The future’s uncertain and the end is always near, as hippy wannabe-poet Jim Morrison said. The end of the Gaza War, or at least its 2023–25 edition, may be near, but the future? One thing is certain: all those man-bunned anti-Semites wrapped in their silly tea towels will be screeching to ‘Free Palestine’ for a long time yet.
Because if one thing’s surely certain, it’s that Israel won’t be so suicidally stupid as to ever let Hamas go back to running their brutally mediaeval Islamic fiefdom in Gaza again. (Caveat: there’s always the possibility that Benny Gantz or Israel’s Labor Party will get their hands on the levers.) No more than the victorious Allies were about to let Germans or Japanese go back to right back running their own show in the aftermath of WWII.
Germany and Japan were both occupied for a decade, in order to make sure that fascism didn’t take root again. The Germans and Japanese were cultured, educated and intelligent enough to realise that coming back for seconds after being bombed to dust wasn’t a smart move.
How long will it take to drive home the same message to the knuckle-dragging troglodytes of Gaza?
Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet has approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and station troops there indefinitely – a move that would vastly expand Israel’s operations there and draw fierce international opposition.
Fine, then: ship off a few planeloads of Gazans to every country that complains, especially the surrounding Arab states who have steadfastly refused to let a single Gazan take refuge within their borders.
But Israel has the backing of the only country which matters.
The US and Israel are reported to be in talks over Washington taking over the administration of the Gaza Strip, days before President Trump arrives in the Middle East.
The talks, which according to the Reuters news agency are at a preliminary stage, would involve the United States leading a transitional government until safety and security in the Palestinian territory had been established.
So, until they can ship the current occupants off, then. There’s plenty of their Arab cousins who’ll welcome them with open arms, surely? Maybe South Africa, given they’re apparently so concerned about ‘Palestinians’?
In the meantime, the ‘Palestinians’ are about to get another round in the lesson they’ve refused to learn for the past 80 years: every time they attack Israel, they lose more territory. The two-state solution they could have taken up in 1948 was generous in the extreme. But the Arabs just hated Jews too much to accept it. So they attacked. Again and again. Every time, ‘Palestine’ shrank just a little more and Israel expanded into more of its traditional homelands that had been colonised for millennia.
A smarter people might have learned from all that.
The move was voted through in the early hours of Monday, two Israeli officials told the Associated Press. It would push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, where people are already suffering from a two-month blockade of aid.
In a video message, the Israeli prime minister confirmed that a new offensive in Gaza will be an intensive military operation.
“Population will be moved, for its own protection,” Mr Netanyahu said, adding that Israeli soldiers won’t go into Gaza, launch raids and then retreat. “The intention is the opposite of that.”
Anyone who thinks Hamas will release any more hostages out of the kindness of their hearts is sorely mistaken. They’ve had more than enough opportunity – and been rewarded far too well – for the grudging concessions they’ve made so far. They won’t let go of the only bargaining chip they have left until its forcibly taken from their hands.
This is the only realistic solution that won’t sacrifice Israel’s future for the sake of the present.
Given the demented levels of intransigent Arab hatred of Jews, it’s going to be a long haul.
While no timeline has been discussed, it is not thought that the US envisages a long-term presence in Gaza, should the plans progress.
Earlier this year, however, Trump discussed the possibility of the United States taking over Gaza and turning it into a Mediterranean holiday resort […]
In an April interview with the Emirati-owned Sky News Arabia, Gideon Saar, the Israeli foreign minister, said he believed there would be a “transitional period” after the conflict in which an international board of trustees, including “moderate Arab countries”, would oversee Gaza with Palestinians operating under their guidance.
“We’re not looking to control the civil life of the people in Gaza. Our sole interest in the Gaza Strip is security,” he said, without naming which countries he believed would be involved.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, rejected the idea of an administration led by the United States or any foreign government, saying the Palestinian people of Gaza should choose their own rulers.
They had the luxury of that choice for decades. They chose Hamas.
