In the first days after October 7, I wrote multiple articles predicting that the world would rapidly forget the depraved horrors of that day and replace them with images of Hamas as victims who should be pitied. I encouraged everyone to never forget the atrocities that were committed by Hamas, atrocities that they videotaped with pride: the raping and dismemberment of women, the beheadings of babies, the beheading of a man with a garden hoe, the many murders and kidnappings. I reminded readers that while the world would probably start talking about all the Gazans who hate Hamas and are victims, Hamas was repeatedly elected as the leadership of Gaza by over 90% in every election since 2005, and the streets of Gaza were filled with tens of thousands of Gazans dancing on October 7. Gazans who were supposedly "not supportive of Hamas" were publicly celebrating the horrors of Hamas.
I made a detailed case of why we must view Hamas as a modern incarnation of Amalek, whom we are commanded to destroy completely. I begged that each one of us not get lost in anger or vengeance. I wrote that we must utterly destroy Hamas, but that we should never take joy in that task, lest we lose our own humanity.
I received countless emails and phone calls after that email. Most told me that I was too kind, that we should never mourn any of the Gazans we need to kill, and that we should carpet bomb all of Gaza quickly. People were enraged and wanted vengeance, and I had long talks encouraging them not to get lost in a quest for vengeance. There were even some people who walked out of our synagogue’s services because I preached that we cannot allow ourselves to feel joy in what must be done to Hamas.
But that was five months ago.
Now, we have had five months of the world media bombarding us about the "victims of Gaza," the need for more aid to those "poor victims," and how abusive the IDF is for going into the residential areas of cities in Gaza. We are hearing repeated calls, including from Jews, that we should just stop the war before Ramadan out of respect for their holiday, despite the facts that they attacked on a Jewish holiday and that Ramadan is actually an Islamic holiday of war. We are being told from all sides that Israel is to blame and that Hamas and the people of Gaza just want peace. The world, United Nations, and even the U.S. are, as I predicted, focused on the "victims" of Gaza, not the horrors that they committed and have vowed to commit again. The world is blaming Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Jews everywhere for Hamas false-flag operations such as bombing hospitals, stopping humanitarian aid, and killing civilians rather than looking at the evidence that it is Hamas that actually does these things to their own people. More and more, the conversations I have with people are about "the day after," the "victims" in Gaza, the "evils" of Netanyahu (who wants to "continue the war in Gaza just so he can stay in power"), and how Israel's response to Oct. 7 has been too severe. I am repeatedly told people's opinions about how Israel must stop its originally stated mission and do whatever is necessary to get the hostages back (even agree to a permanent truce). If Netanyahu agrees to all that, these people say, then we will have peace -- which is really all the people of Gaza want.
If the people living in Gaza wanted peace, Hamas would not have been elected into power for almost 25 years. If Hamas wanted peace, they would not have taken billions of dollars of aid and spent it making tunnels, rockets, and military facilities underground. They, instead, would have fed the people and created an infrastructure. If the people of Gaza wanted peace, they wouldn't have allowed Hamas to build those tunnels under their homes, schools, and hospitals -- and then protected those tunnel entrances.
We must remain clear: 90% of the people living in Gaza are complicit with Hamas. It is sad, but true: The vast majority of those living in Gaza support the goal of destroying Israel. Hamas must be destroyed. Period. No one disagreed with that statement on October 8, and nothing has changed five months later.
And we must cry about having to do this act. We must allow ourselves to feel the pain of what must be done and to mourn for all the souls that die, even the souls of the enemies who have vowed to destroy us, for they too were once innocent babies who chose to become evil. But we must destroy them even while we cry.
Shortly after the war started I was interviewed on a Gen Z podcast called "180 Shift" about the attack and war. My feelings today are the same as they were five months ago:
We must finish the mission and entirely destroy Hamas, or there will be more events like Oct. 7. We must not succumb to the bludgeoning of the media and pressure of the world, but must remember the depravities done by Hamas and their vows to repeat that day, God forbid. We must not surrender to our compassions for Gazans now, in the same way that we should not have surrendered to our inherent rage at them five months ago.
We must vividly remember the past so that we can build an integrated and honest future of longterm peace. We must keep ever present in our consciousness the horrors perpetrated by Hamas, the celebrations by the people of Gaza, and their promises to repeat the day. We must treat them like the Amaleks that they are, and destroy them completely and entirely. To do anything less is a tacit approval of their depravities, kidnappings, and horrors as "reasonable" tactics in war. To blame Israel for anything in this war is to justify the actions of the terrorists of Hamas, who have made it clear that they don't care about civilians, holidays, or depravities, and even celebrate the horrors of war.
Related: U.S. Says Israel Has Agreed to a Ceasefire Framework
We must finish this mission and utterly destroy Hamas or they will repeat the kidnappings, murders, and rapes. And while we destroy them, we must also mourn them so as not to lose our own humanity -- but destroy them we must.
Evil does exist in the world, and Hamas, like Amalek before them, is evil. No matter how the media tries to portray them otherwise, they are pure evil. To paraphrase an old folk saying, "The greatest trick true evil has ever done is convincing people that it is a victim,"
May we all remain as fully committed as we were on Oct. 8 to the destruction of Hamas, and may we always protect ourselves from being influenced by a media that seeks to portray evil as a victim.
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