Hamas Isn’t a Terrorist Organization, It’s Worse

We would not call Nazis a terrorist organization. They used violent means to take over land. They used inhumane and barbaric methods to ethnically cleanse areas and people. Their goal was domination and mass murder. The violence was the means and the end.

Terrorism is different. The goal of terrorism is political change. The goal of Russian terrorism in Ukraine is (in part) to change public opinion against Ukrainian leadership (and then to mass murder Ukrainians). The goal of Al Quida was to change politics in America to leave the Middle East. The goal of Taliban was to force America out of Afghanistan. The goal of Iran’s militia’s in Iraq was to create sectarian strife to get America out of Iraq. Hamas is different.

The goal of Hamas is not to get Israel out of Gaza. Israel disengaged and left in 2005. Their goal was not to lift the blockade as the attacks were there before the blockade and would continue after. Their goal is not a country of Palestine as they have continuously rejected a two state solution and their largest operations occur when moments of peace are most likely, showing clearly that the goal is the opposite of a state of Palestine. Their goal is not even the end of Israel, with all land of 1948 being under Muslim control (not Palestinian as Christian Arabs and other Arab minorities would not have any political say in the Palestinian system under Hamas). Their goal is annihilation, murder of all Jews and all “non believers”. This goal is not to be confined within the borders of Israel, the aim is mass murder of all Jews everywhere.

This goal is not a political one, the violence is not a means to an end, like the Nazis violence is the end. We need to have a word or way to describe the genocidal ethos of groups without always calling them Nazis. Calling someone Nazi who plans to kill 6 or 10 million people but has not done it like the Nazis always undermines the argument. We have to have a way to express this genocidal groups intent. It is not terror that Hamas seeks, it is mass murder, and we have to be able to recognize it and name it if we are to fight it.

Groups like Nazis and Hamas are different from many other groups who also commit genocide, because their entire ethos and goal is genocide. Hamas are not terrorirsts, that’s giving them too little credit. They are a Genocidal Organization and we must treat it as such.