Granted this may be an imperfect analogy, but it’s close enough to drive home an undeniable point. Imagine it’s May 1945 in the final days of World War II in Europe. After the Nazi’s last-ditch offensive is routed by the American counterattack in the Battle of the Bulge, American forces are closing in on Berlin from the west as are Russian forces from the east. Hitler and his staff have taken refuge in his underground bunker while Berlin is being devastated with saturated airborne bombing attacks and artillery. Suppose Hitler had demanded a cease fire and pro-Nazi American citizens, humanitarians, and pacifists had supported his demand, and stage demonstrations in the U.S.
Acceding to such preposterous demands in that instance would have been as absurd as Israel backing off its counterattack against Hamas in Gaza now. Civilian Palestinian and hostage casualties are unavoidable as Hamas uses them as shields and pawns for propaganda purposes. Far greater casualties would come from the next war Hamas would instigate. Hamas’s despicable Oct 7 attack on Israel was an act of war for which Hamas must now suffer the consequences. Hamas is as inalterably committed to the destruction of the Israeli state and the extermination of Jews in Israel — and everywhere else for that matter — as Hitler and the Nazis were to the utter extermination of Jews during their monstrous reign.
Just as the allies settled for nothing less than the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, it would be suicidal for Israel to stop at anything less than the complete elimination of Hamas now. Coexistence with these maniacs isn’t possible as Hamas has many times demonstrated. Here’s why:
There are 1.2 billion believers in Islam in this world but not all are Islamists of the deranged Hamas mentality. It’s vital to understand the drastically different interpretation of the Quran between mainstream Muslims and fanatical Islamists. It’s generally believed that most Muslims are willing to accept or at least tolerate those of different faiths. On the other hand, radical Islamist fundamentalists hold a religious and a political ideology wholly committed to forcibly imposing their version of Islam as the world’s dominant, if not exclusive, religion and culture for all peoples and societies. They regard the other 6.8 billion people on this planet as “infidels” who must convert or subjugate themselves to Islamist dogma or be killed. They believe in “jihad of the sword” for all infidels and even for moderate Muslims who live under what they regard as impure “Jahiliyya” forms of Islam. There’s no precise headcount of the percentage of the world’s Muslims that are radical Islamists, although even some moderates are sympathetic or afraid to openly oppose them.
Sayyid Qutb was a scholar, Islamist revolutionary, and leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. He is regarded as the “Father of Salafi jihadism,” the Islamist model followed by al-Qaeda and ISIS. In 1966, Qutb was convicted and executed for plotting the assassination of Egyptian President Nassar for his heresy in rejecting Qutb’s standard of Islamism. (Another Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, was assassinated in 1979 by Islamist fanatics for signing a peace treaty with Israel.) Qutb’s radical Islamism was also the inspiration for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s revolution overthrowing the Shah of Iran in 1979 and Osama bin Laden’s 9/11/2001 attack on America.
As resolute followers of Qutb Islamism, any compromise or negotiation with Hamas is delusional. (Just as it is with the Iranian theocratic government today.) An armistice with Hamas would simply postpone the next war. Israel is at war with Hamas not the Palestinian people. Although many of them cheered the Oct 7 attack, radical Islamism is not their pathway to a better life. After Israel’s victory in 1967’s Six Day War over Syria, Egypt, and Jordan it took administrative control of Gaza. In 2005, Israel disengaged and ceded that territory back to the Palestinians, hoping for a peaceful relationship to follow and leaving valuable infrastructure and agriculture behind, which was mismanaged to decay.
Unfortunately, the Palestinians chose to elect Hamas and its Islamist ideology to govern them in 2007. That was the last election Hamas allowed. What has Hamas done for them since? The Palestinians picked the wrong side. There’ll be nothing left of Hamas in Palestine after Israel mops up the rest of its terrorists.
The best future for the Palestinian people would be to elect a new government committed to coexistence and peace with Israel within a two-state solution. Just as the victorious Americans helped rebuild Germany and Japan, and reform their governments after World War II, Israel, in its own interest, will likely do the same for Gaza, revitalizing its economy in the process.
Longtime KOA radio talk host and columnist for the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News Mike Rosen now writes for CompleteColorado.com.
