Yes, Israel needs to make tough strategic choices.

This was sent to the Washington Post on January 27, 2024 in response to an editorial calling on Israel to do virtually the opposite of what it really needs to do.

To the editor:

The January  22 editorial, "As hostages suffer, Israel needs to make tough strategic choices," is correct about Israel needing to make tough strategic choices, but the path Israel needs to choose is virtually the opposite of what the editorial advises.

Time after time, Israel has given in to outside pressure and chosen short term calm over strategic necessities. The October 7 massacre was in large measure a consequence of that shortsightedness.

One example is the way Israel gave in to the pressure to allow building materials into Gaza after previous wars started by Hamas, pretending to believe the assurances that measures would be taken to make sure it would be used for civilian purposes and none would get into the hands of Hamas. The extensive network of terror tunnels, more extensive than the London underground, is a direct consequence of the fact that an estimated 90% of the cement was taken by Hamas.

Given the way it took four years for a large international coalition to dislodge most of ISIS, a terror organization President Obama correctly referred to as the "junior varsity," and which, years later, is still not completely defeated, it's not surprising that Israel hasn't in just 100 days been yet able to completely defeat and dismantle Hamas, which has been in complete control of Gaza for 16 years, especially since that international coalition didn't send "humanitarian aid" to ISIS while Israel has allowed massive amounts of "humanitarian aid" into Gaza knowing most of it, including fuel needed to power the electricity in the terror tunnels and to launch its rockets at Israel, would be stolen by Hamas.

Strategically, Israel has no alternative to defeating and dismantling Hamas and this is not in conflict with the need to do whatever it can to free the hostages held by the terror groups in Gaza. The more military pressure Israel puts on Hamas, particularly the more Israel makes Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders fear for their own lives, the more likely those terrorists will feel compelled to agree to meaningful hostage releases.

When Hamas - along with the other terror groups in Gaza, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah - is completely defeated and dismantled, we can deal with the day after. That day after cannot involve rewarding the Palestinian Arabs for the October 7 massacre of which 98% are proud by pushing for the Palestinian state they themselves have been unwilling to establish.

Sincerely,

Alan Stein

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