'The enormous death and destruction the IDF is leaving behind in Gaza aren't currently bringing us any closer to achieving the war's goals.'

Amos Harel in Israeli left-of-centre  newspaper Ha'aretz on April 8, 2024 - nothing seems to have changed in the last 3 weeks.

'The IDF and Shin Bet did find tunnels where Sinwar hid during the war. In those tunnels they found Hamas command posts, Sinwar's personal documents and gear, and cells and cages where the hostages had been held as human shields. Since then, he has apparently been moving among other hideouts in his complex deep under the ground of Khan Yunis.


'It's reasonable to assume that Sinwar and Deif will eventually be killed or captured, given the effort being invested in this. Hamas' No. 3 in Gaza, Marwan Issa, was killed in an airstrike last month after he violated the rigid security protocols adopted by senior Hamas officials. It's even still possible that there could be a breakthrough in rescuing the hostages.


'But the public should be told the truth: The enormous death and destruction the IDF is leaving behind in Gaza, alongside quite a few losses on our side, aren't currently bringing us any closer to achieving the war's goals.


'Hamas' military and governmental capabilities are gradually being degraded, but the organization isn't close to being defeated. We aren't one step away from victory, as Netanyahu once again claimed on Sunday with no basis in reality, to the dismay of officers and soldiers who, regardless of their political views, can spot the deception.'

This is the reason I opposed this IDF operation - it seemed to have no chance of destroying Hamas. What its real purpose is is unclear - to keep Netanyahu and his allies in power or to wreak vengeance or to clear Arabs out of Gaza are three possibilities. It might not have a definable purpose - like the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Friends of mine say Hamas has to be destroyed. One old State Department hand said the Hamas must be destroyed as the ideas of Hitlerism and Japanese militarism were destroyed and so they were, by making Germans and Japanese into simulacra of Americans. Suddenly I saw what the invasion of Iraq (which he still thinks a good idea) was about - to make Arabs into Americans. I am sure Arabs can't be made into Americans by slaughtering their womenfolk and I don't think they can be made Westerners any other way but I do not know why not. 

Is it to do with Islam? I really don't know. Arab Christians are very like Greeks and Greeks have become Americans.