One can support Israel but at the same time be horrified at the gross disproportionality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government's response to Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, as well as the West Bank settler killings of Palestinians and destruction of their land. President Joe Biden's administration has done little to rein in the Israeli government's killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza other than to issue repeated "tsk-tsks." The red lines that Vice President Kamala Harris stated recently are a step in the right direction. If and when Israel breaks through them, let's see if the U.S. does anything significant to punish Netanyahu and his extremist government.
As I watch the terrible situation in Gaza unfold, I am at a loss to understand the virtually one-sided conversation placing the onus upon Israel to enact a permanent cease-fire. Of course, I decry the loss of innocent lives as the war rages, but I don't understand why Israel, alone, seems to bear total responsibility in this regard. Where are the calls for Hamas to surrender in a war that it cannot conceivably win? Were Hamas to surrender, the carnage would cease. Following the World War II bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered, thus sparing the lives of more innocent civilians. Hamas apparently doesn't care about its people, as indicated by its actions on Oct. 7, which brought the inevitable response by Israel and its continued disregard for its citizens as the war continues. Where is the world's outrage that Hamas took, and continues to hold, innocent people as hostages? It could, and should, return these hostages immediately, and the rest of the world should demand it. But everyone seems to be OK with trading hostages for prisoners and negotiating with terrorists, which will only lead to more of the same. Hamas has, on multiple occasions, rejected the implementation of a two-state solution. It has one goal - the destruction
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