If the war in the Gaza Strip ends this week, it will be followed by a long battle about its lessons. Here are mine:

Bret Stephens

The New York Times

Opinion

‘Believe people when they tell you who they are.’

Maya Angelou’s classic warning should have been believed in 1988, when Hamas declared in its founding covenant its intention to slaughter Jews. Instead, Israel continued to tolerate Hamas out of a combination of ideological convenience — it suited Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to have a divided Palestinian polity — and international reluctance to topple the group. That was until Oct. 7, 2023, too late for the 1,200 people slaughtered that day.

Brilliant technology is never an adequate substitute for sound strategy.

Successive rounds of fighting between Hamas and

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