Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Sunday, October 22, 2023

The Precipice

 Thomas Friedman is not my favorite columnist, but I agree with his take on the imminent catastrophe that is about to unfold in Gaza. Israel absolutely has a right to self-defense that includes taking on Hamas in Gaza. However, as Friedman notes, the hot-house online environment means that incidents like whatever happened at that hospital will triple or double. As I originally wrote immediately after the attacks, Hamas wants Israel to invade Hamas. Palestinian deaths are the point.

I don't necessarily agree that we are on the cusp of a wider war, though we certainly could be. What I do agree with is that Israeli policy has been badly damaged by Netanyahu's alliance with the far right settler movement on the West Bank. There is not outcome that I can see that provide lasting security via a two-state solution when Netanyahu and his far right enablers hold power. 

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