On bin Laden and Israel

An audio tape from Osama bin Laden released today calls for jihad against Israel, reports the NYT.

Meanwhile, Israel says it’s killed several hundred Hamas militants, but it’s not expecting to crush the organization anytime soon. Israeli military officials estimate there to be around 15,000 fighters loyal to the group.

My question is, if Israel’s not in Gaza to destroy Hamas, and it hasn’t succeeded in rooting out and destroying the group’s enormous rocket arsenal, what is it doing there at all? Seems like the only thing the IDF has accomplished so far is killing UN relief workers and standing in the way of humanitarian aid.

What to do (if anything) with Israel-Palestine?

Source: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/images/mideast/jan-june09/0101_smokegaza.jpg

Andrew Sullivan offers some particularly poignant thoughts on the current spate of violence between Hamas and Israel.

I’m not completely sure what to think about these new developments. Andrew’s post suggests that the U.S. stay as far away as possible from them. Tactically, I think that makes sense. But strategically, there’s probably little to be gained by ignoring the problem. Extremism will continue to flourish. Israeli forces will continue pounding the Palestinians with overwhelming force. And the U.S. will take the blame for not attempting to stem the bloodshed—or worse, will be accused of turning a blind eye to the actions of what many see as its proxy in the Middle East.

So it looks like detachment from the issue isn’t really a long-term option. If involvement is necessary, then the next task is to determine what shape that involvement should take. So far, the U.S. has been fairly open in its support for Israel. That, in turn, has limited the White House’s legitimacy as an honest broker for peace. Logically, it follows that success probably requires a more even-handed approach.

The problem is that so far, nobody’s really been interested in even-handedness.