It did not take long for Israel’s enemies to call for a cease fire in their current fight against Hamas and the terrorists in Gaza. To state it accurately, there were parties calling for a cease fire prior to Israel taking any military action. A cease fire does need to occur, but the parties are focused on the wrong war.
A cease fire in Israel is out of the question. The Biden Administration should abandon trying to garner votes in the 2024 Presidential election and draw up a real plan. We have a blueprint for that plan, from two instances in World War II.
First, Israel needs to demand complete and total surrender of Hamas and its offshoots. Anything less will mean the eventual reconstruction of these sinister forces who impoverished the people in Gaza to accomplish their principal goal – obliterating Israel. After 18 years and multiple attempts to work with the terrorists, we saw their end game on October 7th.
Next, a provisional government must be put in place, one that establishes the elements of a functional society. That means a new constitution that does not include the obliteration of Israel but includes freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. The new vision is one in which people are encouraged to participate in commerce; hospitals are built without arms depots and fuel depots underneath; schools that don’t have a curriculum encouraging students to kill Jews. That is the essence of modern society. This is exactly what we did post World War II.
This is the only way the residents of Gaza are going to be directed toward a normalized life where they are self-supporting. For so long they have been living on welfare payments from the U.S., the EU, and Arab states such that they don’t have a functioning economy. The elements of their society must flow through the hands of the people instead of a terrorist group hellbent on destroying its neighbor.
Unless there is a complete dismantling of the current “society” (if you can even refer to it as such), a return to the murderous chaos that currently reigns in Gaza is inevitable. A cease fire is an abomination since it would just extend the dysfunction that has existed for 18 years. Anything less than a complete destruction of Hamas and all of its evil elements perpetuates the current status quo.
On the other hand, there needs to be a cease fire and an agreement in Ukraine. There is a reason that more and more Americans are calling for the U.S. to step back its involvement in that theater. It is blatant on its face that the war is going nowhere.
At 21 months in, it is at a standstill. The current situation is appearing more and more like what occurred across the battlefields of Europe during 1916 and 1917, ended only by American commitment to the war with 116,516 American deaths as a result. There is no plausible scenario where any sane person sees American boots on the ground. More and more people I talk to have come to this conclusion on their own before I offer my own.
But don’t believe us — the commander of the Ukraine armed forces says the same. General Valeriy Zaluzhniy stated the war is entering a phase of “static and attritional fighting, as in the First World War.” He followed by saying,” This will benefit Russia allowing it to rebuild military power, eventually threatening Ukraine’s armed forces and the state itself.”
No less than WaPo’s opinion page has arrived at this thought as stated in Max Boot’s column that we are at a stalemate in Ukraine.
The reason Americans are revolting against Biden and members of Congress throwing more money at this war is because they can see the current state. They can clearly see the image of a stalemate two years from now with nothing changing. Zaluzhniy stated they would need a major upgrade in weapons and technology to change matters. I believe that is a pipedream that somehow this would occur and change the flow of the war.
Only China, North Korea and Iran want to see Russia win this war. Victory can also occur for them by two more years of draining the Allies’ resources with no improvement and more dead Ukrainians. We will still need to commit major resources to rebuild the country. That amount will just increase after two more years.
There you have it. In Gaza, the only acceptable solution is the complete destruction of Hamas and its offshoots so a proper rebuilding can occur. Not a cease fire. In Ukraine, the only sane solution is coming to a settlement and begin rebuilding the country. Let’s learn from history what needs to be done. Yes, to a cease fire; just in the wrong place.
