Why do our allies object to Israel fighting its war the way wars typically are fought?

You probably know the answer.

Throughout history, nations (or kingdoms or tribes) that are winning wars at an acceptable cost to themselves have kept fighting until the other side surrenders. And while they are fighting, they haven’t provided or facilitated aid to the population of the adversary.

During World War II, the allies didn’t provide aid to the civilian populations of Germany and Japan. Civilian residents of Dresden and Tokyo suffered massive damage from U.S. bombings during the fighting. I doubt that anyone suggested that we aid these civilians or enable others to aid them. Aid and reconstruction occurred only after surrender.

Hamas has not surrendered to Israel. Yet Israel is constantly rebuked for continuing military operations against Hamas, for not aiding civilians in Gaza, and for not permitting others to aid them at sufficient levels.

Great Britain has halted negotiations with Israel over a new trade deal. It cites “egregious policies” of the Israeli government, including Israel’s current ground operations in Gaza and a blockade of that territory.

The EU is undertaking a formal review of trade agreements with Israel. This encompasses agreements with 27 nations. The EU’s foreign policy chief announced that a “huge majority” of member nations backs the review. “It is up to Israel to unlock the humanitarian aid,” the minister declared.

Ground operations are the essence of war. Blockades, which if successful deprive an adversary’s population of essential items, are common during warfare.

During the Civil War, the North blockaded the South. The Northern army’s march through the South, coupled with its blockade, inflicted grave harm on the South’s civilian population, including (I assume) malnutrition in some areas. The U.S. government inflicted this harm on its own breakaway population.

In short, Britain and the EU seek to deny Israel means of fighting that other nations routinely use in warfare.

Even Donald Trump seems vexed with Israel. He conspicuously avoided stopping there during his recent swing through the Mideast. JD Vance cancelled a visit to Israel for “logistical reasons.” And the administration has been negotiating with Iran and the Houthis, both fierce enemies of Israel, without any apparent input from Israel.

Trump would like to end the war in Gaza. So would Israel. But Trump appears to view almost any settlement as a win.

For him personally, it might be. But for Israel, as for almost every combatant nation, kingdom, and tribe in history, a win means the surrender, the complete destruction, or the full disbandment of the enemy.

If this requires more ground operations and more bombing, so be it. If it requires limiting humanitarian aid to make sure Hamas doesn’t siphon it off, so be it.

Critics might counter that Israel’s quarrel is with Hamas, not Gaza (or Gazan civilians). Thus, the argument would go, Israel is obligated to aid, or permit its delivery, to suffering civilians, even as it wages war with Hamas.

But a similar argument can almost always be made in wartime. In World War II, our quarrel was with the Nazi government, not German civilians, and with Japan’s fanatical rulers, not Japanese civilians in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

This did not stop us from waging all-out war, including the bombing of civilians. Nor did it mean that we provided or enabled others to provide humanitarian aid for Germans and Japanese civilians.

Hamas governs Gaza. It won the last election held there. Polling shows that Hamas has the support of Gazans and that its terrorist wing has their overwhelming support. They have no more claim to anyone’s sympathies than Japanese civilians had after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

This doesn’t mean that Israel should target civilians for no purpose other than to punish them. But in my view, Israel has no obligation to aid civilians or to permit others to aid them when it knows or has strong reason to believe that Hamas is stealing the aid. Even so, Israel has permitted aid to enter Gaza and is about to resume this almost unprecedented act of wartime generosity.

Furthermore, I don’t believe that Israel has an obligation to avoid killing civilians when Hamas hides among them. Israel has, though, tried to warn civilians of impending attacks.

Critics might note that Russia has been widely condemned for the way it’s conducting war against Ukraine. But unlike Russia, Israel isn’t indiscriminately bombing civilians. Its bombings target Hamas fighters and infrastructure, albeit imperfectly.

And unlike Russia, Israel did not start this war. Hamas started it with an unspeakable massacre of Israeli (and other) civilians. There should be no objection to Israel finishing the war the way other nations, including the U.S., have finished theirs.

The fact that much of the world does object bespeaks strong dislike, and in some cases hatred, of the Jewish State. It’s difficult for me to resist the conclusion that anti-Semitism lurks behind a good amount of that dislike/hatred.