This post mentions two perspectives that are not from our camp. The first is from Reuven Kaminer, an Israeli originally from the U.S. who is a personal friend of our own venerable former president, Rabbi Si Dresner. He emails commentaries from his Jerusalem home with views that can probably be best described as from the anti-Zionist radical left. This is his atypically brief note today:
Do not look now but it appears that while Hamas can still mount credible threats, Israel is at the end of its wits. The ground attack option up to and including the conquering of the whole Gaza Strip seems a way to kill hundreds of Israeli soldiers without any tangible advantage. Bibi has no answer. The country is voting for normalcy but Israel is still in the woods. Is this what a victory looks like….?
At the same time, as Hamas habitually boasts of its “victory,” here’s what it looks like on the ground in Gaza: Over 1800 dead, several thousand injured, with $6 billion in economic losses; there’s a very good summing up in this NY Times editorial: Making the Gaza Cease-Fire Last.
In the meantime, Israel’s moral standing in the world, including among a substantial number of people who may identify only minimally as Jews, has suffered a new body blow. This account of an anti-Israel demonstration in New York, is by Ben Cohen, a journalist and pro-Israel activist who is also not of our camp (he’s centrist to moderately right on Israel):
Although Israel’s government has given the demonstrators described by Cohen a fresh reason to oppose the country, the vehemence and one-sided nature of their attacks are disturbing for those of us who care deeply about Israel’s well-being.
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