Fighting the Just War: The War Against Hamas

Fighting the Just War: Special Column for the Quad-Cities Times Paper

byline Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

Imagine how Americans would feel if terrorists from the town of Tijuana shot 8000 missiles a year into San Diego; or imagine if Ukrainian terrorists attacked Russian cities with a barrage of 20-40 missiles a day. How would Putin react? How would any self-respecting country react? Every government has the duty and responsibility to protect its citizens. Wars of self-defense are fought for this express purpose. So, I wonder: Why should Israel be the exception to this common sense rule? Why does the international community look the other way when it comes to critically evaluating the jihadists of Hamas?

In many ways, the clash between Israel and the jihadists of Gaza is a conflict of values and civilization itself. The people of Gaza have been duped in following leaders who place greater value on death (as evidenced by the suicide bombers) than they do for life. If you ever read the Hamas charter, you would see that it makes Hitler’s Mein Kampf look moderate. Gaza’s misery is completely self-induced.

Despite the billions of dollars sent by nations all around the world to Gaza to recreate the Gaza strip into a paradise and a thriving economy based on the principle of mutual co-existence with her neighbors, Hamas has utilized every dollar to create an infrastructure of terror and mayhem. Its hatred of Israel can only be described as irrational. Palestinians tearing down the left-behind greenhouses and public buildings which could have served respectively as a lifeline to economic well-being and social improvement; Fatah and Hamas engage in internecine battles that claims 1,000 Palestinian lives; the arrests, kidnappings and assassinations by Hamas of anyone who opposes its mini-reign of terror in Gaza.

Ask yourself: What kind of religious people defile their faith by using a Mosque not as a prayer hall, but as a hall in which to stockpile and hide munitions and from which to shoot rockets into Israel? Where is the moral outrage of civilized nations who know better, but remain silent?

The head of Egyptian Intelligence, Omar Suleiman, exclaims, “Mashaal (the head of Hamas) and his thugs will pay for foiling the internal Palestinian dialogue that was supposed to take place in Cairo.” He further adds that “Hamas’ leadership is guilty of great arrogance. It snubs Egypt. It leaders must be reined in and must wake up from their dream.”