The Problem with Hamas

In a recent postaptly entitled “Bringing the Negotiating Table to Hamas,” Judahtempered his critical view of Israeli policies with the acknowledgementthat he was writing “from the comfort of a Paris apartment, beyondmissile range from Gaza.” Indeed, things look quite different fromwhere I live, which is just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv-Yaffo — andjust on the edge of the area threatened by missiles from Gaza. When Ilook south from my balcony, I can see Ashdod, which has already been struck by missiles with deadly consequences.

This goes to illustrate that Israel is simply too small a countryto leave its southern towns and villages — and the almost one millioncitizens who live there — exposed to the constant threat of rocketslaunched by a regime whose armed wing boasted only recently that Israel was “hopeless and desperate” in the face of the relentless attacks:

The enemy is in a state ofconfusion and doesn’t know what to do. . . . Their fragile cabinet hasmet in a desperate attempt to stop the rockets while thousands ofsettlers have found refuge in shelters which, by God’s will, willbecome their permanent homes.

Since Judah argues that “there’s no stable end to this conflictuntil the urge that Hamas represents is included in the equation,” it’sworthwhile to ask what “urge” exactly Hamas represents.

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