There is no doubt in my mind that the murderers of Hamas are most responsible for the war in Gaza, for the tragic deaths of countless Palestinians and for the hostages who continue to languish in misery in the tunnels of Hamas hell.
Who should receive maximum pressure to release the hostages? Who should bear the brunt of international condemnations for the nightmare of Oct. 7 and its repercussions?
It’s not a close call– the evil murderers of Hamas.
The problem with blaming murderers, however, is that they don’t give a damn. They’re murderers. They do what murderers do. They have neither morals nor conscience. They report to Satan, not to voters.
That explains why hundreds of thousands of Israelis are marching against their own government rather than against Hamas to demand the release of the remaining hostages. It’s because Israelis didn’t vote for Hamas. They know that Hamas owes them nothing. The only people who owe Israelis anything are their democratically elected leaders.
And what do these Israeli leaders owe their people?
Given that we’re about to enter the High Holy Day season of repentance, let’s start with the most obvious: A monumental apology for abandoning them on Oct. 7.
It’s still hard to fathom how a country obsessed with the security of its people—and a leader who called himself Mr. Security—can allow pick-up trucks loaded with terrorists to breach its border, enter living rooms and children’s bedrooms, murder kids in front of their parents, rampage through a music festival, rape women, take 250 hostages and murder 1200 souls—all before the army showed up.
Despite some incredible feats of courage by many Israelis on that fateful day, here’s the unavoidable truth: Netanyahu’s government– from his defense and intelligence team to his cabinet to his far-right partners to his own party— utterly failed the Israeli people on Oct. 7. Seeing that the worst attack in Israel’s history happened under his watch, Netanyahu immediately pivoted and told a traumatized nation that the only way to prevent another Oct. 7 would be to crush Hamas.
It made him look tough, and Hamas must be crushed in any event, but who was Bibi kidding: Israel could easily have stopped that horrible massacre. The ugly reality is that Hamas succeeded on Oct. 7 because Israel fell asleep at the wheel.
Bulldozers breaching a fence with armed terrorists in motorcycles and pick-up trucks was not some radical military innovation that was too complicated or difficult to stop. It was as primal as it gets. Israel should have neutralized the invasion before anyone got killed by doing precisely what it had the capability to do: defend its border.
The all-out war on Hamas was not about borders. It was about severely punishing Hamas in order to regain the deterrence Israel squandered on that day.
“On October 7, the weakest of our enemies delivered the most devastating blow in our history,” Yossi Klein Halevi wrote in The Times of Israel, “sending a message of unprecedented vulnerability to our enemies.”
Addressing that sudden vulnerability was the mission. After being humiliated on Oct. 7, Israel urgently needed to put the “fear of Israel” back into its enemies. How best to do that?
Some have argued that the best way is for Israel to control Gaza indefinitely until some elusive “total” victory is reached– in other words, a war of attrition that puts crushing Hamas above freeing the hostages. But if crushing is the goal, punishment is the ideal means: You crush an enemy by constantly punishing it, on your own time, on your own terms.
Making a deal to free the hostages is a crucial part of crushing Hamas because it will strip the terror group of its leverage. Of course that’s why Hamas is not rushing to make a deal. But to ensure maximum pressure on Hamas from the U.S. and the world, Netanyahu must stop equivocating and show that he’s seriously willing to do what it takes.
After the hostages are back, Israel should double down and triple down on punishing Hamas until it is crushed.
Ceasefire critics claim that international pressure would stop Israel from pursuing Hamas in the event a deal is signed. Seriously? After all the international pressure Israel has already withstood during its ferocious war, does Israel look like a country that would go limp if Hamas deserves more punishment?
And given the atrocity of Oct. 7 and the murder and starving and raping of hostages, does anyone truly believe Israel will tread softly with these murderers rather than look for opportunities to continue punishing them?
Crushing Hamas is not a one-time project—it’s an ongoing campaign and a statement to Israel’s enemies that there’s an enormous price to pay when you mess with Israel. After failing his people so monumentally on Oct. 7, that statement is the least Mr. Security owes his country, just as he owes them to bring the hostages back.
Making a deal to free the hostages has nothing to do with weakness. It’s the opposite. Israel will regain its power, its leverage and its credibility with its people only after the remaining hostages are brought home.
The way to disarm Hamas and eventually crush it is to take away all of its weapons—and that includes its #1 weapon: the hostages.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.