Because the U.S. continuation of its support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza being conducted with scorched earth tactics resulting in widespread destruction with 21,000 civilian casualties in just a 2-month period, despite allies counselling against this high-intensity war strategy, and because this could escalate into a greater regional war involving Iran, the democrat U.S. President Joe Biden needs to change course.
Stephen Collinson writes about how the U.S. could be drawn into a war with Israel’s arch enemy, Iran in his December 27, 2023 CNN report, “Middle East: Fears are rising of a widened war and US troops are in the firing line:”
Excerpts:
“Escalating attacks on US troops and commercial shipping and incidents often involving Iran and its proxies are causing new concerns that Israel’s war in Gaza could widen into a regional conflagration with grave political and economic consequences.”
“With American service personnel increasingly in a dangerous firing line and with US and allied naval assets on high alert after multiple drone attacks, the deteriorating situation is leading to a tense holiday period for the White House.”
“The rising possibility of US combat deaths and the worsening security situation from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and stretching through Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Israel represents an unwelcome new foreign crisis as President Joe Biden’s reelection year dawns. And it is becoming a petri dish for a new geopolitical trend — endless tests of America’s will and credibility by its adversaries and their proxies. Warnings by Israel that its war against Hamas in Gaza will last for months, despite US pressure for a ratcheting down of the intensity of the conflict, threaten to heighten the chances war could spin out of control and drag the US further in.”
The democrat US president Joe Biden and his administration should be listening to Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who has been calling for a cease fire with a prayer to bring the hostages home.
In his opinion pieces published in Haaretz, he writes that “there is no chance that (current Prime Minister) Netanyahu will ever agree to this because he believes his personal future, his survival, his political career, his legacy, his family and children all depend on continuing the war. For that, he is willing to let the nation burn.”
A per Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s December 28, 2023 Haaretz opinion piece, “Israel Must Cease Hostilities and Bring the Hostages Home:”
Excerpts:
“The various military operations of Gaza – in 2008-2009, 2014, 2021 and all the others – were not as impressive as the offensive being waged today. But it’s deceptive to think that it will bring about the destruction of the terrorist organization, unless it is a pre-planned and comprehensive campaign that is designed to drag on long after the events of October 7 in order to create time for Netanyahu to stave off a rapid descent into the abyss of the forgotten, as he deserves.”
“We should expect difficult days ahead, with a growing number of fallen soldiers and painful scenes of destruction and desolation in Gaza, which cast a heavy shadow on the State of Israel and undermine the support and patience shown toward us by even the friendliest countries.”
“What should we do? I believe that the time has come for Israel to express its readiness to end the fighting. Yes, end the fighting. Not a pause and not a temporary cessation of two, three or four days. An end to the hostility – period. At that time, Israel will need to bring back the hostages, those who are alive and those who are dead. If we wait, it won’t be long before the only ones we can bring back will be the dead, because there won’t be any living ones. A cessation of hostilities must be conditioned on the release of all the hostages, the soldiers and the bodies of all those who have been held by Hamas for years.”
“In exchange, Israel will have no choice but to release all the Hamas prisoners it holds. I refused to agree to a deal that was offered to me when I was prime minister that would have led to the release of Gilad Shalit. The terms were much better than those that Netanyahu finally agreed to, that called for freeing 1,027 murderers, among them the one whom the prime minister today calls a Nazi, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. He released all those murderers, in exchange for one soldier.”
“If there is no other way to bring the hostages home, there is no way to avoid a swap. The obligation of the State of Israel to those of its citizens who were abducted from their homes, their bedrooms, living rooms and shelters is greater than the shame entailed in making concessions to Hamas.”
“But only complete fools, like the ignoramuses from Channel 14 who eat up such nonsense, fail to understand how much Israel depends on the goodwill of the leaders of these countries, led by U.S. President Joe Biden, and how much their cursed messiah, Netanyahu, has made Israel dependent on aid from the US and other countries for its stability and deterrence.”
“The time has come. We need to take a determined stand without hesitation, without political calculations about opinion polls and future Knesset mandates, and immediately bring about the next phase of the current conflict – the cessation of hostilities, the return of the hostages (living and dead) and negotiations mediated by Egypt on the future of Gaza.”
