Jews are effectively being encouraged to re-ghettoize themselves for their own safety
But on another level, the October 7 massacre has weakened Israel’s international standing dramatically and endangered Jews around the world. Sinwar knew that Israel would have no choice but to respond forcefully to October 7. Not to extract revenge, but because October 7 and the emptying out of a large swath of southern Israel of its civilian population in its aftermath left Israel with no choice but to topple Hamas rule in Gaza. Anything less would leave too many Israelis in Hamas’s crosshairs, and result in the de facto contraction of Israel’s borders.
And Sinwar also knew that because Hamas was deeply embedded among the civilian population, with tunnel shafts descending from virtually every multistory building in Gaza, including hospitals, schools, and mosques, any effort to remove it would result in many civilian casualties, despite Israel’s unprecedented efforts to remove civilians from the area in advance of attacks, and the low ratio of civilian to military casualties when compared to any other example of modern urban warfare.
Notably, not one critic of Israel has suggested how Israel could have removed Hamas from its southern border at a lower cost in civilian casualties, without incurring far higher rates of its own casualties than it has already suffered.
Hamas spokesmen repeatedly disavowed any responsibility for Gaza’s civilian population, as that population, sadly, is worth more dead than alive to Hamas, in terms of propaganda victories — victories aided and abetted by a lazy and ignorant media.
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