Why there won’t be a ceasefire.
(1) There WAS a ceasefire. On October 6.
(2) The demands for a ceasefire are from the very same people who screamed on Oct 8 — the DAY AFTER the massacre — that Israel is genocidal. They cried “genocide” BEFORE Israel even caught their bearings, and BEFORE the blood had even dried. For these people, Israel is intrinsically genocidal, independent of its current actions. Because Jews.
(3) No doubt there are civilian casualties in Gaza, but the claims are almost entirely coming through Hamas, a death cult proudly able to rape, torture and murder civilians, and explicitly aimed at the murder of all Israelis.
(4) Hamas hasn’t stopped firing rockets indiscriminately at civilians in Israel. Hamas hasn’t stopped attempting to break in again and carry out another massacre. Hamas publicly tells us that they’re still trying, and always will. Hamas hasn’t released the 200 civilian prisoners. When will Hamas stop hostilities?
(5) The calculus is NOT whether more have died in Gaza than have died in Israel. The calculus concerns how many have died in Gaza compared to how many WOULD die if Hamas is left to continue its genocidal attacks on Israel and its barbaric oppression of Gazans, and how many WOULD die if Iran’s mullahs are empowered by the success of the evil 10/7 attack. Hamas’ aim is the complete elimination of Israel and its people, so the number of deaths on this side of the equation cannot simply be glazed over, to put it mildly. And the harm of keeping Hamas in place as the oppressor of Gazans for another decade is profound, and also cannot be ignored in the calculus.
(6) In spite of breathless charges of indiscriminate bombing and genocide against Palestinians, the IDF — more than any military in history — aims to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas, on the other hand, engages in war crimes as a rule, hiding amongst civilians, and preventing civilians from moving away from combat zones.