Brooks: Pauses Might Hurt Israel Militarily, But It’s Smart and Right to Call for Them

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that while “a series of pauses” in the Israel-Hamas conflict could hurt Israel militarily, pauses are “the smart thing to do, not only the kind, but also the humane thing to do” in order “to separate the terrorists from the population.”

Brooks said, “I think the Biden administration is doing the right thing. The long history of terror — wars against terror organizations suggests the smart thing to do, not only the kind, but also the humane thing to do, is to separate the terrorists from the population. And so, I think a series of pauses would be a sign that Israel is at war with Hamas, it’s not at war with the population. And it would say, we’re going to take the steps we take — even if it might hurt us militarily — to get the humanitarian relief in, to get people able to move. So, I think that’s the first thing.”

He continued, “The second thing the Biden administration is right [about] is that a ceasefire would be a disaster, and, in my view, would lead to more bloodshed in the long term. Hamas has said, even this week, that they’re very proud of October 7, they would do 100 October 7s, they would do a million October 7s, if it would lead to the extermination of Israel.”

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