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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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I don’t think Bibi can ignore it, regardless of the demographics of who was killed. This attack will scare the hell out of anyone who lives north of Haifa. Many cities in northern Israel are already evacuated, and Israeli strategists are increasingly worried about the entire population of Israel gradually getting squeezed into just the Tel-Aviv metro area. That’s a long-term recipe for disaster, especially if Iran ever acquires nuclear weapons.

To be fair, almost the entire Iranian elite (and almost anyone who matters in any way really) live in North Tehran.

He can totally ignore it. He can take Hizbollah’s denial as truth, mumble that we’ll find the ones responsible for this reprehensible crime, and move on to the next thing. Frankly, most Israelis won’t really care.

  1. There’s no way Israel is going to take credit for an attack that killed 10 children who are Israeli citizens in any context
  2. This is something Netanyahu has wanted to do for a full decade anyway

Maybe he wanted to do it, but he's got his military deployed in Gaza and the cumulative drag of that operation is already starting to pinch.

Not like this.

You misunderstand. Hizbollah’s denial implies that it was a different militant faction, not that it’s Israel’s fault. Meaning the ones responsible are e.g. some Syrian militia group.

Fair point. Game-theoretically, turning a blind eye sets a very bad precedent.