Israel should engage the US peace proposal

Making Saudi Arabia part of a Gaza solution is a massive strategic breakthrough

Israel is absolutely right to insist on removing the barbaric Hamas — an enemy of the Palestinians no less than of Israel — from power in Gaza. The threat its regime poses would not be acceptable to anyone — not anyone — on the planet, if they were the ones affected. But the more responsible politicians and generals in Israel also know there is more than one way to achieve this, that endless war has disadvantages, and that the Jewish way is to seek wisdom and not just power.

That does not apply to Benjamin Netanyahu, whose calamitous time in office is now reaching its apogee. After presiding over the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7, the PM is now feverishly rejecting a plan cooked up by the Biden Administration with the help of Arab and European countries that would achieve Israel’s twin aims of removing Hamas from power and saving the Israeli hostages.

There are real reasons to believe that the efforts are significant — but you would never know it reading the mainstream media.