The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has extended its ban on flying to Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport for another 24 hours. With John Kerry in the region to push for a cease-fire, this amounts to hardball even if the intention behind it truly is caution and the protection of air crews and passengers.
Israel has put themselves in a pickle now. There is a still a constant drumbeat of rocket fire accompanied by sirens. The tunnels have not been shut down. The death toll on the Israeli side has gone up dramatically in the last few days. Even though they’ve technically agreed to a cease-fire, they can hardly afford one. At this point, they’ve lost by every metric except body count. And Hamas is only too happy to keep beating them.
I can’t say I am enjoying this spectacle, but it is what I’ve been predicting would happen if the Israelis kept up with the status quo.
