Again. Maybe there's a kind of success. But there's a cost. From my vantage, Israel's behavior in the West Bank, from which 7.10 did not emit, has deeply discredited any claim that its behavior broadly has been necessary and justified. It looks to me like brutal opportunism.

Maybe these are opportunities worth taking. Obviously they are from some people's perspective. But among the costs is the regard of large groups of people who were once torn but broadly favorably disposed towards Israel. Many of us just no longer are.

Maybe AIPAC and other elite-level work can mitigate those costs can mitigate those costs, from the perspective of the people who perceive these opportunities as worth it. Maybe we are "large groups" that ultimately don't matter. Maybe not, though.

And putting aside realpolitik, surely we are not alone in perceiving the costs that we perceive. Most Israelis are not Smotrich.