An Israeli organization called V15 has been conducting a vigorous “Anyone but Netanyahu” campaign in advance of the March elections—while being careful not to endorse any particular alternative candidate. Adi Ben Hur examines V15’s organizers and sources of funding, and concludes that something is amiss:

[D]espite the strident denials, the people behind [the V15] campaign are a long list of known Labor activists. They understand that Labor’s uncharismatic leader, Isaac Herzog, can’t do the job alone, and so they’ve decided to lend a hand. V15 is funded by the resource-rich One Voice, which is based in the U.S., where it’s known as the Peace Network Foundation, supported by a holding company known as Peaceworks, which is run by a businessman named Daniel Lubetzky. The organization is defined as an “international organization” whose goal is “solving” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. . . .

Even if all this activity is technically legal, it’s still very problematic. What makes it worse is the massive funding from foreign governments. Democracy means rule by the people, and the intervention of foreign countries is nothing short of subversion. . . . Christina Taylor, in charge of grants to One Voice in the U.S., said . . . that One Voice had received two grants from the U.S. State Department in 2014. Taylor claimed that the money was not meant to assist intervening in Israeli elections. The present heightened activity and presence of V15 in elections makes this disavowal dubious, to say the least.

In addition, the list of “partners” to One Voice on the English website includes the European Union, the U.S. State Department, and the British Labor and Conservative parties. Strangely, none of these last appears on the Hebrew-language website.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.