Debunking the Resistance Narrative

The October 7, 2023, massacre and hostage-taking of Israeli citizens were not acts of resistance.

The October 7, 2023, slaughter, massacre, and barbaric attack that killed more Jews in a single day since the Holocaust is not, as many suggest, an ‘energizing, exhilarating’ act of Palestinian resistance, nor is the ‘solution’ the creation of a Palestinian state. The creation of a Palestinian state would be a solution to an entirely different issue.

The slaughter was carried out by Hamas, barbarically, as if competing with ISIS. Hamas is a terrorist organization that was not doing this as an act of resistance with the hope of establishing a Palestinian state living side by side peacefully with Israel. It was doing this with the hope of eventually annihilating the State of Israel and all its Jews. This is the goal stated in Hamas’s charter and is their reason for being. Sadly, this barbaric act is cheered in many rallies around the world, with the slogan “Palestine will be free from the River to the Sea.”

From the River to the Sea? From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea? Really? Where would Israel exist? Israel has no choice but to wipe out Hamas. Otherwise, Hamas will attempt massacres repeatedly, as they have already professed. Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 with an iron fist (elected in 2006, the last time an election was held, and defeating Fatah in a civil war). Ridding Gaza of Hamas will free Palestinian Gazans from a yoke of internal terror and increase the probability of the creation of a Palestinian state.

Why so? Because otherwise, how could there be security for Israel with Iranian terrorist proxies virtually surrounding Israel: Hamas in the southwest, Hezbollah in the North, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard inside Syria in the northeast (and new, Iranian funded Yemenite Houthis willing to fire rockets from the southeast and block Israel’s shipping lanes). Iran has stated repeatedly that its aim is to annihilate Israel, even using nuclear weapons, which they are close to obtaining. In the meantime, they are using terrorist proxies. Imagine if an independent Palestinian state was unwilling or unable to keep out Iranian-backed terrorist groups. Israel is only 9 miles wide east of the West Bank which would likely house a Palestinian state. It would be surrounded, easily cut in half, and vulnerable to complete destruction.

The best hope for a Palestinian state would be regime change in Iran. Iran’s autocratic regime suppresses their own population and funds would-be annihilators of Israel. Without this funding, the possibility of a two-state solution, with security for Israel, would be greatly enhanced. The next best scenario would be the elimination of Hamas on Israel’s southern front, and peace with Sunni Arab states, including Saudi Arabia.

For sure, Israel’s bombing of Gaza to take out Hamas has resulted in civilian casualties. Any number is too much. But the claim that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians falls short. On some days, Israel has flown 450 air sorties. If they wanted to target civilians, they could kill maybe 30, 50, 70 civilians per run (just a guess, but I note that a single Islamic Jihad misfired rocket killed anywhere from 50 to a few hundred civilians at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City, which was initially blamed on Israel). Over 22,000 civilians could be killed daily, if this was the goal. Clearly, this is not the case. Unfortunately, Hamas uses civilians as human shields and even prevents them from leaving for temporary safety, contributing to civilian casualties. Even U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont), a well-known, long-time Jewish critic of Israel, says that Hamas must be eliminated. But when asked how this could be achieved while reducing civilian casualties, his weak response was: he’s not a military man. I’m also not a military person, but if there was a better way, Israel would use it. How do I know this? Look how hard Israel tries to warn civilians before targeting a Hamas target by dropping leaflets and how hard Israel tries to get civilians to move to a safe zone in the south (while Hamas tries to prevent the move to safety).

And, by the way, the lack of a Palestinian state is NOT the reason for Islamic terrorism: Al-Qaeda and ISIS were interested in creating Islamic caliphates, not a Palestinian state. And as noted earlier, Hamas doesn’t exist to create a Palestinian state but rather to annihilate Israel and all its Jews.

Israel hasn’t ‘occupied’ Gaza since 2005. Yes, both Israel and Egypt have inspected cargos to prevent weapons, and machinery for manufacturing weapons, from entering the Gaza strip. Imagine how many more rockets and sophisticated missiles would have entered Gaza if not for this.

So, rather than blaming Israel for Hamas’s massacre, slaughter, and hostage-taking of Israel’s citizens, rather than saying Israel had it coming to them, rather than saying this terror must be contextualized, rather than saying Israel is acting disproportionately, rather than marching in huge numbers in the streets celebrating an act of terror against Israel, stand with Israel now. The time to march in the streets was when Bashar al-Assad was slaughtering 600,000 of his own Syrian people with the aid of Hezbollah and Russia, when Saudi Arabia was bombing Yemen while battling the Houthis, when the Revolutionary Guard is imprisoning and killing Iranian protestors, when Russia is invading and bombing Ukraine with no provocation. But global protests were and are nowhere to be found. Except now, only after Israel has suffered mass civilian casualties and defends itself against an act of terror that any country would be compelled to do. Why is this the case? It’s called Jew hatred. And if you are joining these pro-Hamas protests and marches, which is what they are (if chanting from the River to the Sea), you would likely have been sucked into Hitler’s Nazi propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s. Feel proud of yourself? It’s not too late to distance yourself. Stand with Israel. Soon, Palestinian Gazans will be free from Hamas.