On Gaza, All Of Hinderaker’s Views Suffer From Myopia…

Tonight, he thinks the playbook for Israel should be the one the US used against Japan at the end of WWII. That a crushing of the will of Hamas — regardless of human cost — is the only answer.

This is the worst sort of flawed analogy.

Japan and the US were not even remotely close neighbors, at war, and in open hostilities, for nearly 2,300 years. At some level (but again, an imperfect analogy), these hostilities are more like tribal battles in Africa, or the Soviets attempt to take Afganistan.

The Soviets tried for 25 years, with massive military might — and staggering casualties… but didn’t close it out. The Afghani people just retreated into desert caves — to wait the Soviets out. It worked.

Why?

Because the people of Afghanistan have essentially been at war for 2,000 years — it is deeply ingrained, as a way of life. Essentially forever.

So too — a smallish portion of the Palestinians — at least, those who now identify with Hamas.

John — wake up. This cannot be won — even with a nuke. There is no lasting peace solution that doesn’t involve a two state paradigm.

And all the while, newly born babies and innocent elderly… are dying in the hospital in Gaza — the central one, to which the IDF has intentionally cut power. While perhaps a handful of those in the hospital are Hamas aligned… the only thing the Israeli tactic of scorching civilian babies ensures… is that Palestinians “on the fence” will increasingly align with Hamas.

Indeed one of the central lessons taught by our loss in Vietnam… was that local on the ground “hearts and minds” matter… and matter immensely, in war.

In that respect, while Israel has put out video tonight, of IDF capturing Hamas’ parliament building — it is, minute by minute, losing “the independent hearts and minds” of those who’ve lived there — for going on 2,500 years — right next to the 1948-created state of Israel.

This is undoubtedly an awful situation, but even Hinderaker now admits… much of what we’ve done since 1948 has led to this moment.

So do grow up, John. It is a deeply complicated situation. Spare us the cliches. Out.