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Today, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, when asked about a cease-fire in the conflict in Gaza, said: ““That will not happen. The Bible says that there is a time for peace and a time for war. This is a time for war.”

It is not war; it is slaughter.

There really is no comparison between the military arsenals of Israel and Hamas. The chart below is from 2009, but the military balance now is even more heavily weighted toward Israel.

In addition, Israel has the Iron Dome air defense system to defend itself against rocket attacks. Hamas has no similar defense.

The overwhelming military superiority of Israel allows it to conduct its operations at arms-length. Nonetheless, Israel has mounted a ground invasion of Gaza which will require even more attacks from the air to protect Israeli soldiers on the ground. The Palestinians have no place to go to avoid these attacks–Egypt has kept the southern crossing closed and the Israeli army and navy keeps the other possible exits closed.

Today, the asymmetry was obvious as the Israelis bombed the Jabaliya refugee camp to kill Ibrahim Biari, a Hamas commander who the Israelis called one of the ringleaders to the 7 October attack.

Jabaliya Refugee Camp after the Bombing

We do not know how many innocents were killed by the air strike. The calculation made by Israel that the death of one commander justified the deaths of these innocents is depraved. I am certain that Israel takes every necessary step to avoid civilian deaths, but Hamas is not using civilians as shields. The Gaza Strip has a population of over 2 million people and spans only 140 square miles. There is probably no way to conduct large-scale aerial attacks against Hamas without jeopardizing civilian lives.

Israel unquestionably has the right of self-defense but the ground invasion does not offer any defense unless the Gaza Strip is depopulated. Depopulation may be an unstated objective of the Netanyahu government because if any Palestinians remain in Gaza, they will be implacably opposed to the state of Israel after this conflict. The Netanyahu government is simply sowing the seeds of another war.

The international community should demand an immediate cease-fire. The UN General Assembly approved such a resolution on 27 October:

“The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the first United Nations response to the war.

“The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States. It would have unequivocally condemned the Oct. 7 ‘terrorist attacks’ by Hamas and demanded the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas, which is not mentioned in the Arab-drafted resolution.”

But the General Assembly does not have the authority to order a cease-fire, only the UN Security Council can compel action on sovereign signatories. The Russian Federation introduced a cease-fire resolution which ” would have strongly condemned all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.  By its further terms, it would also have called for the secure release of all hostages and unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment.” Of the five members of the Security Council with the power of veto, only Russia and China voted for the resolution. The US, France, and Great Britain voted against the resolution.

The United States should itself introduce another resolution to the Security Council calling for an immediate cease-fire–not some bootless “humanitarian pause”. And the US should announce that it would not offer Israel any further assistance except for defensive weaponry such as missiles for the Iron Dome until hostilities have subsided. That decision would have enormous implications for US-Israeli relations, but the US should not be an accomplice to violence against civilians.

The proposed action is unquestionably drastic and unfortunate. Israel has been a good ally of the US, but the Netanyahu government has been pursuing policies that do not serve US interests. Indeed, the continued slaughter of civilians will only force Hezbollah in Lebanon to join the battle, likely bringing Iran into the conflict. The last thing we would want is for an Israeli attack on Iran–long an objective of the Netanyahu government–because that escalation would be very difficult to control.