Wednesday, August 6, 2025

i've thought about this a bit and i'm deciding that what the world wants from israel in gaza - israel to rule it without annexing it - is impossible.

the world wants israel to feed gaza. it wants israel to police gaza. in return, israel doesn't collect tax revenue from gaza and has no legal jurisdiction over it. the world wants it both ways.

israel has been trying to explain that it has no real responsibility to feed gaza, and the aid chaos is a result of a lack of local policing. hamas itself, which should be in charge of police but has delegated it to islamic jihad, which does not enforce legislated laws but instead enforces religious codes, points to egypt as responsible for the blockade. the world doesn't want to listen.

this probably isn't israel's train of thought, but it remains true: if it is israel's responsibility to feed and police the region, it needs to be able to levy taxes, and it needs jurisdiction. that requires annexation.

palestinian statehood is absurd. the egyptians won't take the city back. it leaves israel with few other options.

the world can't have it both ways. either gaza is not israel's responsibility and the problem is egypt, or gaza is israel's responsibility and it needs jurisdiction to tax and police it.