I read this question this morning, and it caught me off guard. I examined it, and the context in which it was posed. This was the premise of a thought piece in major media.

And it struck me: People, even those who really ought to know better, really have no idea what’s going on. Strange as that may seem to some of you — especially those with firm, settled opinions — it’s frighteningly, terrifyingly true.

Let me begin here by stating a few things. These aren’t matters for discussion or debate; they’re simple truths. There’s no “but” to offer. There’s nothing disputable.

• War is evil. You may think you understand what I’m saying as “War is a thing to be avoided” or “It’s a shame that there’s a war going on”. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying “War is evil”, like kicking puppies, drowning kittens, and pulling the wings off flies grows up to be. War is a clean word for one of the dirtiest concepts imaginable. It was not always quite this way, but it is now.
• People are people. You are a person. Jews are people. Palestinians are people. People who are black are people. People who work for the I.R.S. are people. Nazis are people, God help us. The members of the Westboro Baptist Church are people. People who like Nickelback are people.
• Hurting people for no good reason is an evil act. This is a hard one for some people to accept, but it’s true, and it’s absolute. It comes with a caveat: There is rarely a good reason. There are a lot of bad reasons, and bad reasons don’t count.

Notice that this means that hurting Nazis for no good reason is an evil act, and that there are a lot of bad reasons a person can think of to do this. A good reason is if the Nazi in question is setting up the next Dachau, the next Auschwitz. Another good reason is if a Nazi is trying to lynch someone. If, however, they’re simply stewing in their hate and tattoos, all you’ve got is a good reason to be vigilant.

• Hating people hurts you. In the short term it causes unnecessary stress and is bad for your health. In the long term it makes you hateful, dangerous, and worthy of being considered a threat. The end result of hating people is the following:
• Hating groups of people is used as a bad reason to justify war. Let’s be clear about what war is: Put simply, it’s an organized effort by a nation or similar to hurt a specific group of people wholesale, usually for no good reason.

If you wish to dispute any of the above points, feel free, but understand that most of what it will draw from me is pity and, perhaps, disgust. Should that be of interest to you, do please continue.

So. Now that all this is established, we can move ahead.

What’s going on in Israel, in Gaza, and so on right now is terrible. It’s war, yes, but it’s a peculiarly evil sort of war, worse than most. Nuclear weapons would be kinder; biological or chemical agents would be cleaner.

Arguments can be had about the question “Who’s at fault?” but that question is frankly irrelevant. Fault is complex; ending wars is simple. All sides stop shooting, and the war is over. At this point dividing up the rubble between the survivors becomes practicable, as does burying the dead.

This is the point where those who think their hatred for groups of people is a good reason for war jump in with excuses about why it’s not that simple. It is that simple. If everyone stops shooting, there is no war.

What’s going on in Gaza right now: For reasons of their own, and let’s just stipulate that they’re all bad reasons for war, people are shooting at each other–

Oh, you’re unwilling to stipulate? Well, let’s consider some of the big ones:

• Israel is committing genocide. If this is true, it strikes me as an excellent reason to stop the war. If it’s hyperbole, it’s just a slogan and I’m uninterested. Move on to facts.
• Palestinians are being oppressed. This actually is true. On the theory that being shot to death or blown up is worse than most other fates, however, it seems apparent that ending the war would be a good thing for Palestinians. If they were winning, there would be an arguable case for prolonging the conflict until it could end the oppression, but they’re not.
• They shot first. This is never true in the long term, but yes, if you’re being shot at, you’re allowed to shoot back until they stop. You’re also allowed to run away, wave a white flag, or do several other things. If they’re not presently shooting and you’re not presently shooting, however, you both appear to be well on the way to ending the conflict.
• There are hostages/prisoners. Let’s change that. The easiest way to do so is to end the war.
• The hostages are dead. Killing people won’t bring them back. End the war.
• Death to America! If you’re looking for my sympathy, that’s not an effective method to gain it. Remember: Slogans aren’t reasons, and if they were they’d be bad ones.

So, yes, they’re all bad reasons, and war is evil. It should end.

What’s happening right now:

• Hamas is launching explosive rockets from Gaza wholesale against Israeli cities. Yes, still.
• Shortly after each launch, an Israeli airstrike destroys the rocket launcher.
• Rocket launchers are routinely placed in hospitals, schools, daycares, and mosques.
• Right now, someone out there is shouting, “That’s a lie!” It’s really not. I’ve got no skin in this game; I’m not on either side. I’m the epitome of an unbiased observer, and I’ve reviewed enough video to be certain of this. I’ve watched rockets launched from a daycare, and I’ve watched the daycare be destroyed. Since this can be seen even from approved Hamas sources, I no longer have any doubt.
• Israel is destroying hospitals, schools, daycares, and mosques. Refer to “They shot first” above.
• Gaza is under blockade, and yet somehow they never seem to run out of rockets to fire. They’re out of food and water, but rockets are no problem. Surely they must be coming from somewhere. Gaza has no airport, and is surrounded by water, Israel, and Egypt. Rockets aren’t coming by water.
• Similarly, Israel keeps blowing up rocket launchers, but somehow they too never run out of munitions. The source of that supply is pretty apparent. However, there’s an important difference: Israel is paying for most of their weapons.

From a practical standpoint, then, it’s pretty easy to see that the war is being kept going by people who don’t live there but insist on funding it. These people are on both sides of the conflict. Some are in Iran, some in Syria, some in Lebanon, some in Egypt. One simplistic approach to ending the war would appear to be to take those with the money and put them all into a large conference room together, then seal the room and launch it into the sun. Do this a few times and the conflict would wind down, if only due to estate taxes.

However, it must be acknowledged that, so long as Iran &c. continues to arm Hamas, there’s no benefit to ceasing to arm Israel. All it takes to have a war is one side.

Israel, however, is having trouble paying for more weapons. They would like the war to end. They are winning, but they’re not enjoying it; there’s no benefit accruing to them if they continue. Certainly, if they wanted Gaza, they could have owned it long ago. They don’t.

And so we come back to the question: When will Israel end their war?

Answer: When Hamas stops launching rockets at them, which will come shortly after Iran stops arming Hamas. Since the armaments appear to be flowing through Egypt, it follows logically that that portion of Egypt needs to be made proof against weapons smuggling. If the government of Egypt is unable or unwilling, perhaps someone else can be found.

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Discuss. Please note that, while geography differs, the principles enumerated can be applied to any world conflict, including Ukraine and the Mexican Drug War.

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