Truce or Dare

It seems like the world -- including those who were solidly behind Israel just a few weeks ago -- are calling for a ceasefire. It isn't going to happen.

The reasons are simple:

1. Every time Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with promises from the international community to constrain her enemies, those same enemies expand their power exponentially. After 2006, Hezbollah was supposed to have no weapons south of the Litani River. The UN and Lebanese Army were supposed to safeguard that reality. Instead, they have 150,000 rockets -- many precision-guided munitions -- aimed at Israel. In retrospect, we should never have trusted the promises that were given by the world and Hezbollah alike.
2. The pressure for a ceasefire is driven by an 'international' media the world should now know is a propaganda arm of Hamas. Reporters for CNN, Reuters, the New York Times, and the Associated Press (not to mention the likes of Al Jazeera) are Hamas members. There's even a great picture of one (Hassan Eslaiah) being kissed by the mastermind of the attacks. Just yesterday, there were photos of 'journalists' for these organizations providing photos from within Israel as they were 'embedded' on the murder orgy. One of them even provided the recent storm-raising photo of an ambulance bombed (because Hamas uses them to transfer fighters). Local journalists are like North Korean minders. As one concrete example, everybody has been reporting that al Shifa Hospital has been hours from running out of fuel ... for almost a month -- yet here's a live feed with clear signs of electrical activity -- including from behind blinds covering windows in the hospital. This sort of lying will continue until Hamas is no more and doesn't control the journalists.
3. Israel can erase Hamas. Some have said Hamas is an idea, and that is partially true. But an idea can be squashed when it is both unbelievably costly to try to implement and certain to fail. The IDF is demonstrating both to be true as I write.
4. The people Israel really cares about get it. We need to get weapons, so the U.S. matters. For now at least, the US is an ally. But our neighbors also get it. Saudi Arabia wants to see Hamas crushed. The Egyptian government won't say it, but they are hoping for the same. Basically, everybody who doesn't belong to an Iranian or Muslim Brotherhood militia (or isn't directly allied with the mullahs) secretly agrees. This needs to be done and Iranian militias have to be dealt a devastating hand to bring peace to the region. This is one reason the Saudis have been so open about resuming normalization afterward.
5. The Israeli people won't accept a ceasefire. You can't simply ignore some crimes and survive as a nation. For us, 'not surviving as a nation' means genocide. We aren't going to let that happen. Even the return of the hostages wouldn't, and shouldn't, but Hamas more than a day or two. They can't be rewarded for their crimes.
6. Israel is successfully getting civilians out of the area. This will reduce civilian losses while enabling us to continue to focus on our core objectives. We aren't going to restart this process again -- and let Hamas build on what they've learned about our methods. It is time to bring this to a close.

Hamas crossed a line.

Israelis agree, the ceasefire will come when Hamas has no choice but to cease fire -- forever.