The enemy is Sinwar, not Netanyahu. Put emotions aside!

The street demonstrations and the general strike taking place in Israel in response to the discovery by the IDF of the bodies of six hostages, murdered in cold blood by Hamas, are helping the Palestinian terrorist organization achieve its objectives of surviving and continuing to murder Israelis.

According to sources, Hersh Goldberg-Polin (23), Carmel Gat (39), Eden Yerushalmi (24), Almog Sarusi (26), Alex Lobanov (32), and Ori Danino (25), all apprehended on October 7^th, were shot at close range in one of Rafah’s tunnels, approximately 24 to 72 hours before the arrival of the IDF. The fact occurred last week, most likely after Qaid Farhan al-Alkad was recovered alive by the army.

What seems absurd is that a consistent part of the Israeli political arena and activists are blaming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the death of the six hostages, rather than Hamas. Caroline B. Glick presented the problem extremely clearly and in-depth in an article for the Jewish News Syndicate where she also said:

“As one, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Yair Golan and their underlings have joined the leftist groups that have been using mass riots, political violence and general mayhem since 2019 in an effort to oust Netanyahu from power, and have called on Israelis to take to the streets in response to the executions and bring down the government through violence. The behavior of the likes of Lapid, Gantz, Golan; of 90% of Israel’s media organs and the rest of the left’s representatives, raises the question: Have they lost their minds”?

Apparently, many in Israel and abroad seem to hate Netanyahu more than Hamas and its assassin leader, Yahya Sinwar. After all, we have seen the double standards from the international community, with continuous pressure on Israel to stop the offensive in Gaza instead of pushing Hamas to the corner and forcing it to release the hostages.

You may like Netanyahu or not and you may support him or not, but here the issue is far bigger and it primarily involves the safety and security of the State of Israel and its citizens. Secondly, Israel’s war with Hamas has a wider impact on the transnational war on Islamist extremism and terrorism, because Hamas is not just a Palestinian terrorist organization, it’s also an Iranian tool for destabilization, and an ideology (which can be defeated, contrary to what some have stated).

“If Israel falls to Islamists, the West is next”. We heard this statement on several occasions by the Israeli leadership and I could not agree more. We have all seen the situations in the United Kingdom, the United States, and France, with the Islamists spreading in the streets, in the universities, and in some cases even in politics. The last thing we need is for Israel to give up when it is about to reach its objective of defeating Hamas in Gaza.

Many will hate what I am about to say, but I am not here to be applauded. We must face reality for what it is, because living in fantasy is dangerous. The possibility of seeing the hostages return home because of a decision taken by Hamas is extremely remote if not impossible. The Palestinian terrorist organization has no interest in releasing them because it’s the only leverage it has in order to survive and maintain control over Gaza. Additionally, the number of hostages still alive is plausibly very small, and I really hope to be wrong here!

Hamas is making excellent use of the emotions of many Israelis to achieve its goals and, unfortunately, those people are unwillingly helping the terrorists. Of course, we can’t blame these people, we can’t expect everyone to have a cold mind to deal with such a problematic issue as terrorism. But we should expect a little more responsibility from the political establishment at a time when the survival of the country is at stake.

What is terrorism after all? The deliberate use of violence perpetrated against civilians to achieve political objectives (Boaz Ganor). Physical and psychological violence. Murdering, raping, maiming, and then using psychological tactics to further torture the mind of the population in order to have them pressure the political establishment.

Sinwar wants to survive and wants guarantees that he will not be eliminated; Hamas wants to maintain control over Gaza. This outcome would be tantamount to Israel’s defeat. Hamas wants the IDF out of the Philadelhi corridor so it can resume supplies of weapons and men. Indeed, Israel cannot allow that, since hundreds of tunnels between Gaza and Egyptian territory have been discovered and destroyed.

It is incredible how all this trafficking could have taken place under the eyes of the Egyptian authorities who curiously did not notice anything.

Letting Hamas take over Gaza again and leaving Sinwar at his place would cause more Israeli deaths, more attacks like the October 7^th massacre (as claimed by Hamas representatives) and it would be a victory for the Iranian regime as well. After all, previous negotiations and concessions to Hamas led to October 7^th, this is a fact.

There is a principle called “reason of State” that in some cases must be applied. This is one of them. You cannot think of jeopardizing the safety of citizens, the survival of a nation at war for the interest of the few. The State has the duty to protect everyone, and giving up to Hamas’ request would go in the opposite direction.

In addition, as already mentioned, it is naive to believe that Hamas will release the remaining hostages, because they are plausibly few and they are the only guarantee Hamas has for its survival. Sinwar will drag this out for months, years, while at the same time rebuilding the organization, retaking Gaza and continuing to kill Israelis. Hamas is a terrorist organization made up of ruthless assassins, let’s keep that well in mind before relying on its word. The only way to bring home the remaining hostages is through military action.

As for the Biden administration, they would be happy to go into the elections with the “success” of a ceasefire to try to calm the anger of their pro-Islamist electorate. Again, all to the detriment of Israel. This is the time for everyone to be united against Hamas, against Islamist terrorism. It would also be a great time to get Sinwar.