Who’s in Charge of the IDF?

Overall, Israel, like all countries, has committed some crimes and many mistakes. But it has offered more opportunities to the Palestinians than the Palestinian leaders have. And it has proven less tyrannical than any of its Arab neighbors would be if they’d had the same military might and were subjected to the same 75 years of constant existential... See more

This awful past has resonated deeply with me for months as I have watched the unfolding of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the outrageous toll that it has taken on civilians on both sides—first against Israelis, and then in vastly larger numbers against Palestinians. Dower argues, I believe convincingly, that one only arrives at a state o... See more

Although Israeli soldiers make mistakes and overreact like soldiers in every army, at least there is an ethical code against which their actions can be judged. Palestinian terrorists have no similar constraints. Their orders are to kill and maim as many innocent civilians as possible, and they do so with zeal and with a promise of a heavenly bounty

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