Last week, for the first time, the IDF shot down a missile fired from Gaza with a “directed-energy engagement system”—in layman’s terms, a laser. This experimental new system, known as the Iron Beam, has been developed to supplement, and perhaps one day to supplant, the Iron Dome. Elliott Abrams explains its significance:

Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system is well known, and it works beautifully: 90-percent effective. But it is expensive: each Iron Dome battery can cost $100 million, and each interceptor costs between $40,000 and $50,000. As Hamas fires its thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel—it’s fired an estimated 10,000 since October 7—the costs of defense mount and the supply of interceptors can run out.

Iron Dome batteries typically have about 60 to 80 interceptor missiles at hand. What if Hizballah or Hamas fires 100 missiles at one location? A laser system overcomes these problems. As long as you have electricity, you have laser beams to fire again and again at incoming threats. Swarms of approaching missiles can’t overwhelm the number of interceptors you have on hand, and there’s no need to worry about resupply—the kind of resupply the United States is now providing Israel.

Today, Israel can be forced to spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to shoot down Hamas rockets that cost $600 each. With lasers, the balance of costs all of a sudden will favor the defender, not the aggressor. . . . No doubt Hizballah and Iran are watching and worrying.

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.