2023 Hamas' brutal attack could have been avoided.

For how many more decades will Israel hold to this baseless, perilous, and counterproductive notion before it realizes the Palestinians are vastly ordinary people who want to live a normal life, just like any Israeli? They should remember that hopelessness breeds despair, and despair breeds anger and resentment, which in turn leaves the Palestinian people with feeling no choice but to resort to violence and risk death rather than live a life of endless despair.

This reminds me of the absurd position of those Republicans who oppose gun control in the United States in the aftermath of mass shootings. After such an occurrence, they settle for sending prayers and condolences to the bereaved families, insisting that 'this is not the time' to talk about significant gun control laws, as if their prayers and condolences would stop the next mass shooting. But this obviously was never the case, as mass shootings continue, claiming the lives of more than 50,000 Americans each year, and no effective gun control has been enacted. So is the case with any new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, or Israel and the Palestinians. No ceasefire or condemnations will stop the conflict between the two sides. Those who are seeking peace, stability, security, and prosperity in the Middle East should remember that if Israeli-Saudi normalization is established and it does not incorporate a clear path for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is nothing but a recipe for increasing regional violence and destabilization far beyond what we have seen thus far.

It is time for the Biden administration, which has been paying merely lip service to the two-state solution like all of its predecessors, to act on its formal position and insist that it's time for Israel to take this conflict with the Palestinians seriously. The Biden administration must not assume for a moment that another ceasefire, regardless of its scope, will provide a lasting solution. Moreover, the Saudis must make it publicly clear that there will be no normalization of relations with Israel unless a clear path is established that would lead to a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saying so publicly will allay the Palestinians' concerns that they will not be left behind to fend for themselves, while sending a clear message to the Israeli public that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be part and parcel of any agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, consistent with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. In the final analysis, it is only when the Israeli public demands en masse a new peace initiative will any Israeli government act in earnest toward that end.

Indeed, it is not enough for the Israelis in times of crisis to unite. They must now unite to demand a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They must now pour into the streets by the hundreds of thousands, akin to their protests against Netanyahu's sinister effort to reform the judiciary, and remain relentless until their government agrees to enter into credible negotiations with the Palestinians. Failing to do so is to simply be waiting, once again, for the next horrifying conflagration that may even be more severe than this attack, and cause incalculable losses of life that no Israeli could imagine in their wildest nightmare.

Once the horrifying war has come to an end, and some sort of ceasefire takes place, tragically after thousands have been killed on both sides, a commission of inquiry should be set up to investigate how the Netanyahu government was caught off-guard. There is no doubt that this government has taken the relatively passive resistance of the Palestinians for granted, and never contemplated that they would ever be in a position to wage such an unprecedented assault. Those who are responsible in the government will have to be held accountable and pay the price.

Furthermore, the opposition leaders Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Lieberman, and Merav Michaeli, should heed Netanyahu's call for a unity government on the condition that once the war ends, that he should resign and new elections be held.

Short of that, the Israeli public must demand the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Instead of attending to Israel's national security needs, he has been busy plotting to severely undermine the judiciary and sacrifice the national interest only to save his own skin. He has betrayed the oath of his office, and must now vacate it to restore dignity and confidence to the title that he undeservedly carries.