Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win
The hostage situation is perhaps the single most important factor influencing the decisions now being made by both Hamas and Israel. Not surprisingly, many observers have used the word “dilemma” to describe the choices that have confronted Israel since the massacre. The terms of this dilemma are stark. On the one horn of this dilemma, Israel can accept Hamas’ demands to save the lives of the hostages. (These terms would be a magnitude greater than those agreed by Israel in 2011 for the release of a single soldier, Gilad Shalit.)
On the other horn, Israel can instead pursue its goal of destroying Hamas by a ground assault on its strongholds in Gaza. At the same time, the IDF will insist on a second goal of the attack: the liberation of the hostages. This is a claim, though, that many hostage families reject, instead insisting on negotiations. Their reasons are clear. If, as military analysts warn, the assault on Gaza will lead to months of urban battle and bloodshed, that will inevitably include the blood of the hostages on the hands of Hamas.
As military and intelligence experts predict, “there is no happy ending to this story.” This phrase also works as a definition of Greek tragedy. Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides did not do happy endings. Instead, they did endings that are horrifying. Horrifying not because they abound in human gore and guts — all of that took place off stage — but because they abound in human dilemmas. Dilemmas in which not only is there no good choice, but even the best bad choices are soul-battering.
https://forward.com/culture/568006/israel-gaza-hostages-greek-tragedy-aeschylus-sophocles-euripides/
On the other horn, Israel can instead pursue its goal of destroying Hamas by a ground assault on its strongholds in Gaza. At the same time, the IDF will insist on a second goal of the attack: the liberation of the hostages. This is a claim, though, that many hostage families reject, instead insisting on negotiations. Their reasons are clear. If, as military analysts warn, the assault on Gaza will lead to months of urban battle and bloodshed, that will inevitably include the blood of the hostages on the hands of Hamas.
As military and intelligence experts predict, “there is no happy ending to this story.” This phrase also works as a definition of Greek tragedy. Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides did not do happy endings. Instead, they did endings that are horrifying. Horrifying not because they abound in human gore and guts — all of that took place off stage — but because they abound in human dilemmas. Dilemmas in which not only is there no good choice, but even the best bad choices are soul-battering.
https://forward.com/culture/568006/israel-gaza-hostages-greek-tragedy-aeschylus-sophocles-euripides/
