Hateful ideology

The motives behind the murderous Hamas incursion into Israel are hard to fathom beyond a desire to kill Jews. The terror group’s leaders must have known what the response would be, but they were callously prepared to sacrifice their own people to the inevitably harsh military crackdown. 

After days bombing key targets in Gaza, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has now mobilised some 300,000 reservists in preparation for a ground invasion.

Air attacks will not be enough to destroy Hamas, but an offensive is fraught with danger if it ends in fierce fighting amid the rubble of the densely populated enclave. This could be what Hamas wants – to draw Israel into Gaza and turn world opinion around as civilians are killed.

But there is no moral equivalence here. Hamas terrorists have wantonly slaughtered hundreds of Israelis in an unprovoked assault designed to incite a wider war in support of the Palestinians. For now, however, it is not happening. There has been no uprising on the West Bank. Arab states have also shown no sign of backing Hamas, which is trying to derail the so-called Abraham Accords forging closer ties with Israel. 

Saudi Arabia has called for a “credible peaceful process leading to a two-state solution that achieves security and peace in the region and protects civilians”.

Yet Hamas, Hizbollah and Iran have no interest in a two-state solution. They want Israel destroyed and do not recognise its right to exist. Pro-Palestinian activists in the West who are backing Hamas are in reality subscribing to a profoundly hateful anti-Semitic ideology.