Mideast expert: Gaza Cease-Fire Won’t Work
“In the past, I might have favored a cease-fire with Hamas,” reflects Dennis Ross at The New York Times, but today it’s clear “that peace is not going to be possible” if the group remains in control of Gaza. Its “ability to threaten Israel — and subject Gazan civilians to ever more rounds of violence — must end.” Israelis believe the survival of their country is at stake; Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas aim “to make Israel unlivable.” Even Arab officials privately say Hamas must be destroyed. And while a “ground campaign would come at an extremely high cost,” defeating Hamas can’t be done with air strikes alone. “There are no easy solutions,” but an “outcome that leaves Hamas in control will doom” Gaza and much of the Middle East.
Culture critic: Don’t Condescend to Palestinians
Leftists frame Hamas’ “killing of 1,400 Israelis and abduction of 222 more as ‘decolonization,’ believing they’re championing the cause of oppressed Palestinians. In reality, these leftists are condescending to them,” John McWhorter contends at The Free Press. “The argument that terrorism is an understandable or justifiable reaction to an insidious root cause is nothing new.” Indeed, “we see something similar when progressives excuse criminal behavior perpetrated by black Americans.” But “the ‘root cause’ reasoning we learn in sociology class” should have limits. “Barbarism is not progress.” Few of those “who celebrate savagery in theory would do so when faced with its reality,” and “I’m not sure that those who cheer for Hamas are living in gray zones or see Palestinians as complex human beings.”
Foreign desk: As DC Naps, WWIII Looms
China is threatening Taiwan and Russia’s in the second year of its war with Ukraine, yet “Washington is still failing to grasp the nature of the global conflagration we are in,” thunder Mark Toth & Jonathan Sweet at The Hill. “It’s been ‘game on’ for some time,” yet “we find ourselves exposed in the Mediterranean and Middle East.” “Ominously, a perfect storm is brewing in the Middle East” and “time is running out for Washington to confront the reality we now find ourselves in.” “Washington must assume a war footing, as Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran already have” — and the US “must be ready if war finds us again.” “No one will be safe if Washington keeps showing up late to World War III.”
Eye on ’24: Why I Dumped Trump for Haley
“I supported Donald Trump twice,” remarks Andrew Stein at The Wall Street Journal, “but I now think the country would be best served” by Nikki Haley. She’s “likely to have a broader appeal than Mr. Trump for independents and suburbanites, especially women.” Also, if Trump’s “found guilty of some of the charges against him, voters would have to choose between an old felon and an old fool.” Haley “cut South Carolina’s taxes while governor,” has been “a strong supporter of Israel” and “pointed out that national bans on abortion are counterproductive and unlikely to pass.” She’s also “one of the few candidates with real foreign-policy experience.” That’s why “Republicans need to consolidate” around Haley, a “credible nominee who can take on any Democrat.”
Libertarian: Making HS Graduation Meaningless
“Last week, the Oregon Department of Education unanimously voted to remove a requirement for Oregon high schoolers to demonstrate basic mastery in reading, writing, and mathematics in order to graduate” — a “clearly irresponsible” move, argues Reason’s Emma Camp. Officials claimed “higher rates of students of color, students learning English as a second language and students with disabilities ended up having to take intensive senior-year writing and math classes,” which denied them “the opportunity to take an elective.” But Camp points out that “valuing electives over basic skills seems like a strange set of priorities.” “By removing an objective measure of student achievement . . . high school graduation in Oregon risks becoming functionally meaningless as a measure of educational attainment.”
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board