Dean Barnett:

As this struggle rages on, I’m often reminded of historian Paul Johnson’s description of European Jews during Hitler’s ascendancy. For millennia, Jews had been persecuted, but they had always found a way to placate their persecutors and survive. Maybe they had to make tributes or confine themselves to shtetls or undergo conversions, but European Jewry had never faced a truly existential threat until Hitler.

When Hitler came along, collectively the European Jews could not recognize the fact that here was an antagonist who could not be bargained with. He did not want their money or their professed loyalty; he wanted them dead. Period.

It seems the American and Israeli power-structures find themselves in a similar position now. As murderous and cruel as the Soviet Union was, the Soviets operated out of a playbook that we could understand. And as dangerous as Assad, Arafat and Nasser were, their goals were to some extent rational enough that Israel felt she could understand them.

Now we both have an adversary for whom negotiations are a ruse, a hudna geared to giving them time to mount the next attack. They cannot be placated by our land or our wealth, or even our kindest intentions. They want us dead. They are willing to sacrifice themselves to achieve that goal.

There is only one way to deal with such an enemy. It will be neither pretty nor easy.