Writing at National Interest, Robert D. Kaplan looks at the changes in Israeli military policy following the Oct. 7 terror attacks. Here are two key quotes:
Up until October 7, Israel had arguably an extreme and, therefore, admirable view on protecting civilian lives and doing everything in its power to get back hostages and prisoners of war. Even when targeting the most ruthless terrorist leaders, it would sometimes use the smallest bombs possible to avert civilian collateral damage and would trade many hundreds of Palestinian terrorists in its jails in return for just one Israeli hostage.
By its (new) willingness to incur significant collateral damage in terms of civilian lives, Israel has ripped away the greatest strategic asset that Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the radical terrorists in the West Bank have: the ability to hide behind women, children, and the elderly. All of these terrorists are suddenly naked without the protection of human shields. Netanyahu’s very bloody-mindedness in this regard has shown how Iran and its proxies have miscalculated.
Basically, Israel has given up trying for a good opinion in the world’s eyes. Pre-Oct. 7 they made that effort and the world hated them regardless.
Post-Oct. 7, they’re going to keep killing until the jihadi push-back stops. It is a rational but not especially humane policy.
The U.S. has followed this same policy in several instances noted in the article. I’d add that is exactly what FDR’s “unconditional surrender” policy meant in World War II.
