An Intractable Dilemma

ONOctober 7, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would destroy Hamas, in response to the murderous rampage it had unleashed that day.

That declaration drew almost universal support, as the overwhelming majority of Israelis concluded that we can no longer live with a Hamas-governed enclave on our border. That conclusion was made easier by Hamas’s openly expressed intention to attack Israel again and again, just as it had on October 7.

Absent the destruction of Hamas, it is doubtful that all or most of the residents of the Gaza Envelope will return to their homes. And that understandable refusal would, in effect, constitute ceding land to Hamas. In short, a Hamas victory.

No less important, the failure to destroy Hamas, or, at a minimum, expel it from Gaza, would represent a significant diminution in Israel’s deterrence against other enemies, many of them far greater threats than Hamas. At the top of that list is Hezbollah on our northern border, which has up to 150,000 missiles trained on Israel, a significant number of them precision-guided missiles. Hezbollah is also a trained army, hardened by years of military experience on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria.