The only solution

Why are we spinning our wheels? Proposal after proposal for a ceasefire and return of hostages comes up empty-handed.  The latest announced by President Biden and dubbed an Israeli three-step plan has received nothing but outrageous counter-terms and stonewalling. In each case, the summary is that Hamas won’t agree. Why?

Ignored by all the players are two unambiguous, polar-opposite and fundamental differences. Politically, Israel has, for decades, found itself divided between the one-state solution and two-state solution advocates. This too is echoed in the United States. President Biden (and the United Nations) have made it clear that the long-term goal is the two-state solution, while at the same time condemning Israel’s military operations. But, something changed since October 7th.

What has been identified as the worst one-day violent tragedy since the Holocaust, at first, was met with an overwhelming outcry and simultaneously support for Israel both to defend itself and to enter Gaza to neutralize Hamas’ capability to reprise such brutality in the future. As expected, this global sentiment was not universal; however, what quickly changed was shocking to Jews around the world, but consistent with the War of Words – the second, perhaps more formidable battlefield, of which I have written many articles which may be found in the Times of Israel archives. It is this alternative weapon which rivals, if not dwarfs, the physical harm our enemies wield against us.

It is neither hyperbole nor mischaracterization to find commonality between October 7th and the Holocaust. Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, convinced or at least silenced the world when Germany built up its military (despite the terms of the armistice following World War I), took the Sudetenland and Austria, passed the Nuremberg laws, struck on Krisstalnacht, sent Chamberlain home with a fraudulent peace treaty, and lulled Russia into believing that its non-aggression pact could be relied upon.

Then, after implementing the Final Solution, when Hitler faced the Russian army closing in from the East, and the Allies moving toward Berlin in the West, Hitler revealed that defending the Motherland was secondary to the prime directive he wrote from his prison cell, Mein Kampf — obliterate Jews from the world!  Facing defeat, Hitler drew back thousands from the fronts so that more manpower could be redirected to the concentration camps and the speedy extermination of Jews. As much as a third of the Six Million were killed between 1944-1945. Despite abundant evidence, the world turned a deaf ear and blind eye until the Allies saw the horror in the camps that were liberated.

However, fast forward, and not only the Moslem world, but in every corner of the world, including within academia, there exists Holocaust denial and pernicious anti-Semitism, an ever-present cancer that has haunted the Jewish People.

So – we turn now to the actors on and behind October 7th. That nightmarish, barbaric massacre, and the taking of over 200 hostages (men, women, children, and infants) was perpetrated by Hamas. A recent survey published by Al Jazeera, revealed that 62% of Palestinians support Hamas!  Although news outlets daily report on Gaza (slanted to proliferate Anti-Israel sentiments), only Israel reports daily terrorism, rocket barrages, setting the North ablaze, displacing tens of thousands from their homes, tragic murders and foiled attacks coming from its surrounding enemies, Iran proxies — Hezbollah, Houithis, Syria, Iraq, West Bank terrorists.  Little reporting is ever released about these or the daily attacks in Jerusalem, cities and settlements throughout Israel.  It is abundantly clear — Israel has IDF engaged everywhere — that this is not a mere Hamas problem!

As pointed out above, the pressure is not merely military, but the worldwide anti-Israel protests, vandalism and physical violence rage on spurred by Islamic propaganda which is enthusiastically embraced by the rest of the world.  How thorough this assault has been translates into the absurd, salient slogans – “Free Palestine”, “From River to the Sea”, “Genocide to the Jews”. As it was in Hitler’s global agenda, these chants, these protests have expanded to “Death to America”, and very simply put, the tear down of all institutions, symbols and doctrines that reflect the non-Marxist, non-Communist foundations of Western civilization.

Turning now to the different “solutions” that have permeated Middle East politics, and are front and center today, what is being missed?  What is being overlooked as it was in the decade between Hitler’s rise and the end of World War II?  For just as his global agenda and his prime directive to obliterate Jews from the Earth were ignored, so is the prime directive of our enemies conveniently ignored.

Hamas leaders, Sinwar and Haniyeh, have publicly and unabashedly made their.views and conditions clear: any ceasefire must have a total withdrawal of IDF from Gaza; Hamas is to stay in control of the Gaza government; October 7th was only the first of such massacres and hostage seizures; the sacrifice of civilian Gazans are “necessary” in its war strategy; and, instead of turning over the remaining living hostages and bodies immediately, such release is to be gradual, in exchange for thousands of terrorists held by Israel who in turn will arm themselves and join in the killing of Jews. The irony of this strategy is that Hamas brazenly and callously admits it does not know how many are still alive!

All of this advances the Hamas agenda, but at the same time, the greater enemy, Iran, utilizes the conflict and its proxies to attack and weaken Israel, while completing its goal of becoming a nuclear power (and utilizing it)!

Critically, while politicians debate and jockey for power, within and without Israel, and while proposals are made for ceasefires that will never end hostilities, all have their heads buried in the sand!  There is one, unwavering, and ever-present truth. There is one goal of Hamas, of Iran, of much of Israel’s neighbors — the Land must be free of Jews!  Juden Frei! This prime directive is contained in the constitutions and manifestos of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. It is certainly the cornerstone of Iran’s world view. To put it bluntly, while Islam mandates that the entire world must be free of heretics and embrace Islam, it cannot “succeed” (as Hitler believed) so long as Jews live on the face of the Earth!  This fundamental plan has its metastatic tentacles starting in childhood education, the refugee camps, and the masses throughout the Middle East.

The title of this piece is the “Only Solution”. Simply stated, the only sane path, is to recognize our enemy whose agenda is constant. There can be no solution that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, to Israel as the Jewish homeland, and to the survival of the Jewish People in the world community.

So long as our enemies demand as their mission that Israel be eradicated of all Jews, there can be NO solution.  The ONE solution is to bring about a complete reversal of the Hamas mission that is a mere microcosm of the collective vision of Israel’s enemies.  A “two-state” solution is myopic and insane, so long as the overriding mission of our enemy is to occupy all of Israel free of Jews. Short-term – Israel may not surrender to the outcries and protests that would impose anything short of complete victory over Hamas and remove it from governance of Gaza.

May Hashem protect the IDF, safeguard Israel!  Am Yisroel Chai!