In the past few weeks, the IDF has prevented three attempts by Hizballah fighters to infiltrate Israel’s norther border, shot down one of the terrorist group’s drones in Israeli airspace, and, reportedly, shelled one of its positions in Lebanon. Yesterday the organization’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, declared that his forces will not rest until they have killed an Israeli soldier. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner argues that Jerusalem must not only respond with artillery and heightened border security, but also with subtler means:

Israel’s intelligence capabilities can shed light on the residential areas where the Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group has been concealing its missiles, [thus] debunking Nasrallah’s assertion that Hizballah “has no weapons” stored in the Lebanese capital. The fact of the matter is that Hizballah has literally turned Lebanon into a powder keg, and Israeli military intelligence can pinpoint those locations, something the Lebanese people can’t do.

Hizballah was directly involved in the explosion in Beirut [earlier this month]. The 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that all but wiped out the port were stored there so Hizballah could use them in its next war with Israel. The fact that this arsenal was hidden in a civilian area and endangered the population meant nothing to Hizballah. [The group’s] senior officials know that the Israeli Air Force’s moral and ethical guidelines would make it hesitate to target missile silos nestled in residential areas.

Dissatisfaction with Hizballah in Lebanon meanwhile seems higher than ever, both because of the aforementioned explosion and because of the recent verdict convicting one of the group’s operatives in the 2005 assassination on the country’s prime minister. To Darshan-Leitner, now is the ideal time “to deal Hizballah a crippling blow” without firing a single bullet. Moreover, she writes, Israel also has:

a moral duty vis-à-vis civilians being used as human shields by living in very close proximity to chemical warehouses and missile depots. Militarily speaking, the value of the intelligence Israel holds is lower than the impact it could have on Lebanese public opinion, especially when the voices asserting that Hizballah is dooming the Lebanese people to death and destruction are growing louder.

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.