times.

 

I read something the other day (could have been here) about them putting together a hit squad to get everyone responsible for the attack, Munich-style. I'd be A-OK with that. Kill them all.

 

The "now what?" is find Palestinians a new homeland. That's the what. There's no other what.

 

It had to be said.

I'm 0% Southern, but whenever I make another futile attempt to resolve any of the Middle East peace process in my head, I am reminded of the phrase "A hit dog will howl."

And then the follow up question is how many times hitting the dog makes it OK for the dog to bite, and conversely, how many bites are justified. A massive oversimplification to be sure, but a framing device. I do not deny that Israel's security situation constitutes a permanent existential crisis. Is there an appropriate or inappropriate way to respond to an existential crisis? And so, if there is no wrong way to defend yourself from an existential crisis, how many innocents are expendable in the midst of that.

I hear what people have said here about Hamas and human shields, but that's their point. In chess, we call that a fork. Killing someone who is being coerced into being a human shield is still killing an innocent.

 

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people involved in the attack. It's not an amount where you can realistically take them all out with surgical assassinations.