Last December, after years of negotiations with private companies and arguments with opponents in the Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu managed to conclude a deal to begin the exploitation of the natural-gas fields beneath Israel’s coastal waters. On Sunday, the deal was struck down by Israel’s supreme court. Jonathan Tobin warns of the possible consequences:

The bounty from the Tamar field, which has already begun producing natural gas, and the far bigger Leviathan site, on which development has not yet begun, had the potential to make Israel the world’s next energy superpower. [It held the] prospect of not only energy independence but also of a large export business that would [both] enrich the Jewish state [and] enable [the creation of] economic alliances . . . that would make it far more secure.

The only worry about all this was not whether the gas could be brought out or whether it would play a part in transforming Israel’s economy. [It] was whether Israel’s fractious political system and overregulated economy, and a judiciary and bureaucracy that seem most comfortable when stifling innovation and growth rather than enabling it, would find a way to gum up the works and stop the gas fields from being exploited. Unfortunately, we now have the answer to that question. . . .

[A] high court that recognizes no limits on its power to intervene wherever it likes without a shred of authority that is actually rooted in law . . . could doom Leviathan and expectations about Israel’s energy future.

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.