In 2020, the quinquennial international expo (the modern successor to the World’s Fair) will take place in Dubai, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and—over the vociferous objections of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority—Israel will take part. This news, writes Yoni Ben Menachem, is a sign that improving relations between Jerusalem and the Gulf states, long a poorly kept secret, are moving out from behind closed doors:

Israel has begun to take part openly in sports and cultural activities in Arab countries including the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain. Not to be forgotten in this context is Benjamin Netanyahu’s official visit to Oman in October last year. . . .

Last March, Anwar Karakash, the UAE’s state minister for foreign affairs, called for “an opening of the Arab world toward Israel” and said that “the relations between the Arab states and Israel must undergo a change to achieve progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians.” Some in the Arab world saw this as acceptance of the Israeli position that normalization between Israel and Arab states need not depend on reaching a permanent Israeli-Palestinian settlement. . . .

Arab rulers . . . see, on the one hand, that Israel has been attacking the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria with the full backing of the United States and even a certain coordination with Russia, and, on the other, [the Palestinian president Mahmoud] Abbas’s rejectionist policy toward any compromise with Israel, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been turning the Gaza Strip into an Iranian stronghold.

The conditions for open normalization between the Gulf States and Israel are gradually ripening, and Israel should encourage any possible cooperation with them. This is an important process that can help the Palestinians understand that Israel is a fact of life and that even the Arab states . . . have come to terms with it.

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.