TV Helper

People keep asking: what other options did Israel have after October 7th? There are many possible answers, which were clear from the beginning: 1. First, stop and think. Even for just a few days. Don't react *exactly* as always, and exactly as Hamas expected and wanted. Don't give them what they want. It's Gaza. Hamas is not leaving. A response can wait a few days. 2. Take a moment to mourn, grieve, sit shiva together (after securing the border, of course). 3. Make the hostages the #1 priority and get them back *whatever* it takes. A victory for Hamas? Of course. But life is more important. 4. Use that pause to focus the world's attention—for more than one day—on what Hamas did. Shame and isolate them the way ISIS was shamed and isolated. 5. Make it clear that in whatever war or campaign comes next, protecting civilians will be a priority, and *act* that way. (Don't block all aid, use only precision weapons, don't bomb civilian infrastructure, warn the soldiers that any shenanigans will be punished, etc.) 6. Separate the Palestinian people from Hamas's leadership by reiterating a commitment to a real two-state solution (yes, I know (!) that Netanyahu and this government would never do that. I am simply stating what would have been the right thing to do). 7. Go after Hamas methodically, surgically, financially, with much of the world behind us. 8. Clamp down on the Jewish goons in the West Bank. Make it clear that you will not allow them to open another front. Arrest as many as necessary. 9. Explain to the Israeli public, again and again, exactly why you are doing all this. Why there is great strength in restraint. That the goal is to prevent this from ever happening again. But that this will take heart and brains, and not just muscle. 10. Speak softly. No need to make big empty threats when you have so much power. This would have been a start. One can wish. And to all those, especially non-Israelis, who will call me "naive," are you happy so far with the results of your "only way?" Come on.