As per former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s December 22, 2023 Haaretz opinion piece, “Israel’s Choice: Cease-fire Now or Dead Hostages Later:
Excerpts:
“The fighting in the northern Gaza Strip and more recently in the heart of Gaza’s military complex in Khan Yunis is difficult and unusual. It is an attempt to find the right balance between achieving the desired military objective of eliminating Hamas fighters and destroying the organization’s military and civilian infrastructure, and at the same time a supreme effort to reduce the loss of life on our side and to minimize the inevitable casualties among Gaza’s citizens who have no involvement in terrorism.”
“A war against a terrorist organization that builds its headquarters within residential areas is more difficult, more complex, and unfortunately also bloodier than a head-on collision of armored battalions in the desert, or aerial battles between planes.”
“Netanyahu, if he had been fully conscious when he first released this boastful commitment or when repeating it at each of his grotesque press conferences, should have known that there was no possibility of achieving it. Alas, from the beginning Netanyahu has not been engaged in a war for the citizens of Israel but in his own war. His and his family’s private, personal, political war. Formulating the objective as Hamas’ destruction prepares the ground for blaming all levels below Netanyahu for not achieving it.”
“I – Bibi – wanted to. It is they, that is, the defense minister, the chief of staff, the General Staff and the combatants – those who Netanyahu supporters have hinted are in on some treacherous conspiracy with Hamas that brought about the October disaster – are guilty. I, Bibi the hero, was ready to lead the onslaught until the final destruction of the Hamas movement.”
“Given that this is the true assessment of the situation, we must prepare for a change of direction.”
Gronda Morin 
The current leadership of every extremist party could drop down dead today and someone would take their place.
Where did this start? Just the current Palestinian Israeli conflict to keep it simple.
Well, if as we must take Cause and Effect, possibly right back to the revolt in Judea in 66-70 and even that is but a stopping off point.
If we try to apportion blame be ready with at least one A4 100 sheet notebooks and references books for every political and religious school of thought, along with their commentators. Also a separate list for nations and movements.
What to do?
For starters
Draw up a list (which will be shorter) of those groups which were working over the decades for peace and reconciliation and broadcast across the media in blood red words ‘If you did not support in some way, any of these then you bear some responsibility,’
The extremist leaders you see feed off the oppositions views as much as their own. The protest marches against Israel were as much comfort to current Israeli government as Hamas and their backers in Iran.
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Dear Roger,
Like in the U.S.A., there have always been those on the right who just want to blow everything up. They’re full of grievances, sense that the world’s unfair, etc. In the past, these folks were sidelined. But then along comes someone like Donald J. Trump who magically gives these malcontents, a voice by stoking their anger, fears, prejudices, etc. to where they truly believe that he can do no wrong and they follow him, blindly. These same folks now hold the republican party candidates in terror because they can’t win without their support.
Netanyahu, for all his faults, was tolerated because of his assurances that he was the one who could keep Israelis safe. Well, that bravado has proven to be fool’s gold.
Fortunately, for Israel, there are leaders who could do a better job than PM Netanyahu like the Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the centrist former rival, Benny Gantz.
With regards to Israel and Palestine, there’s no such thing as either side having clean hands.
Hugs, Gronda
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Hello Gronda.
Well said on all points.
I believe too much credit is given to Trump in his orginal calpaign he made the sort of mistakes which in earlier times would have sunk another candidate. It seems he is a symptom of that corrosion of common sense and perspective which arises in communities from time to time.
No neither side have clean hands, Amnesty International has been critical of Hamas which assures they are no better than the current Israeli government.
What angered me in October was the sight of all these mass demonstration. Where were these folk when the Rohingya genocides were happen, or those in Dafur? To name but two. If you truly care you do not get to select your point of outrage.
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I’m glad to see someone in Isrsel is talking some kind of sense — but how long before Yahu shuts him up “permanently!”
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Hi!
PM Netanyahu is in hot water in the polls. But that’s what scares me. PM Netanyahu and his extreme right cronies have nothing to lose by continuing the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, for as long as possible.
This is especially true as Israel’s Supreme Court just put the final nail on PM Netanyahu’s plans to overhaul Israel’s judiciary in 2023. For one thing, this means that PM Netanyahu does not get a “free get out of jail” pass. He’ll eventually have to face several trials regarding his alleged past crimes. And he can’t appoint a criminal in a cabinet post, as he has done in the past, etc.
It’s past time for the US and other western allies to do whatever they can to stop PM Netanyahu, asap.
Hugs, Gronda
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