What, Now, Israel?

By Walter E. Block (March 2025)

First a look at the past:

It was good that the IDF held off as long as it did on house to house fighting in Gaza. The Israeli army is only more efficient than its despicable Hamas counterpart by a relatively small multiple in this milieu. Every Jewish soldiers’ life is precious, and some have already died fighting for justice. Instead, stick to your comparative advantage: high tech, where there is a large multiple differential in effectiveness. Borrow a leaf from the Americans vis a vis the Japanese; they did not invade that country until it became a mopping up operation only.

Now, for a hypothetical:

Suppose Hamas or some such future enemy threatened to murder one of their Jewish hostages for every use of a missile or airplane attack against them by the IDF. In chess, pawns are often sacrificed. Sometimes, even the queen, if that is the only way to win the contest. The only first world country in the Middle East must borrow a leaf from the world of the royal game. Difficult as it is for all civilized people, it must harden its heart at this eventuality.

The entire state of Israel, with its some seven million Jewish citizens is at stake in the present “game” that Hamas or Iran or some other such enemy might one day in the future foist upon it. It dare not lose any such war. It must prevent the next one too, if the future is not to resemble the past. If Israel succumbs to this threat, many more hostages will be taken and used in the same manner in the future. Yes, this sounds harsh; even unduly harsh. But war is hell and Israel, not at all of its own devising, would be at war once again stipulating this scenario.

These would abominations promise to publicize their executions of Jewish and other hostages, and the Jewish state (or any other innocent country subjected to this sort of premise) must be entirely willing to take them at their word in this matter. Israel must announce that for every hostage murdered, they will execute one hundred Palestinians. That is a nice round number. They should start with all the terrorists now in Israeli jails. The death penalty should long ago have been meted out to these villains in any case. To be sure, this sounds offensive, but is entirely justified. When Israel runs out of such prisoners, it must deal with Palestinian civilians in the same manner. This is of course an awful business. But who started it? Hint: it would not be the Jewish state.

In what order should innocent Palestinians be executed, if need be, due to Hamas actions? First, inhabitants of Gaza. They, after all, voted for Hamas. Second, anyone caught celebrating, dancing in the street, when they learned of this recent horror. Women and children should come a long way last, despite the terrorists’ practice to the contrary.

Do not blow up the houses of terrorists. They are composed of brick, mortar, wood. Those objects are entirely innocent of any crime. Instead, kill the perpetrators and banish all connected with them, on the ground that they aided and abetted these evil perpetrators.

The essence of any civilized political philosophy is the non-aggression principle: do not physically harm innocent people. How, then, can we justify the killing, perhaps the murder (unjustified killing) of totally innocent people? It would be done on the basis of self-defense. This is the only way to stop Hamas or its ilk from murdering further innocent Israeli hostages. If Israel does not totally obliterate this type of barbaric enemy, future innocent Jews will perish.

So who is more innocent and less deserving of death? Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails? Gazans who overwhelmingly voted for Hamas? (We must full well realize that with a secret ballot, not one person, individually, can be indicted for this crime.) How about Arab citizens of Israel, who danced in the streets and gave candy to children in celebration of Hamas’ initial acts of mayhem? Or totally and completely innocent Jews? Obviously, the latter, and in that order.

But that is a short run, superficial analysis of the matter. Looking at it from the more basic long run, Israel, in order to safeguard its very existence and that of all its citizenry, must necessarily deal severely with the Gazans. They are in great danger if Israel adopts the semi-pacifistic suicidal stance often urged upon it by. Let Israel’s response be “disproportionate” to the atrocity perpetuated on them by its all too many enemies.

Nor can we lose sight of the fact that there are several other enemies waiting in the wings to see how Israel would deals with this type of threat.

Hamas was not only using the captured Jews as hostages. They were also using their own people in this role. They have placed their rocket launchers nearby schools, hospitals, orphanages, etc.

We wish the entire country Godspeed in this terrible ordeal. Never Again!

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Walter E. Block is Harold E. Wirth Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics, College of Business, Loyola University New Orleans, and senior fellow at the Mises Institute. He earned his PhD in economics at Columbia University in 1972. He has taught at Rutgers, SUNY Stony Brook, Baruch CUNY, Holy Cross and the University of Central Arkansas. He is the author of more than 600 refereed articles in professional journals, three dozen books, and thousands of op eds (including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and numerous others). He lectures widely on college campuses, delivers seminars around the world and appears regularly on television and radio shows. He is the Schlarbaum Laureate, Mises Institute, 2011; and has won the Loyola University Research Award (2005, 2008) and the Mises Institute’s Rothbard Medal of Freedom, 2005; and the Dux Academicus award, Loyola University, 2007. Prof. Block counts among his friends Ron Paul and Murray Rothbard. He was converted to libertarianism by Ayn Rand. Block is old enough to have played chess with Friedrich Hayek and once met Ludwig von Mises, and shook his hand. Block has never washed that hand since. So, if you shake his hand (it’s pretty dirty, but what the heck) you channel Mises.

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