Bernard-Henri Lévy on the curious case of those who call for Israel to agree to a ceasefire without insisting that Hamas do the same, “a solution that would have the obvious effect of handing victory to Hamas; to prolong the hold of a Muslim Brotherhood death cult on a population that serves as its guinea pig in a horrific experiment; to see the aura of the terror cult and its backers grow, and grow again, beyond Gaza, with all the cataclysmic consequences that one can imagine, both throughout the Middle East and in Europe. Or to expect the international community, and even Hamas’ sponsoring countries, to demand of the aggressor two very simple things that would immediately end this atrocious war and the suffering it causes: Liberate the Israeli hostages who still alive; and lay down their arms, recognizing, in one way or another, defeat. Who has the courage to demand this?” Stop the War in Gaza. In the only way it can be done. “These proud members of the global Empire of Palestine hardly flinch when China commits genocide against its Uyghurs, Iran its Kurds, and Putin the Chechens or Ukrainians. They can find no complaints with the fact that neo-Ottoman Turkey resumes, in Nagorno-Karabakh, its endless war against the Armenian people. I see no mobilizations on campus when an Arab state, Syria, kills not just thousands, but hundreds of thousands of civilians, backed by Iran, which promises even greater massacres against Jews and anyone in the region who dares to oppose it. But, now it’s about Israel.”

+ And Thomas Friedman in the NYT (Gift Article) on how Netanyahu Is Making Israel Radioactive. “No fair-minded person could deny Israel the right of self-defense after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 Israelis in one day. Women were sexually abused, and children were killed in front of their parents and parents in front of their children. Scores of abducted Israeli men, women, children and elderly people are still being held hostage in terrible conditions, now for more than 150 days. But no fair-minded person can look at the Israeli campaign to destroy Hamas that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, about a third of them fighters, and not conclude that something has gone terribly wrong there.” These articles, both worth reading, are partly in agreement and partly opposed. Welcome to the Middle East.