John Mearsheimer

The other thing that they're trying to do is get Hamas.

They want to destroy Hamas.

And the belief there is that if they destroy Hamas, they've solved the problem.

But as many Israelis know, including people on the hard right, even if you destroy Hamas,

They are going to be replaced by another group, another resistance group, and that resistance group will employ terror.

Osama bin Laden made it clear that this was one of the principal reasons for attacking the United States, right?

No, I think if you look at how we reacted to 9-11...

And how the Israelis are reacting to what happened on October 7th, there's quite a bit of similarity in that both sides, the Israeli side and the American side, are enraged, right?

And they lash out and they go on a rampage.

And the end result is not good.

Well, I don't think in either case you're going to turn the other cheek.

From my offensive realist perspective or my realist perspective, that's what you should do, right?

Okay.

My view is states are rational actors.

They should be cunning, right?

They should think about the strategic situation they're in and choose the appropriate response.

And what happens, and this is why my theory is not always correct, is that sometimes states are not rational and they misbehave, right?

I would argue in the Israeli case that it would have been good after October 7th, or starting on October 7th, if the United States had

tried to hold the Israelis back and countenanced a more moderate response, to take some time just to think about how to deal with this problem instead of lashing out.

I think