In 1933 the Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei gained power via an election. In 2006 Hamas gained power via an election. Both went on to quickly prove that they are utterly incompatible with humanity. To call either “legitimate authority” is sort of irrelevant in view of the damage wrought then and being inflicted today.

Nations and states tried in the 1930s to appease and work with Nazi-Germany. Nations and states tried the entire 21st century to appease and work with Hamas-Palestine. The main difference is that Nazi-Germany had significantly more man- and firepower, so the scale of the damage wrought is on a quite different level; though the lesson remains the same: appeasement is not really a recipe for success.

I define stupidity as: attempting identical actions and expecting different outcomes. While one can admire Israel’s restraint and humanity, by the definition above Israel is quite stupid; so is Hamas. After decades of seeing terrorism and aggression fail to achieve anything of significance, it might be a good idea to rethink the strategy.

Isn’t it about time the world made it clear that denying Israel’s right to exists is not a viable option? Isn’t it time to reevaluate whether the IDF’s reticence to inflict civilian harm isn’t causing much more and prolonged suffering?

One thing is abundantly clear: continuing with the status quo will simply cause more suffering and more victims and more bitterness, while never leading to a resolution.