While the situation today is appalling, creating a three-front Iran-backed terror state on the borders of a nation the size of New Jersey would make things significantly worse. No sane citizenry would sign off on such a suicidal policy. No genuine ally would pressure a friend to do it.

But that is exactly what a new country called “Palestine” is destined to be: an Islamic autocracy and, more than likely, a proxy of Iran (who may well have nuclear weapons at some point).

Perhaps Murphy is unaware that the last time Israelis handed autonomy of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in 2005 — ejecting thousands of Jews who would otherwise have been murdered by the only “ethnic cleansers” in this conflict — it quickly lost power. Does any sentient person believe that Hamas or the Islamic Jihad or Muslim Brotherhood-proper wouldn’t end up running a Palestinian state again? Does Murphy want to send in American troops to Gaza when they do?

[The 17-year experiment of having Hamas in charge of Gaza should really put a crimp in the demand for a sovereign state there. Egypt wants a “demilitarized” Palestinian state, but Egypt combined up with Israel to cut off arms to Gaza over the last 17 years — and look how that turned out. The only way to justify a Palestinian state now is to see a complete change of heart and purpose among the Palestinians, and we won’t see that while Western idiots keep chanting “from the river to the sea.” — Ed]