RUNNING ON EMPTY

 Think of the on edge feeling you have when you suddenly notice indications that you are basically running on empty.  Your fuel gauge is noisily warning you of your rather critical lapse. Why you forgot to fill up, why you neglected to check or possibly it is broken. Nevertheless, there you are wondering "Will I make it home? Will I pass a gas station to refill - and what if I don't? and actually, where the hell am I?"

It's kind of like the current situation of those who are driving the cars of this world, including passengers willing or unwilling. Some have wise heads, understand the situation and the dire necessity to refill. On the other hand, there are those who deny it all and insist on driving further. No reassurances as to the location of the closest gas station; in fact, total actual disregard as they engage in wistful magical thinking, ignoring the enveloping darkness and rising tension of other passengers within the vehicle. At that moment, being the majority and/or the most powerful, their stupidity and lack of foresight governs the situation. Where and when will the gas gauge present the image of the empty gas tank? Fuel all gone and options limited. Soon enough, soon enough. 

Here are the readings of the current gas gauges of the world, in particular within the Middle East.

"...senior Iranian security official is warning that Iran will attack Israel if its talks with Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza fall apart, Only Israel and Hamas reaching a ceasefire deal would hold Iran back from a direct strike against Israel ..."

" ...accused Netanyahu of failing to prioritize an agreement that would temporarily halt the fighting and bring Israeli hostages home.

" ,,we do believe that what’s left here really can be bridged, and there’s really just no time to lose.”

"U.S., Western and Middle Eastern officials also say Hamas has often shown a reluctance to compromise and has demanded new conditions at times that have made an agreement difficult to obtain. " (Ya' think!")

Not very encouraging, is it? Please note there are many more statements alluding to and openly referring to the lack of time, the necessity of a better do it soon ultimatum. That empty gas gauge leaves little room to maneuver, with only worn out already failed options remaining. - along with the stubbornness of the negotiators, their blindness   as they give away the store to the instigators, with no certainty that the egregiously evil Oct7 ever be allowed or enabled o reoccur. How is one even supposed to conduct any kind of negotiations when the parties most involved, Hamas and Israel, refuse to attend the negotiations. Surely, there must be wiser heads available in some car on the road.  

Sinwar, fortified by the foolish statements of other nations, brashly demands that there be no restrictions upon his terrorist group. He categorically refuses to send a list, a true list, of those captives who remain in life, such as it is, and those whose return home will be for an honored sad burial. Israel wants All Hostages returned, certainly all living ones without this dangerous path of partial release and partial release and halted release with no specific dates, enforced dates and immediate visitations by IRC. Only the same vagueness is presented and then Israel is accused of recalcitrance and stalling. 

Why is Israel to remain quiescent, ever so generous as to sign away her rights to defend herself should - and it will - the need to do so arise? Why is it expected of Israel to pull back her troops and return hard fought for and hard-won pieces of territory from which the beasts of Hamas operated? Where they endangered their own and then blamed Israel for that? Why is Israel expected to go far above and beyond anything that is asked of any other nation? Why is it being asked to excuse, even justify, the massacre of October7, the hostage taking of innocents, including children, the brutal treatment of them, particularly the female captives, and the admitted mistreatment and even slaughter of captives? 

These whys, like the whys of young children, often are unanswerable, inexplicable and remain so.  Why are the righteous grievances of Israel ignored, downplayed, outright denied? In fact, Israel is even assigned blame for this massacre, accused of staging it all simply to gain sympathy and permission to enter Gaza. Oh, see how that would have worked!!!   

We are indeed running out of time. We are indeed coming to the end of a road with no gas stations to refill appearing. No clear path ahead as we enter unknown territory. It will be "here be dragons", or here be necessity - to negotiate and to compromise fairly. One can feel, as best one can, the dreadful emotions of those families awaiting the return of their loved ones, in any condition. But we also must remember the nation at large, as we contemplate the horrific casualties should such a conflagration, a WWIII be sparked. I doubt any nation would be unaffected should the demented rulers of Iran, in the throes of a deadly religious dementia set off their bombs. 

Is there any possibility of refills or must we accept the ugly hopeless truth. There is none. It is permanently gone. Even should we sign a negotiation would we be signing away our future? Can the signatories of such a negotiation particularly from the world of Arabia and sundry others be trusted? How can any head of state of Israel possibly weigh the balances and do the right thing, displease someone, for there is no pleasing all in this decision. The catastrophic possibilities of both sides of the equation are front and center. How to distinguish? Beats me, but then again, I hope, I sincerely hope, that there are wiser heads among at least some of our cars on this dark, sans fuel road. The alternative is not really a good one, is it?