Many Israelis have expressed dissatisfaction over their government’s decision to agree to a quick cease-fire with Hamas after the terrorist group fired hundreds of rockets in a short span of time. To protest this move, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman resigned, taking his Yisrael Beiteinu party out of the governing coalition and likely precipitating elections. Yet Zev Chafets believes the government acted wisely:

The political din breaking out in Jerusalem threatens to drown out Benjamin Netanyahu’s uncharacteristic decision to make an accommodation with Hamas. . . . The prime minister calculated, correctly, that doing so would free Israel up to deal with the more ominous threat to the north, from the troika of Hizballah, Syria, and Iran. The decision also suggests he has finally acknowledged that Hamas’s control of Gaza is a political reality that cannot be wished—or bombed—away. . . .

In previous confrontations, Netanyahu has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to seal off Gaza and pound it into submission. This time, his response was more restrained: the air force bombed the Hamas television studio, a couple of evacuated Hamas installations, and a few empty high-rise buildings. No Israeli ground forces were deployed, and the Gaza fatality count was seven. . . .

Netanyahu must now persuade Israelis that he has not gone soft on Hamas. . . . His argument will be that he is simply being realistic. Hamas’s control of Gaza is a fact of life; defeating it with an invasion would be costly and ultimately counterproductive, since it would leave Israel with an even more hostile Arab population. Others have been making this argument for years, but Netanyahu never spelled it out explicitly until his press conference in Paris [on Sunday]. . . .

He will argue, too, that the Iron Dome, and a massive border wall scheduled for completion next year, render Hamas no more than a nuisance, compared to the potent threat of Hizballah. Israel estimates that Hamas has somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 thousand missiles. Hizballah has ten times that many, as well as allies in Syria and Iran. . . . That may not be an easy message for Netanyahu to take into an election campaign, but it is the right one.

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.