Stay out, open up, resign

Israel doesn’t have good options for dealing with Gaza, but some are worse than others. A ground invasion is among the worst. The Israelis are hesitating for good reasons. I trust President Biden urged them to desist. I hope he is also insisting on a real and substantial solution to the humanitarian crisis, over and above the modest shipments agreed so far.

Stay out

The Israeli army is poised with about 300,000 troops on the boundaries of Gaza. But its leadership knows better than anyone else how perilous and counterproductive a ground assault is likely to be. Everything will be booby-trapped, resistance will be fierce, and many Hamas fighters and leaders will have fled with half the civilian population to the south. Besides, success in annihilating Hamas will saddle Israel with the unenviable task of deciding who will govern the day after, or re-imposing its on-the-ground occupation.

The Israelis may hope to establish a base inside Gaza from which it can raid the rest of the territory, rather than reoccupying it. But it is not clear why that is better than raids from outside. Gaza is small (25 miles long and 6 miles wide). With complete command in the air, the few extra miles don’t really matter. Hamas has the home advantage. Why isn’t it better to leave Hamas to stew in the ruins and strike them whenever the opportunity arises?

Open up

In the 12 days since the Hamas atrocities inside Israel, Gaza has been almost completely isolated. The Israelis I understand have allowed in some water, but no electricity, fuel, food, or medical supplies. They have conditioned humanitarian aid on release of the dozens of hostages that Hamas captured in Israel and dragged back to Gaza.

That as I see it is a war crime, as it targets civilians. Or, if Israel wants to claim that it is targeting Hamas and that the civilians are just collateral damage, the embargo of humanitarian aid is disproportionate to the military objective and therefore still a war crime. It is also likely counterproductive. Populations subject to cruel and unusual punishment aren’t going to wake up and throw off their oppressors. They are far more likely to make common cause with them.

Israel needs to move quickly and decisively to relieve the general population, even as it attacks Hamas. The only real alternative is to chase the population into Egypt, but Cairo is alert to that possibility and is not allowing people out through the Rafah crossing. Even once it is open to some Americans and others, permits will be hard to get. The Egyptian Foreign Minister was on BBC two days ago offering to send Gaza’s civilian population to the UK if London insists on letting it out.

Resign

Judicial accountability for the conduct of this Gaza war lies in the future. But there is no doubt about the political responsibility for the security lapses and military abuses that occasioned it. Prime Minister Netanyahu and National Security Minister Ben Gvir should be resigning now. They failed in their obligation to protect Israelis. So too should Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ senior political leader, and Yahya Sinwar, its Gaza leader, who share command responsibility for the truly heinous attacks on Israeli civilians. They have also failed in their obligation to protect Gazans.

The Gaza health authorities claim an Israeli missile was responsible for the hit on a hospital in Gaza, killing more than 500 people. The Israelis and Americans say an errant Palestinian Islamic Jihad missile hit the hospital. Its leader–Ziyad al-Nakhalah–should also be resigning. PIJ participated fully in the October 7 attack on Israel.

Of course none of these resignations will be forthcoming soon. All these folks are determined to exact revenge and declare victory. One can only hope that the people of Israel and Gaza will hold them accountable at the first opportunity.