Easily lost amidst Jerusalem’s high-profile normalization agreements with Arab states is its recent establishment of diplomatic ties with Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist nation wedged between India and China. The news has not been ignored in India, however, where it was greeted with much enthusiasm. And while Bhutan may not be a country with great strategic, economic, or even symbolic importance, Avi Kumar argues that the development is nonetheless significant:

Israel’s previous lack of ties with Bhutan was not linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict, but was rather due to Bhutan’s strict isolationist policies. The kingdom has a population of little more than 770,000 citizens and only began allowing tourists in 1970. TV and Internet were permitted only in 1999. [It] has full diplomatic ties with only 53 nations. The new agreement with Israel comes after several years of secret communication between the two countries.

In 2017, the country saw its highest number of tourists, at more than 250,000—up from 2,850 in 1992. . . . Also, [the agreement] opens up new avenues for bilateral cooperation in other sectors such as agriculture, water management, and defense, which will benefit both parties significantly and boost both economies.

Israel’s new ties with this relatively isolated kingdom reflect the fact that the new Middle East landscape President-elect Joe Biden will inherit from President Trump is one where Israel’s role in the world at large is bigger and more significant than it has ever been in its 72-year history.

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.