Why Hamas has to Go
Hamas is the enemy of Peace and there can be no solution with them in power — anywhere
The anti-Israel Left has settled on new talking points about Hamas, and generally now demand a “cease fire” where Israel stops their attack and Hamas returns to power, still holding hostages.
This would be an outright victory for Hamas, and would cost countless lives and impose untold suffering on Palestinians in the long term because it kills off any chance of peace and a two-state solution. Hamas must be removed from power for there to be peace.
Many kind and decent people just want the war to stop. But we cannot bury our heads in the sand right now, and use toddler logic when realpolitik is required.
If we can avoid pointless arguments about who started it all (Palestinians in 1929? Israelis in 1948? The British in 1917? Jewish immigrants in the 1880s?) we can consider what can actually lead to peace and prosperity, and survival of the Jews, today.
The real cause of the war is that Israel, Saudi Arabia and other countries were negotiating a peace deal that would have moved all Palestinians towards peace and a better life, and secured rights and perhaps territory for them. Hamas could not let that happen.
Hamas started the war to kill off peace
They are not shy about this. Hamas told the NYT that they attacked to create a state of “permanent war.”
“I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us.” — Taher El-Nounou
One component of that is using Human Shields to drive up the civilian death toll.
This video from Hamas’ leader shows the quote:
We Need The Blood Of Women, Children, And The Elderly Of Gaza — So It Awakens Our Revolutionary Spirit
President Biden has spoken briefly about how Hamas attacked due to the upcoming Arab Peace Initiative:
[O]ne of the reasons why Hamas struck when they did was they knew that I was working very closely with the Saudis and others in the region to bring peace to the region.
The problem for Hamas is that a peace deal that establishes a right to exist and security for both Israel and Palestinians would be a step away from war, and a step towards a long-term solution with both people having a secure state. Where would Hamas be then?
Hamas has a peace veto
Because Hamas has military power, they can always terminate any peace deal by launching a large enough attack. These attacks inflame passions on both sides of the conflict, making it politically impossible for Arab or Israeli leadership to sign any deal.
Iran is also aligned to this strategy (and are the main controllers of Hamas). Iran insists on a single Islamic Caliphate spanning the entire Middle East and particularly want Jerusalem, so they use Hamas as a proxy to destroy Israel.
As soon as Hamas took 220 hostages, they gained a much simpler and stronger peace veto. Hamas could simply behead a dozen child hostages on TV and peace disappears. And they’d still have plenty of hostages left for next time. (Previously they needed enough rockets to get past Iron Dome defenses, or a way to breach the security barrier.)
Hamas has to go
There will always be cells of Hamas terrorists, and the Hamas “ideology” will remain after Hamas is driven from power. To the extent Hamas still exists, they may recruit some who were radicalized during this war.
But Hamas as a governing entity with a military, tunnel network, import/export controls, levies of taxes, funding from Qatar, weapons caches, parades, and control of the schools to indoctrinate new terrorists will be over.
Hamas will be hiding from whoever runs Gaza after this is over, rather than ruling the place themselves.
Hamas could simply behead a dozen child hostages on TV and peace disappears. And they’d still have plenty of hostages left for next time.
A cease-fire would be a victory for Hamas
Many kind and decent people just want the war to stop. But we cannot bury our heads in the sand right now, and use toddler logic when realpolitik is required.
Let’s look at the day after such a permanent cease-fire:
Hamas would celebrate in the rubble-strewn streets and shout from the rooftops that they defeated the Jewish enemy. This would solidify their hold in Gaza and allow them to recruit fighters more effectively in the West Bank and around the Arab world. The West Bank fighters would eventually be used to overthrow Fatah, just as they did in Gaza in 2007.
Hezbollah, Iran and all hostile Arab extremist movements would also celebrate, much as the various far-left groups in the U.S. horrifyingly celebrated Hamas’ original terror attack on October 7th.
All enemies of Israel, who seek a 2nd genocide, would understand that if they attack the Jews forcefully enough and use enough human shields, or incur 10,000+ casualties, the world will side with them. It will establish a bloody formula for destroying Israel. Attempting this formula will kill many more people over time.
Israel’s deterrence will be severely damaged against the various hostile nations in neighboring Arab snd Persian lands. Such countries control 99.9% of the land area in the Middle East and rule over 400 million people, many of fighting age, so they can cause far more deaths than in the current conflict.
Hamas will have many hostages left, tunnels intact, rockets, and other weapons caches as well. They will be ready to attack again in case Israel and the Palestinians, or the Saudis, ever get close to a peace deal again.
A cease fire is a surrender, and would be the death of peace and cause untold death and suffering long term.
