It is Hamas Who is Responsible For Gaza’s Misery

My heart goes out to the families and friends of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023, especially the families and friends of the 36 hostages whose bodies have been recovered, including the six who were murdered by Hamas last week, just hours before being discovered by Israeli Defense Forces.

If my child, spouse, or another relative were being held hostage, I would be doing everything in my power to effect their release, demanding that my government do more… make a deal… withdraw from Gaza… enact a unilateral cease fire.

Because my viewpoint would be wholly subjective.

The luxury of distance is objectivity. And objectively, only one entity bears responsibility for the deaths of the hostages: Hamas. Hamas had a choice whether to attack Israel on October 7 and murder, rape, and butcher more than 1,200 people, including the elderly, infants, and hundreds of young people who were doing nothing more menacing than attending a music festival. Hamas had a choice whether to take hostages. And as IDF soldiers approached their position last weekend, Hamas had a choice whether to free the six hostages. They chose to execute them instead.

Those murdered by Hamas last week included 25-year-old Ori Danino, 40-year-old Carmel Gat, 32-year-old Alexander Lobanov, 27-year-old Almog Sarusi, 24-year-old Eden Yerushalmi, and 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli.

But what of the thousands of innocent Palestinians killed by Israel since October 7? Similarly, the elderly, women, and children figure predominantly among those killed in military operations in Gaza. Ultimately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to look himself in the mirror and determine if the end results (whatever they turn out to be) were worth the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and the nearly complete destruction of Gaza. The citizens of Israel will determine Netanyahu’s political fate. And in the end, Bibi will stand in judgment before his God.

Hamas’s brazen attack on October 7 represented the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Let that sink in for a moment. The Holocaust, in which at least 6 million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime. In gas chambers. In mass shootings. In concentration camps where they were deprived of any humane treatment, subjected to brutal conditions, experimented upon, and where many died of disease, malnutrition, or literally were worked to death.

It was the Holocaust, of course, that gave impetus to the establishment of a homeland for Jews in the British Mandate for Palestine. The idea, as endorsed and promoted by the newly-formed United Nations in 1947, was to partition the mandate into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. The Jews agreed to the concept and acted upon it to create the State of Israel. The Arabs rejected the proposal, and violence ensued, resulting in strife on and off for the past three-quarters of a century.

Since the end of World War II, Jews have lived under the philosophy of “Never Again.” Never again would they submit to fascism. Never again would they allow themselves to be persecuted and terrorized. Never again would they be the victims of genocide. Never again would they not fight back. Never again would they not avenge their dead. When Hamas carried out its attack on October 7, the Jews of Israel responded as they tend to do—without mercy.

What needs to be understood is that that is exactly the response that Hamas intended to provoke. Following the historic Abraham Accords initiated by the Trump administration, the Biden administration was making progress in expanding Arab-Israeli ties after a halting start. By September 2023, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Israel were close to a normalization agreement. With the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco already on board via the Abraham Accords (plus Israel’s longstanding peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt), the Palestinians viewed any agreement between the Saudis and Israelis as a severe blow to their cause that would likely relegate them to the dustbin of history.

Hamas calculated that an unprecedented strike against civilian targets in Israel would result in a devastating response by the Israelis and would serve to propel the Palestinians’ cause front and center. Intense media coverage of the carnage in Gaza quickly helped transform the world’s initial sympathy for Israel into sympathy for Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands of “useful idiots” protesting in the streets of the world’s capitals and who haven’t a clue as to what life is like either under Hamas or in Israel, have unleashed an ugly renewal of antisemitism as they chant genocidal slogans the meaning of which they may or may not understand.

Meanwhile, Israel has found itself not only at war with Hamas but on the receiving end of direct attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Hamas leaders cynically take shelter in places normally off-limits for military operations: hospitals, mosques, churches, even schools. Because senior Israeli leadership cares little about the niceties of war, these sites are considered legitimate military targets if they deem that senior Hamas figures are hiding there. If civilian casualties occur as the result of a strike that kills Hamas leadership, they are chalked up as collateral damage. Hamas made the choice to hide amongst civilians. Israel made the choice to strike anyway.

In short, Israel willingly walked right into the trap that Hamas set for the Jewish state because Israeli leaders believed they had no other choice. Will the gamble pay off for Hamas? Israel has come under increasing global condemnation, with accusations of attempted genocide and other war crimes, calls for a ceasefire, and demands for a negotiated settlement.

Hamas has been hesitant to agree to stand down or release more hostages. They know that without hostages they lose any shred of leverage they may currently have. The longer they can draw out the horror, the more sympathy they will accrue and the more pressure on Israel to cease military operations and begin a negotiated peace—most likely with a two-state solution as the preferred goal.

For their part, the Israelis likely have been slow-rolling negotiations because, frankly, they want to kill as many Hamas militants as possible. The problem with that is two-fold: first, Israel isn’t making any friends, either among its own populace, where tens of thousands have protested Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war and failure to bring the hostages home, or abroad; second, a military solution is not viable. You can kill tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of militants, but it is impossible to kill an idea.

What needs to happen is that both sides need to recognize the other’s right to exist. Hamas needs to release all remaining hostages unconditionally, demilitarize, and renounce terrorism. Israel needs to cease military operations and rein in the settlers in the West Bank, who are causing mayhem while all eyes are on Gaza. And both sides need to negotiate in good faith about a way forward that will bring peace, prosperity, and security for all. Unfortunately, that scenario seems a distant dream at present.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice was right to bring charges of terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions evasion against six senior leaders of Hamas on Tuesday of this week over the October 7 attack that included the brutal murder of more than 40 U.S. citizens.

Because when the dust settles, we need to remember who really is to blame for the misery in Gaza. And their name is Hamas.

Captain Scott Rye, USN (Ret.), is a former correspondent for Daily Shipping Guide, the former long-time editor of Alabama Seaport magazine, and the author of Of Men & Ships: The Best Sea Tales and Men & Ships of the Civil War.