Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Israel Attacks Qatar, Targets Hamas Leaders
Israel took the irresponsible step yesterday of trying to kill some of the leaders of Hamas who live in Qatar and with whom the Netanyahu government must negotiate to get any hostages (remember them?) back home. The Hamas leaders had gathered to discuss a US proposal to free those hostages and end the war. This attack not only failed to kill them intended targets, but it also was an act of war against the nation where the peace talks had been taking place. This more or less ends serious diplomacy for now, and the Israeli government has lost any claim to be interested in peace.
This journal holds no brief for Hamas and has gone on record as saying that, without its overthrow, the Palestinians in Gaza have no hope of living anything like a normal life. For that matter, the Israelis have no hope of peace so long as the Netanyahu government is in power. Additionally, this journal is skeptical of Qatari ambitions to be a Swiss-style spot for negotiations in the region. There is no doubt that it has done good work as facilitator as the Swiss government is so often, but one is unsure if that is genuine or a ruse to avoid attack by others.
One must also point out that this may be the first time that one American ally has attacked another (the Falklands War might count if Argentina were considered an ally, but it really was not). The US alliance with Israel is decades old and world famous. Less well-publicized is the fact that Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region. Over the last few years, the US Army's CENTCOM has largely shifted forces and materiel out of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia to Al-Udeid in Qatar. It can house up to 10,000 troops, a whole division.
Assassination of political leaders has largely been avoided in warfare over the centuries because the people who would order such a killing are the same ones the other side would target. In addition, it is hard to negotiate with the dead.
Yet, the leaders targeted are not dead, according to Hamas. Five minor officials are acknowledged as dying in the bombing, but the top terrorists are alive. This is unlikely to make them more flexible in their approach to future negotiations. Indeed, one would be surprised if they were in a mood to talk for the next month or two. After all, there is nothing to discuss.
For their part, the Hamas leadership wants the war in Gaza to end, for the Israelis to leave and for themselves to return to running the enclave. The first two are not about to happen so the third desire is moot. This journal got it wrong at the beginning of the war in thinking the Israeli government would not be foolish enough to try to occupy Gaza, but stupid is as stupid does. The word "genocide" does fit, but not in the Final Solution sense. What the Israelis are doing is just what the US did to the indigenous nations of North America. The difference is that there is no land to create Palestinian reservations. The Israeli dream of them being resettled in other Arab nations is just a dream.
Meanwhile, the Israeli war aims of getting the hostages back and destroying Hamas are still far off. Yet, Mr. Netanyahu has his own interests in the war. So long as the IDF is shooting at Palestinians, he is safe from the legal prosecution that should put him behind bars for lining his own pockets. Can the war go on until he dies of old age? It is up to him, so yes is the answer.
Because of that, this journal fears for the lives of the hostages. "The prospect of their return now faces greater uncertainty than ever, with one thing absolutely certain -- their time is running out," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. Between the end of food distribution in the area and the blowing up of diplomacy, a lot of sand has been removed from their hourglass.
The people for whom this war was allegedly launched have been condemned to death by their own government in a cynical abuse of power.
The International Criminal Court should not try Mr. Netanyahu and his cronies. The trial should be in Jerusalem and the hostage families should be the jurors.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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