I’ll re-up what Israel should have done (and still should do), which I’ve posted a few times before:
Great tweet on what Israel should have done after Oct 7th:
x.com
"So what other options did Israel have after October 7th? There are many possible answers, which were clear from the beginning. You may disagree with some or all of this, but six months later, and after all of the most recent disasters, I believe even more strongly that this was the way to go:
First, stop and think. Even for just a few days. Don’t react exactly as always, and exactly as Hamas expected and wanted. Don’t give them what they want. It’s Gaza. Hamas is not leaving. A response can wait a few days.
Take a moment to mourn, grieve, sit shiva together (after securing the border, of course).
Make the hostages the #1 priority and get them back whatever it takes. A victory for Hamas? Of course. But life is more important.
Use that pause to focus the world’s attention—for more than one day—on what Hamas did. Shame and isolate them the way ISIS was shamed and isolated.
Make it clear that in whatever war or campaign comes next, protecting civilians will be a priority, and act that way. (Don’t block all aid, use only precision weapons, don’t bomb civilian infrastructure, warn the soldiers that any shenanigans will be punished, etc.)
Separate the Palestinian people from Hamas’s leadership by reiterating a commitment to a real two-state solution (yes, I know (!) that Netanyahu and this government would never do that. I am simply stating what would have been the right thing to do).
Go after Hamas methodically, surgically, financially, with much of the world behind us. (For example, using drones and helicopters, no armed man walks the streets of Gaza again until all hostages are released.)
Clamp down on the Jewish extremists in the West Bank. Make it clear that you will not allow them to open another front. Arrest as many as necessary.
Explain to the Israeli public, again and again, exactly why you are doing all this. Why there is great strength in restraint. That the goal is to prevent this from ever happening again. But that this will take heart and brains, and not just muscle.
Speak softly. No need to make big empty threats when you have so much power.
This would have been a start. One can wish. And to all those, especially non-Israelis, who will call me “naive,” are you happy so far with the results of your “only way?” Come on."
And more – for justice and retribution, Israel should have done this:
Operation Bayonet (Hebrew: מבצע זעם האל, romanized: Mivtza Za'am Ha'el, lit. 'Operation Wrath of God') was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals they accused of being involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. The targets were members of the Palestinian armed militant group Black September and operatives of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Authorised by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the autumn of 1972, the operation is believed to have continued for ove...
and this:
On May 2,[a] 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six (also known as DEVGRU). The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led mission, with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units...
Israel (and the US) has gone after the perpetrators and planners of terrorism before, without killing thousands upon thousands of civilians. It can be done. It wouldn’t be easy, but it’s not impossible. There was no internet, social media, and ubiquitous cameras in the 70s, and they got it done then. That’s what Israel should have done, and still should do. Not mass carnage, both fulfilling Hamas’s plan and creating thousands upon thousands of more anti-Israel fanatics.