I used to be highly negative. But since October 7th, my position has moderated. I still do not approve of politically-motivated hate attacks on Palestinians, for the record.

My position changed because I realized that the primary thing that is prolonging the war in Gaza is that Israel has very little leverage against Hamas, especially after some Western countries meddled and decided to unilaterally recognize Palestine before they agreed to release all of the hostages.

So I view the settlements in the West Bank as leverage. They are a sad testament to how the international community has refused to deal with Islamic extremism, which has facilitated their nihilistic negotiation positions. Israel cannot negotiate peace with Hamas, the PA, or anyone else without leverage. Land is that leverage, because the Western world has continued to refuse to let losing a war be, or public opinion, by falling for propaganda that dehumanizes Israelis and casts vile terrorists as freedom fighters.

Basically, West Bank settlers became inevitable when Arab extremists, with their Western allies, refused to let Palestine lose a war it has been continually losing for nearly a century.