Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:
June 9
The Washington Post says freed hostages are good, now it’s time for a truce
Some 245 days after Hamas kidnapped them from an outdoor music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, four Israeli hostages are free, liberated in a daring daylight Israeli commando raid. Israel erupted in rejoicing at the news that Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, are safe in their loved ones’ arms. Many around the world shared the feeling.
A triumph for an Israeli security establishment that has appeared otherwise bogged down in a long war against Hamas, the hostage rescue is also a tactical victory for the United States, which supplied Israel with crucial intelligence. Deliverance for all 116 remaining hostages is a legitimate Israeli objective and a high Biden administration priority — as it should be because five of those being held against their will are U.S. citizens.
There is much we still do not know about what happened as Israeli forces fought their way in and out of the crowded Nuseirat area of central Gaza Saturday. One key data point is the precise Palestinian death toll; alas, it is surely substantial. Hamas officials in Gaza report more than 200 killed; Israeli sources speak of fewer than 100. Neither said how many were noncombatants or fighters. Clearly, though, Palestinian civilians lost their lives as the Israelis, supported by tanks and airstrikes, maneuvered in a carefully selected battle zone. (The combat cost one Israeli officer his life.)
What is safe to say is that everyone killed Saturday would likely still be alive if Hamas’s forces had not seized hostages — as part of an operation on Oct. 7 in which they also intentionally killed hundreds of civilians — and deliberately held them in a densely populated area.
Equally certain, but the opposite of a reason to rejoice, is the fact that the civilian body count in Gaza was already far too high. And the enclave’s physical destruction after months of Israeli air and artillery strikes against deeply embedded Hamas troops was far too extensive. Some dozens of food trucks are able to enter Gaza per day but Israel continues to impose tight conditions on humanitarian shipments, and the aid is well below what’s needed; perhaps most important, lawlessness and war continue to hamper its distribution. Two United Nations agencies said Wednesday that, if hostilities continue, at least 1 million Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of starvation by the middle of July. That is nearly half the enclave’s prewar population of 2.3 million.
These numbers bespeak immense human suffering — especially for Gaza’s children — and the urgency of halting the fighting. There is a way to achieve that, at least temporarily: the plan President Biden unveiled, under which a six-week truce would enable a surge of humanitarian aid and an initial exchange of Hamas’s hostages (Israel believes 41 of the 116 are dead) for hundreds of Palestinian militants held in Israeli prisons, as well as an Israeli pullback from populated areas. Two subsequent phases would allow for talks on a more permanent cease-fire, a final hostage release and reconstruction.
Mr. Biden said that it is an “Israeli” plan — an assertion promptly undermined when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government quibbled about the terms. Mr. Netanyahu is loath to agree to commit to a path toward a permanent cease-fire while Hamas controls Gaza. Opposition leader Benny Gantz’s Sunday resignation from Israel’s war cabinet, in protest of the prime minister’s lack of a long-term plan for ending the war or freeing all the hostages, is a sign of Israeli disagreement with Mr. Netanyahu’s posture that still runs deep even after the hostage rescue.
Yet the Biden-backed plan represents the most forthcoming one Israel has entertained so far. For its part, Hamas has balked, with its military leader in Gaza, Yehiya Sinwar, reportedly telling Arab mediators that he will accept nothing less than a permanent cease-fire and total Israeli withdrawal. This, despite the suffering of Gaza’s people and, reportedly, threats from Qatar’s government to expel Hamas political leaders and freeze their assets. On Sunday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan portrayed Hamas as the main obstacle to a deal, telling CBS News’s Margaret Brennan that “if Hamas would say yes … a better day for the Palestinian people would begin to unfold.”
The impact of Saturday’s hostage rescue on prospects for a deal is unclear. It might harden both sides’ positions, by making Mr. Netanyahu confident of military victory and Hamas determined to avenge an embarrassing defeat. Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to the Middle East this week for more long-shot negotiation. Those who genuinely seek a better day for the Palestinians — and Israelis — will be wishing him success.
ONLINE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/09/israel-gaza-hostage-rescue-cease-fire-truce/
June 9
The Wall Street Journal on soaring home and car insurance rates
Most readers by now have experienced the sticker shock when their latest auto and homeowner insurance policies arrive. The Washington solution? Expand political control over insurers, naturally. But that misdiagnosis won’t solve the problem.
Auto insurance rates are up 46.2% since January 2020, more than in the eight previous years combined. Homeowner premiums have increased 37.8% since 2019 and 5.8% in the first three months this year. Arizona (62.1%), Illinois (56.9%), Texas (54.5%), California (48.4%) and Florida (42.5%) have seen even higher increases. (See nearby chart.)
Insurers are withdrawing from states, forcing policy holders to scramble for alternative coverage. State-backed insurers of last resort are swelling. Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is now the largest insurer in the Sunshine State.
Progressives blame—what else?—climate change and corporate greed. Insurers have “underwritten financing fossil fuels, and then they profit from selling protection from the impacts of those fossil fuels on climate,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren proclaims. “And now when climate risks are rising, they’re trying to hang American families out to dry here and demanding either higher premiums or to get out of the market altogether.”
Well, no. The actual culprit is a bad storm of inflation, litigation abuse and government-made dysfunctions, which have been exacerbated by a string of bad weather.
Start with auto insurance rates, which have increased in tandem with accident claims and vehicle values. Used and new vehicle prices have increased 29.5% and 20.4%, respectively, since January 2020. More expensive cars cost more to insure. Prices for vehicle parts have risen 21.7% since the start of the pandemic while repair costs are up 48%.
The progressive anti-police movement has reduced traffic enforcement, resulting in more reckless driving and accidents. Deaths from alcohol-related crashes have risen by a third since 2019 even as…
