Genocide? This is in fact what genocide looks like:

[cab67]

162. Nothing makes October 7 acceptable to me.

One can go back to before the Balfour Doctrine to see how complicated this whole thing is.

Israel, though does face an existential decision should it annex Gaza and the West Bank (beyond the Jewish settlements).

Within the 1967 borders (which is what the UN recognizes), Israel is around 80 percent Jewish. That means Israel can be a democracy and a Jewish state.

It would be much closer to 50 percent if the current populations of Gaza and the West Bank are included. At that point, Israel could be a Jewish state, or it could be a democracy. It couldn't be both.

Unless, of course, the Palestinian Arab populations of these regions are expelled. This would be the very definition of ethnic cleansing, and most Israelis I know would not support that.

I'm not going to pretend to know what the solution is, but some sort of coexistence of populations - not necessarily under current leadership - will have to be part of it.