By Professor Shimon Glick—
Premeditation: The Hamas pogrom was a carefully orchestrated event with a clear, declared goal, expressed orally and in writing. They aimed to murder civilians of all ages and kidnap hostages. The leadership of Hamas has expressly stated its goal to repeat such attacks repeatedly in the future.
Barbarism: The extraordinary cruelty Hamas terrorists showed to infants, elderly individuals, and pregnant women is unique in modern history, equaling, or perhaps even exceeding, that of ISIS.
Betrayal: A large majority of the victims came from villages populated by Israelis who have long been actively advocating peace with their Palestinian neighbors in Gaza. Several of the victims have been veteran volunteers in an organization, Road to Recovery, whose members personally (and on their own time) transported Palestinians to and from Gaza to hospitals in Israel for medical treatment.
Treachery: A number of Palestinians employed by the nearby kibbutzim for long periods of time prepared maps of their employer’s homes and neighborhoods for the planning of the Hamas attacks on their own employers.
War crimes: Ever since Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza, well before the October 7 attack and ever since, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets daily into strictly civilian targets all over Israel. Each rocket launch is a war crime. Several hospitals have been hit.
Mendacity: Infamously, Hamas has falsely accused Israel of bombing of a major health center in Gaza, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, while routinely it continues daily attacks on civilian targets including hospitals and schools in Israel.
Cowardice: Hamas regularly uses civilians as human shields in its battles. It places its military offices and equipment under and alongside schools, hospitals and other civilian institutions. It blocks the evacuation of civilians from the battle areas in North Gaza to the South, as demanded by Israel.
Betrayal: Hamas’s leaders have said that despite being the governing body in the strip, they are not responsible for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, but that responsibility is that of Israel and UNRWA. The tunnels, built with enormous human and financial cost, are strictly for attacking Israel.
Crimes against humanity: Hamas has not only pledged in writing and in public declarations to destroy Israel. They also are committed to a worldwide Jihad against other “infidels,” including Christians and deviant Moslems.
The loss of civilian lives on both sides is unbearably tragic, but Israel has traditionally taken repeated steps to minimize harming innocent civilians in Gaza. In contrast to Hamas, it targets military targets only. But there are clearly situations in which no alternative exists during critical military operations to avoid civilian losses. Hamas is responsible for these needless deaths. Such was the situation in World War II in the extensive bombings of German and Japanese cities, not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Germans dropped 12,000 tons of bombs on the UK during the Blitz. The allies pummeled German cities with more than 2,000,000—a ratio of 166 to one.
Acceptance of a “ceasefire” now will repeat the lack of resolution following several previous battles with Hamas, which were followed just a few years later by Hamas attacks on Israel.
The battle against Hamas must continue unabated until its total defeat or its unconditional surrender. Would any sane person have asked for a ceasefire after Pearl Harbor?
Professor Shimon Glick is a renowned expert on Jewish medical ethics. He is former dean of the Ben Gurion University Faculty of Health Sciences and former head of the Lord Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits Center for Jewish Medical Ethics at the institution. He also served for over a decade as Ombudsman for Israel’s National Health Service.
As international pressures mount for a “ceasefire” in the current battle between Hamas and Israel, it is critical for an insistence on the continued battle to destroy the Hamas terror organization in Gaza for a variety of reasons. Minimally, there are nine reasons.
Premeditation: The Hamas pogrom was a carefully orchestrated event with a clear, declared goal, expressed orally and in writing. They aimed to murder civilians of all ages and kidnap hostages. The leadership of Hamas has expressly stated its goal to repeat such attacks repeatedly in the future.
Barbarism: The extraordinary cruelty Hamas terrorists showed to infants, elderly individuals, and pregnant women is unique in modern history, equaling, or perhaps even exceeding, that of ISIS.
Betrayal: A large majority of the victims came from villages populated by Israelis who have long been actively advocating peace with their Palestinian neighbors in Gaza. Several of the victims have been veteran volunteers in an organization, Road to Recovery, whose members personally (and on their own time) transported Palestinians to and from Gaza to hospitals in Israel for medical treatment.
Treachery: A number of Palestinians employed by the nearby kibbutzim for long periods of time prepared maps of their employer’s homes and neighborhoods for the planning of the Hamas attacks on their own employers.
War crimes: Ever since Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza, well before the October 7 attack and ever since, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets daily into strictly civilian targets all over Israel. Each rocket launch is a war crime. Several hospitals have been hit.
Mendacity: Infamously, Hamas has falsely accused Israel of bombing of a major health center in Gaza, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, while routinely it continues daily attacks on civilian targets including hospitals and schools in Israel.
Cowardice: Hamas regularly uses civilians as human shields in its battles. It places its military offices and equipment under and alongside schools, hospitals and other civilian institutions. It blocks the evacuation of civilians from the battle areas in North Gaza to the South, as demanded by Israel.
Betrayal: Hamas’s leaders have said that despite being the governing body in the strip, they are not responsible for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, but that responsibility is that of Israel and UNRWA. The tunnels, built with enormous human and financial cost, are strictly for attacking Israel.
Crimes against humanity: Hamas has not only pledged in writing and in public declarations to destroy Israel. They also are committed to a worldwide Jihad against other “infidels,” including Christians and deviant Moslems.
The loss of civilian lives on both sides is unbearably tragic, but Israel has traditionally taken repeated steps to minimize harming innocent civilians in Gaza. In contrast to Hamas, it targets military targets only. But there are clearly situations in which no alternative exists during critical military operations to avoid civilian losses. Hamas is responsible for these needless deaths. Such was the situation in World War II in the extensive bombings of German and Japanese cities, not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Germans dropped 12,000 tons of bombs on the UK during the Blitz. The allies pummeled German cities with more than 2,000,000—a ratio of 166 to one.
Acceptance of a “ceasefire” now will repeat the lack of resolution following several previous battles with Hamas, which were followed just a few years later by Hamas attacks on Israel.
The battle against Hamas must continue unabated until its total defeat or its unconditional surrender. Would any sane person have asked for a ceasefire after Pearl Harbor?
Professor Shimon Glick is a renowned expert on Jewish medical ethics. He is former dean of the Ben Gurion University Faculty of Health Sciences and former head of the Lord Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits Center for Jewish Medical Ethics at the institution. He also served for over a decade as Ombudsman for Israel’s National Health Service.