The Right Honourable Ernest Bevin
It’s been 178 days of war, a war started by Hamas. 178 days since a ceasefire, which had already been in place, was broken by Hamas. There are still 134 kidnapped victims in Gaza. They have been in captivity for 177 days. How many are still alive is unknown. Their whereabouts are unknown. Their condition is unknown, but based on what we do know from the testimonies of those who have been released and rescued, we can say with assurance that they are enduring unimaginably horrific suffering.
In this post, I’m going to explain, not the craziness of Hamas, nor their evil nature, but their historic mindset, along with the historic mindset of Israel.
First, let me take you back to a piece of a speech that was made by The Right Honourable Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary during the period leading up to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. Bevin, who was not known as a lover of the Jewish people, said in a speech to the House of Commons on October 31, 1947, that “The Arabs and Jews have different principles, and they want different things. I do not see how they can both be satisfied with a single state. “What were these two principles? What were the fundamental desires of each party?
Bevin perceived that the Jewish community in Palestine sought to establish a Jewish state, with a focus on self-determination, sovereignty, and the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people. Simply put, the Jews wanted a State —of any size— in their ancestral homeland. Conversely, Bevin understood that the Arab population in Palestine wished to maintain Arab control and total dominance over all the territory, rejecting the establishment of a Jewish state. Simply put, the Arabs wanted to prevent the Jews from having a state, even one as “small as a postage stamp” —a familiar saying among Arab leaders at the time. It was also restated by Mahmoud Abbas, the current President of the Palestinian Authority, as recently as 2014, during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership.
Those two principals, those two bedrock desires, are still in place today. One is productive. The other is destructive. One is a desire to share and to build. The other is a desire to deny and destroy.
I recently had lunch with a friend who told me about her husband, (let’s call him Gadi) who up until October 10, 2023, had been a dyed-the-wool Israeli peacenik. Gadi is a writer of some note, and for years he’d been attending interfaith peace gatherings with Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank. He’d also kept in touch by email with a “thoughtful” Gazan Palestinian. (Let’s call him Ahmad.) The two pen pals would discuss how the world might look like if all peoples could transcend their petty differences and lay down their weapons once and for all. I wasn’t privy to their exchanges, but I could imagine how wonderful they must have sounded to Gadi. Given Gadi’s attachment to the Jew’s principal —that of living in peace and sovereignty with its Arab neighbors— I could also imagine how uplifted he must have felt hearing these aspirational thoughts coming from an actual Gazan Palestinian! Someone many Israelis would no doubt look upon as an enemy.
Then October 7th happened.
Gadi emailed Ahmad that very same day. Rather unfortunately, instead of receiving words of sympathy, Gadi heard a completely different tone from Ahmad. My friend, after seventy years of oppression this was bound to happen.
Now, you must excuse me dear reader, as I briefly interject my own feelings: Was the beheading of Jewish babies “bound to happen?” Was the shooting of bullets into the genitals of young Israeli women after they were raped “bound to happen?” Was the kidnapping of infants and toddlers and taken into the dungeons of Gaza “bound to happen?” Or was it something else?
Gadi was shocked by what he’d heard. And for the first time in any of their exchanges Gadi got up the nerve to ask Ahmad what he thought about the slogan “From The River To The Sea”. Ahmad answered tersely. It means the end of the State of Israel. Needless to say, Gadi and Ahmad have not communicated since October of 2023.
Was I shocked, surprised or alarmed by Ahmad’s response? The brutality of Hamas, in conjunction with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of so-called “innocent Gazan civilians” who crossed the border on October 7 2023 and partook in the massacre of Jews was incredibly shocking. But was I shocked by what Ahmad told Gadi? No. I was not. He was not after peace, he was merely getting intel on an enemy. Was I shocked by Hamas’s strategy of brutalizing Jews as a means of upholding their fundamental principal —the elimination of the Jews? Of course not. The imperative to murder Jews is in the charter of Hamas. It is the very bedrock of their principle. Let’s look at how seriously each party has taken their adherence to their principle.
The Jews have built a thriving, productive, sovereign State — Just as they’d wished for. The Gazans have built an underground fortress, replete with a 400 kilometer underground killing machine — just as they’d wished for. There was never a single moment when Hamas wanted a two-state solution, a sharing of the land. And this goes for the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs as well. Again, their shared principle is the elimination of the Jewish State.
Does this make Hamas “evil” as many people — including myself— have said in the months since 10/7? To decry someone or something evil is a theological question, one that’s not entirely relevant to this discussion. While I tend to think of Wahhabism, or Radical Islam, with its reverence for death, as evil, it’s also not germane to this discussion. What is germane here, and it’s something that far too many people miss when thinking about the war between Israel and Hamas, is understanding how sophisticated Hamas has been in accomplishing their goal; their “principal.”
