Netanyahu has always intended to sacrifice the Israeli hostages to ensure he can finish the massacre of all Palestinians – this is just such a betrayal of the Israeli people – Mark
Truly, I lack the words to describe just how depressing the resumption of bombings in Gaza is. By now, you will probably have read several analyses explaining how inevitable this moment was, how it was baked into the terms of the ceasefire. That is true, but ultimately not true enough; the inevitability was baked in long before that.
It was baked into Israel’s stated aims in responding to the October 7 attacks, which were contradictory and unrealisable. A war fought on such pretexts has no way of ending. It is, in its very design, a forever war.
Specifically, Israel has always said that it wants to retrieve all its hostages, and eliminate Hamas. On the surface, these may appear to be allied goals, but they are not. The easiest way to retrieve hostages is to strike a deal with Hamas – much as happened in the past two months. But if you’re Hamas and Israel has said it will not stop until it eradicates you, what would returning those hostages ultimately get you? It can’t be a lasting peace because Israel has said that cannot happen until you’ve been destroyed.
And since we can safely assume Hamas doesn’t want to be destroyed, the whole logic of this approach – demanding Hamas release hostages while maintaining a policy that removes any incentive for it to do so – quickly falls apart. That leaves only the option remaining of bombing your way out of this contradiction. And here we are.
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