Israel will “destroy” Hamas. No matter how many they manage to kill. Israel went into Lebanon to destroy the PLO 40 yrs ago. They failed at that, but they did succeed in creating Hezbollah. I think we’re waiting to see what they’ve created in Gaza.

So what is the endgame? Schumer’s question is a reasonable one. Hamas is no peace partner, but then, neither is Netanyahu. He’s been accused of giving material support to Hamas, in one of those cynical strategies of support for division - he likes the WB and Gaza divided. I’ve never seen him deny that accusation.

Netanyahu is a lifelong politician, with incentives now to keep himself in power, which means keeping the country on crisis footing. Once that ends, the retribution for his own Oct 7 failure comes under the spotlight, along with his pre-existing legal problems. He’s the wrong guy to lead his country to any kind of endgame.

I agree that step 1 in ending this catastrophe - very much for Israel too - is probably ushering Bibi out of power. Better to have a leader without personal incentives to keep the carnage going.
[Post edited by hoolstoptheheels at 03/14/2024 3:26PM]