Israel, Hamas should adopt ‘tacit bargaining’

At a briefing for senior Israeli journalists Oct. 29, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allowed them to attribute part of his remarks to a “senior diplomatic source.” I understood him. There wasn’t much to be proud of in this briefing, so he would obviously prefer not to be cited by name.

He explained certain facts, which many already knew, but which he did not usually describe with such clarity. He said that he had no interest in another round of fighting with Hamas in Gaza, and that if such fighting did break out, there would be casualties on both sides, and that when it was all over, the situation would not be very different from what it is now.