Too Many Have Died - A Cease Fire Must Happen

Right after the attack on Israel by Hamas, the sympathies of Americans were solidly with Israel. In both November of 2023 and January of 2024, a 40% plurality of Americans said their sympathies lay with Israel.

But that was before the seemingly never ending attack by Israel on Gaza (and the blocking of food and medical supplies). Now tens of thousands of Gaza civilians have been killed (including 14,000 children, and famine is raging in Gaza.

That has caused American support for Israel to decline. In April of this year, sympathy for Israel has dropped by 9 points (to 31%), while sympathy for the Palestinians has climbed. 

Netanyahu says he will continue the months-long war until Hamas is destroyed. That won't happen. Hamas can just hide and wait out the war (no matter how long it is). And that attack of Gaza civilians is just creating more Hamas recruits.

There must be a cease fire! And President Biden needs to cut off military aid to Israel to make that happen.

I would like to think a cease fire would lead to peace. But that won't happen until both Hamas and the Netanyahu governments are replaced by entities will to negotiate a two-state solution.

But a cease fire is better than more months (or years) of this war. And it is the first step in the hope for a peaceful future in the region.

NOTE - The figures above are from Economist / YouGov Polls done in November, January, and April. At least 1,500 adults were questioned in each, and the margin of error was about 3 points.