Israel Must Defeat Hamas

Hamas repeatedly emphasizes that its sole purpose is the destruction of Israel and its replacement with a “theocratic state based on Islamic law (Sharia).” A member of Hamas’s political bureau expressed its commitment to multiple massacres, saying “Operation al-Aqsa Flood (the October 7 massacre) is just the first time and there will be a second, a third, a fourth…We must teach Israel a lesson and we will do this again and again.”

Obviously, Hamas has no interest in peace with Israel but, notice, there is also no mention of building a better life for the people of Gaza.

Even the organization once believed to be the humanitarian arm of the UN in Gaza, UNRWA, has joined Hamas’s in its promotion of hatred and terror rather than the welfare of its citizens.

UNRWA is actually preparing current and future generations to become terrorists   It does this by providing UN-funded educational materials, teachers, and camp counselors who steep Palestinian children, those living in Gaza or under the Palestinian Authority, in poisonous hatred of Jews and Israelis. These children have been taught not merely to passively hate but to actively murder Jews. They are even taught to willingly sacrifice their own lives to do so.  Thus, UNRWA must be seen as a very serious threat, not merely to the mental health of Palestinian children, but also to peace in the region.

A chilling example may be found in Palestinian summer camps. Rather than serving as places where children can learn swimming, sports and crafts, these camps are vehicles for the transmission of Hamas’s genocidal objectives. Their “goal…is to instill the spirit of Jihad and fighting…[and] lay the foundations for building a broad popular army.”

Instead of learning to take turns, play fairly and, above all, “be kind,” Palestinian kids are learning to “fire machine guns, crawl through tunnels and beneath barbed wire, handle rocket launchers and plant mines. [They are also] taught kidnapping techniques for capturing Israeli soldiers…[and] how to use knives as murder weapons.” The lessons in UNRWA’s Palestinian schools contain similar content.

The “camp activities’ described above, except for gang rape, beheadings and mutilation, were actually enacted by Hamas on October 7. Palestinian children, who accompanied adults, including UNRWA teachers, during this murderous assault, received a real life rather than hypothetical lesson, witnessing the horrors with their own eyes.

As this example illustrates, Hamas’s singular preoccupation with destroying Israel supersedes concerns for its children. In fact, Hamas wields the suffering of Gazan children as one of its most powerful weapons against Israel.

Hamas knows that images of wounded and dying children filling news screens across the world provide potent leverage, manipulating world sympathy to pressure Israel and its allies into surrendering to Hamas demands. Pro-Palestinian, antisemitic demonstrations are erupting in many cities throughout the world.  Jewish teachers and students at universities and even high schools as well as pro-Israel speakers are being physically threatened. Pro-Palestinian and/or antisemitic anti-Zionists, terribly misinformed about the situation in Gaza, are placing “ceasefire” resolutions on hundreds of American city council and school district agendas that have nothing whatsoever to do with Israel or Gaza.

As the Israeli author and journalist, Yossi Klein Halevi, put it, Hamas has successfully “weaponized compassion.”

In contrast to the media’s embrace of the Gaza story, the situation in Israel is rarely presented by American media. We are not told that Israel has been under constant bombardment or that 300,000 Israeli citizens have had to evacuate their homes in border cities. In addition, another 300,000 soldiers and reservists on active duty are absent from their daily jobs, placing a great strain on the Israeli economy. And these hardships are intensified by the ceaseless worry for the welfare of the hostages cynically hidden in the hell holes of Gaza.

Apparently, Israelis have not learned to weaponize compassion.

The gruesome events of October 7 were only the beginning. Hamas has been preparing for this moment since taking power over Gaza in 2006. It has created the now famous network of tunnels that successfully protect Hamas while leaving civilians above ground to fend for themselves. It will do anything to win, if not now, then next time or the time after…

President Biden is calling for a ceasefire which would, hypothetically, improve the condition of Gazans. It is equally likely that a ceasefire would enable Hamas to retrench and fortify its hold over the Gazan people.

Imagine the truly unimaginable; after all, what happened on October 7 was once truly unimaginable. Imagine that Hamas convinces America and its allies to withdraw support from Israel to try to force it to stop fighting. Worse, imagine Hamas fulfills its promise to brutalize Israel into annihilation.

The monomaniacal Hamas Charter clearly declares the purpose of its existence is obliteration of Israel. It literally has no other purpose. Having met that goal, if Israel no longer exists, who will it turn to next?

A premature ceasefire is a victory for Hamas. For the sake of the children-of Gaza, of Israel, of the region-Hamas must be uprooted. Israel must be given support to finish the war.

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References upon request