Thomas Small

So a reminder to everyone listening that this story is really old.

It's just the latest chapter in a really old story.

Exactly.

And now I also want to make it clear that even though there is a kind of exhausted realism going on in the region, which may be more inclined to see Israel's security actions as a rational response to certain things and no longer just demonize Israel.

That can be true while at the same time, people are extremely angry with Israel on other fronts, the ongoing problem in the West Bank, particularly Area C, but not only Area C, the quote unquote settler terrorism problem, which is a real problem, which is supported by the right wing

people who are in power in Israel because they are pursuing a policy which slowly but surely will annex Area C, i.e.

the majority of the West Bank.

That is true.

You know, people know this is happening.

They may be less inclined than they were before to see Jews and Israelis and whatever as monsters or as superhuman demons.

They might be more on the ground than they used to be, but they can still be really annoyed that in Israel itself, its politics

as it becomes increasingly right wing, largely, but not wholly in response to the 7th of October attacks, which were obviously horrible.

They can see that Israel itself is becoming more ideologically committed, often not very realistic, not pragmatic.

What does Israel really think it's gonna achieve?

Does it really think it's going to wish away all of those millions and millions of Arab Palestinians who live in the West Bank and even in Gaza?

I don't think they're going to be able to achieve that.

But at the moment, there seems to be no realist policy kind of development going on in Israel, like an actual idea of what policy are we working to achieve here?

How are we going to create a political solution alongside this military activity that we're ferociously prosecuting?

Politics, I mean, war is politics by other means, as the man once said, you know, and if you have no political solution in mind, then you're just fighting.

Like there's no end.