Armchair generals are in great abundance these days. Some of them are retired, and they become talking heads on the networks. Others are just ordinary citizens who think they know better than those actually serving in the foxholes.

Israel is now under enormous international pressure due to the claims of starving Palestinian Arabs in Gaza. The truth is not entirely clear, but sometimes the truth is irrelevant when the cauldron of misinformation boils over.

There is no doubt that the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, was shocked and exacerbated by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks from Gaza which not only horrified much of the civilized world but totally shocked the State of Israel. There is no question that Israel’s security structure failed. Politicians such as Israel’s Prime Minister underrated the avowed intention of Hamas, and its allies, to destroy the Jewish state.

Israel, after October 7th, was determined not only to eliminate Hamas, but also to have its hostages returned unharmed. Those hostages were seized in violation of international law. Festival attendees were murdered, raped, and both physically and mentally degraded.

There were those who from October 7th forward were eager to cast Israel as a pariah that somehow caused its own near destruction. In the two years since the war began, positive public sentiments directed to the Israel State have turned by 180 degrees. Israel now finds itself not only attacked in every form but is even accused of genocide. More importantly, the United Nations and Western nations seek to punish Israel for defending itself by creating a Palestinian state. Al Gore reputedly said that the creation of a Palestinian state would be a knife in the gut of Israel. Whether Gore actually said that is not known, but he along with many others have spoken against the creation of another terrorist regime in the Middle East.

The answer of Israel’s Prime Minister to the avalanche of essentially unfair criticism against his county is to cite the actions of the allies in World War II. Unfortunately, Israel is not the United States in World War II. The United States, during that conflict, was the unsurpassed powerhouse. Our nation was more powerful, had a greater production capacity, and clearly was able to overwhelm the combination of Germany and Japan. In addition, we eventually had Russia on our side, which sacrificed millions to defeat the Axis powers. When the United States carpet-bombed Germany, specifically targeting civilians, and twice nuked Japan, there was no constituency to complain.

Israel, on the other hand, is one of the tiniest nations on the globe, with a population of 6.5 million Jews, and a total population of 10 million, 1/60th the size of Iran.

As we note the observance of the 9th of Av, we recall all the horrors that have befallen the Jewish people. One of the most dramatic defeats suffered by the Israelite nation was as a result of the Bar Kochba Rebellion 1,900 years ago. Bar Kochba had been hailed by the great Rabbi Akiba as a messiah. This was only 125 years after the death of Jesus. Some of the gospels had not even been written as of the time of the Bar Kochba Revolution. It was the fourth Jewish rebellion against Rome.

The Jews lost against the overwhelming and titanic power of the Roman State and almost 600,000 Jews died in the process. Another 300,00 to 400,000 died as a result of starvation. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem, sowed the fields with salt, expelled the Jews, and renamed the land Palaestina. Almost 1 million Jews died as a result of the failed rebellion against the Roman Empire.

If Prime Minister Netanyahu thinks that he is going to destroy the power of Hamas the way the United States won World War II, he had better think again. It appears clear that after Israel effectively conquered Gaza, even though there were plenty of remnants of Hamas left, it should have paused the fighting, made sure that humanitarian issues were addressed, and used the intellect of the Mossad to find the hostages and kill their captors. Instead, the Israel government utilized the resources at its disposal to attempt to force Hamas into submission. The consequence of that has been allegations of starvation and deprivation of the people living in Gaza, notwithstanding that many of those claims are totally false.

Perception is often times reality. It matters not that Hamas is using fake images of children who suffer from other diseases to advance their propaganda war. What matters is what people believe. Right now, public perception is that Israel is not the victim but rather is the aggressor.

If Israel is punished by the creation of another terrorist enterprise in the Middle East, it will wind up having Hamas or a similar organization on the West Bank of the Jordan River, where Israel would only be 4 miles wide at its most narrow. The enemies of the Jewish State are craving for Israel to be carved up the way it has been since the end of World War I.

By Treaty the Jewish people were promised, after World War I, not only its historical national homeland of Israel, but what now is called the West Bank, Jordan, and Gaza. All of that was supposed to be Israel. Within two years of that treaty being signed and endorsed by the League of Nations, Winston Churchill, on behalf of the British, gave away Jordan to the Hashemite Arabs. Thereafter, the UN tried to carve up the country by creating another Palestinian state on the West Bank of the Jordan River. It is important to keep in mind that Jordan, ruled by a minority tribe, is overwhelmingly comprised of Palestinian Arabs. Jordan is the Palestinian Nation.

In 1948, when every Arab neighbor of Israel attacked and invaded, Israel was denied weapons by the West and the United States specifically embargoed those weapons which Israel needed to defend itself. That resulted in an armistice and indefensible borders for Israel. It was those inadequate borders that Israel protected in 1967 when it liberated the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Giving back those areas, as the world will demand, should it create another Palestinian state, is a death sentence for Israel. Everyone knows that, especially Israel’s enemies.

Israel’s options are limited but clear. The nation needs to tamp down use of the military in Gaza, utilizing it only when there are specific targets that need to be taken out, make sure that the people in Gaza are fed and cared for, and utilize its intelligence services to find and free its hostages. Until the hostages are released, there can be no formal end to the war and no permanent peace in Gaza. Perhaps it is a question of nuisance but, clearly, Israel has lost the propaganda war because they are dealing with a suicidal regime that not only wants to die, but also wants its people killed. This strategy has worked well for Hamas, and they will not abandon it voluntarily.

Clifford A. Rieders is a board-certified trial advocate in Williamsport.