Once again, Israel is at a crossroads in the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023. The conflict is currently stalemated, with the remnants of the Hamas terrorists who led the assault on southern Israeli communities 22 months ago still in control of about 25% of the Gaza Strip. They are also still holding hostage what is believed to be some 20 live kidnapping victims and the bodies of 30 others.

What’s worse, they’ve orchestrated a food shortage in Gaza and succeeded in getting the international press and much of the international community to buy into the blood libels they’ve circulated about the Jewish state committing genocide and intentionally starving children. With most of the world concentrating on demonizing Israel, Hamas has felt no pressure to negotiate a ceasefire/hostage-release deal that both Washington and Jerusalem thought was likely last month.

As a result, what’s left of Hamas is content to let Palestinians in Gaza go on suffering the privations made inevitable by the war they started for as long as necessary. And the terrorists think all they need to do is hang on and wait for the West to hand them a reward in the form of a state they will only use to continue their century-old war on the Jewish presence in Israel.