Sending Israeli forces into Rafah has the potential to do a great deal of harm to U.S.-Israel relations.
At the time of writing, the cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas are boiling in a cauldron of disinformation. After CIA Director William Burns flew to Doha, Qatar, over the weekend in a last-minute stop to prod the two sides to keep talking, Hamas announced that it accepted a cease-fire proposal presented to the group earlier in the week. Israel responded immediately, saying that the proposal Hamas agreed to was a significant watering down of what Israel could tolerate.
It’s hard to overstate just how dangerous this entire situation is. Rafah, the Gaza border city near Egypt, is now host to more than half of Gaza’s 2.4 million people. Most of them are crowded into tents, makeshift shelters and whatever apartments are left. The vast majority of the humanitarian aid shipped into Gaza also comes through the crossing point at Rafah. Hamas is fully ensconced in the city, a consequence in large part of the terrorist group having months to prepare its defenses.
Netanyahu understands those concerns — he’s been hearing a variation of them for weeks, if not months. Yet at it stands, the urgency of moving into Rafah seems to outweigh whatever concerns Netanyahu might have about how the U.S. would react.
And yet the politics of the decision aside, we should be under no illusions about how momentous an assault on Rafah would be.Editorial: Northwestern deserves credit for ending an encampment without resorting to force
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