So why do I “praise” Hamas? I do so because as much as I abhor them I respect how focused they are on their principle. I do so because they have done exactly what that principle demands of them. I do so because of their inventiveness, their strategic thinking, their tactics, and their obeisance to their desire of eliminating Jews. Let’s review their strategy on 10/7 as if Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader had spoken it aloud:
Let us go forth and puncture the seemingly invulnerable shield that Israel has created for itself by conducting a massive and deadly pogrom against the Jews of the Gaza Triangle, and much further if possible. Let us do it on their Holy Day of Simchat Torah. Let us make it so horrible, so grotesque that it will shake the already faltering confidence of the Jews, not only in Israel, but worldwide. By this means, will we utterly destroy Israel’s deterrence and in turn inspire Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, the Houtis, the West Bank Palestinians, the Israeli Arabs, and perhaps even Iran itself to join in our massacre of the Jews. Knowing our history with Israel, we can expect a huge reprisal, but do not fear. Along with heavenly aid from Allah, there are four things that will protect us. Namely:
· The many captives we will take in this operation. Recall that in return for just one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, I, along with a thousand others prisoners was released. The Jews are weak!
· The protection afforded to our regime through the underground tunnel system we have been creating for the past seventeen years
· Israel’s native reluctance to kill civilians.
· And finally, the absolutely reliability of the world —including the United States— to turn against Israel and its supporters once the photos of dead Gazans come out in the press. Make no mistake! We will make sure to disseminate every image, as they will be our greatest tool in isolating Israel from the world community.
Most of all, I “praise” Hamas for bringing some hard realities out of the shadows and into the light.
Reality one:
The Jews are a forgiving, peace loving people. But if you push us too far you will be reminded that the time is not ripe for fu*#ing with us. If you are willing to try, you will be reminded of our strength —and the strength of our unity.
Reality two:
Those who despise America, those who despise our way of life, our productivity, our history our unity, and our freedoms, are those who are most likely to march on behalf of Hamas and against the Jews. Here are a handful of organizations that were protesting in support of Hamas in the days immediately after the massacre of 10/7: Democratic Socialists of America, BLM, Queers for Palestine, Jewish Voice For Peace (Note: the percentage of actual Jews in that movement is not high), IFNOTNOW, and Students for Justice in Palestine.
Reality three:
A two-state solution is absolutely possible. However, it is possible only when the Palestinians disavow their fundamental principal of the destruction of the Jewish State.
Reality four:
Hamas went too far. In doing so, they have done us the favor of showing us who we can rely upon and who are enemies are.
I often ask my friends how they answer the question of Israel’s legitimacy. Most of them don’t do it well. They are too quick to say: “The United Nations’ General Assembly Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947, recommending the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, is what gives Israel its legitimacy.”
Why is that answer wrong? It’s wrong because time and again, the UN has shown itself to be a corrupt agency, especially when it comes to Israel. It’s wrong because one earns one’s own legitimacy, it can never be given.
I also hear others argue that “there never was a Palestinian state. There never was a Palestinian government, Palestinian currency, or an effective Palestinian national movement.” What’s wrong with this? It’s wrong because it’s not persuasive. You have billions of people who don’t care about facts.
I begin Talmudically, by asking another question.
What nation besides the Jewish Nation or “Am Yisrael” has a universally recognized document tying them to their land? Answer: No other nation. We have the Torah in which the Land of Israel was given to the Jews by God. Yes, I know! Many people will rebut that by saying that they don’t believe in God or that the Torah has no legitimacy in the year 2024. But notice I didn’t say, believed. I said universally recognized. The Torah is a document that nearly everyone on the planet is aware of. No other country has anything remotely similar. But there’s more. Israel is a sovereign nation that exists on the ground, that inhabits reality. It has effective democratic organs of governance, a reliable infrastructure, a powerful economy, and a powerful defense force. As such, it requires no one to defend its legitimacy. Calls for the world’s only Jewish state to defend its “legitimacy” are patently absurd. Moreover, they betray a barely disguised animus toward the Jewish people.
I’ll close with this. My concern over these last six months is not political. It has nothing to do with political figures, policy — or land. It has only to do with the protection of seven million of my brothers and sisters. It would not be different if a pogrom had been launched against them in Warsaw, Montreal, Minneapolis, or Paris.
It is time, right now, to free the 134 kidnapped victims from the warrens of Gaza and bring them home. It is time to utterly destroy Hamas and their ilk. It is time to overthrow the Iranian regime and the Mullahs who support and oversee them.
It is time to create a real peace, a true peace. May it be so. Speedily in our days.
Thank you, Peter for this spot on article.
Am Yisroel Chai 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
Thank you Peter. I find myself feeling a mixture of heartbreak, exhaustion, depression and resolute inspiration in reading your thoughtful words.