ITAI’s Special Bulletin XI

ITAI’s Special Bulletin XI

By: Joseph Puder

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Many Americans (68%) according to a Reuters survey, support a cease-fire in the Gaza war. Most of them, however, do not distinguish between a cease-fire and a humanitarian pause. The latter would give Gazan civilians a chance to move southward away from the fire zone to safe zones and to be resupplied with basic needs such as food, water, medicines, and toiletries. Such a pause would last a few hours or a couple of days and wouldn’t apply to combat areas. The pro-Hamas crowd, including the “progressive” wing of the Democratic party, demand a cease-fire in order to save Hamas. A cease-fire would enable this brutal terror organization to stay in power, rebuild its military capacities, and eventually threaten Israel once again with an even more horrific massacre of Jews as promised by the Hamas leadership.

A cease-fire is mostly favored in North America and Western Europe. While a lengthy cease-fire might be a positive development if it leads to a peace agreement, the chances of that happening in light of Hamas’ repeated vow to destroy Israel and non-recognition of the right of the Jewish state to exist, rules out that possibility. The cease-fire that ended the Yom Kippur War in 1973 ultimately led to the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel. However, inasmuch as the ideology of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is on par with that of ISIS, and its cruelty and intolerance of non-Muslims matches that of al-Qaeda there is little doubt of a future peace accord.

Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’s politburo, in an interview with the Lebanese LBC-TV channel, said on October 24, 2023, “We must remove it (Israel) because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Muslim nation. We‘re not ashamed to say this.” Hamad hailed the assault and massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, and vowed that “there will be a second, a third, and a fourth such assaults.”

Israel must remain steadfast and say “no” to a cease-fire with Hamas, and “yes” to a limited humanitarian pause that allows the Gazans to move away from the fighting zones.

Unfortunately, Hamas is preventing their own civilians from escaping from the fire zone and, is thus responsible for much of the civilian casualties in Gaza. IDF forces, on the other hand, are actually providing safe passage to those Gazans fleeing the fighting.

The only way Israel can say “yes” to a cease-fire is if Hamas is forced to surrender and disarm, its political and military leaders go into exile and all of the Israelis being held hostage are freed and safely returned home.

Despite the pressures President Joe Biden is facing, primarily from the “progressive” wing of his Democratic Party, he has not called for a cease-fire but has demanded a humanitarian pause and asked the Israelis to minimize civilian casualties. In fact, Israel has done what is humanly possible under the circumstances, to avoid hurting the innocents, particularly women and children. Conversely, Hamas took pleasure in deliberately murdering entire families, women, children, babies, and the elderly. Hamas dragged 240 Israeli hostages to the dark tunnels of Gaza, a clear war crime and a crime against humanity.

Following the gruesome murder of 1,200 Israelis, the injuring of almost 6,000, and the kidnapping of 240, Israel clearly has the moral and legal justification to enter the Gaza Strip and liquidate the Hamas terror regime. Civilian casualties in Gaza are regrettable, but as Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israel, they are fully responsible for the outcome. Elections have consequences and, and the Gazans who elected Hamas to rule over them, are now suffering from their decision.