There is this pressure, this desire for Israel to say, here's what's going to be the day after,

we have it all planned out, so that the supporters of Israel in the West, the Biden administration,

the governments of France and Britain and Germany and others, can say there is an end game.

These people aren't dying because the Israelis are going crazy.

This isn't about revenge.

This is good smart policy that will bring a better tomorrow at the other end of this admittedly awful bloody war.

Here's the problem.

Israel doesn't think of Hamas the way America thought of the Saddam regime.

This is not about, you know, why are we going to war?

Democratization.

Why are we going to war, a new Middle East. If we don't have that

answer of why we don't get to go to war. You know when they weren't asking

why are we going to war against Nazi Germany? They weren't asking why are we going to war

against Imperial Japan and the reason people weren't asking that is because it was

obvious to everyone that at an existential level the first priority is to remove the mortal threat that these governments and

empires represented. Israel facing Hamas sees a mortal threat. It is a mortal threat

not just because it's Hamas but because it's part of the broader Iranian axis that has become a noose around Israel's neck.

It is a mortal threat because it threatens to do it again and again and again and again.

The war won't end and Hamas will be removed. That is the day after. It is 11 p.m. on Sunday, December 3rd here in New York City. It's 6 a.m. on Monday morning, December the 4th in Israel, as Israelis get ready to start their day.

Let's begin with a few updates on the war in Gaza. This past Friday after the seventh

group of Israeli women and children were released in the ongoing hostage

negotiations and deal between Israel and Hamas the ceasefire ended as

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