The end of Hamas and the road to a free Palestine
Israel is trying to move to put an end to Hamas as it began its long-awaited military operation in Rafah. Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had previously announced that Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt and Qatar, yet Israel’s war cabinet said they were pushing ahead with its Rafah plan anyway. Once the operation is underway in Rafah the end of Hamas seems inevitable.
Biden and the democratic party recently sent $26 billion to Israel in military support, but still want them to stay away from Rafah. Biden is desperate to win back the important Arab American votes in November. At this point, Netanyahu does not care about Joe Biden’s domestic voting games. His target is to destroy Hamas once and for all. Israel is clearly not going to agree to any ceasefire that allows Hamas to survive to fight another day. Netanyahu continues to vow he will pursue Hamas until it is destroyed, no matter what, with or without a deal.
Demonstrators in the west are on the street and at college campuses demanding a ceasefire and a stop to the Israeli genocide where more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed so far. An estimated 15,000 are children. Most of the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip has been destroyed or damaged. It is easy to sympathize with the Palestinians as the Israelis keep killing them and as they are still trying to create a independent Palestinian state. Netanyahu, the far-right prime minister, is disliked by most in the west and Joe Biden seems to hate him.
It is also easy to sympathize with the Palestinians as they are harassed in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers are continuing to move in and grab land to their liking. And it is easy to sympathize with the Palestinians who are forced to live as second-class citizens in an apartheid system, where the constitution is only for Jews with rights for Jews only. Israel is truly a terror apartheid state from that perspective.
Hamas, meanwhile, wants to go back in time to October 6th, but that is not going to happen. They are still holding hostages, they still killed around 1,200 Israelis on October 7th, the worst loss of life in a single day since Israel’s founding in 1948, and Hamas is still a terrorist group. So, the plan is that Hamas, as a military threat to Israel, will be destroyed and Rafah ultimately seized by Israel.
Netanyahu shutting down Qatari-owned Al Jazeera last week was also notable from a battlefield information standpoint. Many in the west disagree as Al Jazeera is regarded as a prominent and reliable news outlet.
Israeli’s strategy seems to be to process by piecemealing its group operations, while systematically and slowly accomplishing its goals. Biden has warned of consequences for Israel if the military begins operations in Rafah absent adequate plans to safeguard Palestinian civilians. Yet Israel is determined to defeat Hamas with or without the White House support. Not just to wipe out the remaining Hamas cadres but because Rafah, which borders Egypt, is key to Hamas’ weapons-smuggling.
It is impossible to sympathize with Israel and their methods and their apartheid regime. On the other hand, it is time to destroy Hamas and teach them and other terror groups that using terrorism and murder will not pay off. Long-term, the goal will likely be the creation of a Palestinian state and a peaceful coexistence with Israel. This will require more efforts by the old colonial powers and from the U.S. The days of one-sided support to Israel will hopefully end and there can be more international cooperation to create a new Middle Eastern map including a free and independent Palestine.