"Who Won the Gaza War," and "What Now for Israel?"

In the past week I have written a long article and even longer essay on the Middle East situation today.

"‘The Fog of Cease-fire: Who Won the Gaza War" is the cover story in this week’s edition of The Weekly Standard and can be found here. In brief, it seems to me Israel was the winner by most measures, but as we saw with the Lebanon war of 2006 (where most Israelis thought they had "lost" but now believe that conflict has deterred Hezbollah from making further trouble on the border) judgments may change over time. Meanwhile, there is no sense of triumph in Israel, which is already creating political difficulties for Prime Minister Netanyahu.

"What Now for Israel?" is published today at the Mosaic website, and is found here. This essay discusses the challenges Israel faces, in the region and in the world, 66 years after the founding of the state and 47 years after the Six-Day War of 1967.