The Israeli belief in a military solution assumes that sufficient pressure will persuade Palestinians to give up their demand for freedom. Palestinian history demonstrates the opposite. The harder Palestinians are struck, the stronger that demand becomes. Military force can weaken an organization, kill leaders, destroy weapons, or delay a political process. It cannot eliminate the reason Palestinians resist Israeli domination.<\/p>\n
A Palestinian child growing up under bombardment, military rule, displacement, checkpoints, settlement expansion, land confiscation, or the destruction of family life does not conclude that freedom is unnecessary. That child learns that freedom is more urgent.<\/p>\n
IDF soldiers conduct a manhunt for a terrorist who shot Israeli hikers in the West Bank, July 24, 2026. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)<\/p>\n
Israel may defeat Palestinian armed groups in particular battles. It cannot bomb a national aspiration out of existence.<\/p>\n
Israel has the right and duty to defend its citizens. No state can accept attacks on its communities, the murder of civilians, hostage-taking, or rockets aimed at its population. But self-defense is not a political strategy. Military force may stop an immediate attack. It cannot answer the question that returns when the shooting ends: What future will Palestinians have?<\/p>\n
Israel has repeatedly demonstrated overwhelming military superiority, yet it remains deeply insecure. The problem is not that Israel has used too little force. It is that force has been asked to produce permanent security without Palestinian freedom. It cannot.<\/p>\n
Israel will never have genuine security while millions of Palestinians live without sovereignty<\/a>, political rights, control over their future, or hope of independence. Permanent domination produces recurring rebellion and recurring repression, not peace.<\/p>\n Destructive beliefs in military liberation<\/p>\n The Palestinian belief in military liberation has been no less destructive.<\/p>\n Armed movements that promised to liberate Palestine through violence have not brought Palestinians closer to freedom. They have brought catastrophic death and destruction. They promised dignity but delivered devastated cities, shattered families, mass displacement, hunger, poverty, and lost generations. They claimed sacrifice would produce liberation, but ordinary Palestinians paid almost the entire price.<\/p>\n The so-called resistance did not protect Gaza. It turned Gaza into a battlefield on which Palestinians suffered unimaginable losses. It did not end the occupation. It strengthened the Israeli Right, weakened the Israeli peace camp, intensified Israeli fear, and empowered those who seek annexation and permanent control.<\/p>\n The deliberate killing of Israeli civilians is not liberation. Taking civilians hostage is not liberation. Launching an attack without the ability to protect one\u2019s own population from the foreseeable consequences is not responsible leadership.<\/p>\n Palestinians have the right to struggle for freedom. But not every form of struggle is moral, wise, or effective. A strategy must be judged by what it produces.<\/p>\n Has armed resistance created a Palestinian state? Ended settlement expansion? Secured Jerusalem? Built democratic institutions, functioning hospitals, good schools, employment, or freedom of movement? The answer is no.<\/p>\n Hamas\u2019s old-new leader Khalil al-Hayya\u2019s recent speech following his selection as head of the Hamas Political Bureau should therefore alarm every Palestinian who cares about the national future. Hayya made clear that Hamas intends to continue along the same path of jihad, armed struggle, and \u201cresistance.\u201d He presented the October 7 attack not as a catastrophic error requiring honest examination but as a glorious stage in a historic struggle.<\/p>\n He expressed no meaningful regret for the destruction of Gaza and accepted no responsibility for the consequences of Hamas\u2019s decisions. Instead, he repeated a maximalist vision of liberating all of Palestine, referring to Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Safed, Nazareth, the Galilee, The Triangle, and the Negev as Palestinian land that would ultimately be liberated.<\/p>\n