“Hamas holds not only our hostages, but also two million Palestinians in Gaza as hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News. What folly — to portray the Gazans who celebrated on Oct. 7 as victims of Hamas, just like us. This is a profound misunderstanding of the enemy, which explains why, after nearly two years, the mission is still unfinished.
Let me be clear: Hamas is Gaza and Gaza is Hamas. The terror group is not some foreign implant in the Strip, and support for it has been no less than the support dictators receive in other Arab states, all of which are dictatorships.
If Gaza’s two million residents are truly Hamas’ victims, Netanyahu should explain why Gaza looks the way it does now. If they were peace-seeking civilians, they would have cast out the terrorists — maybe even helped free the hostages — sparing themselves from destruction. But they did not. Look at what’s found in every home there.
Until October 7, Gaza was a de facto state with defined borders, a central government, armed forces and foreign policy. That state declared war on us. Its hate-filled citizens rejoiced at the atrocities committed and took part in them. Now they are paying the price. As in every Arab war against us, after they lose, come the cries of victimhood. It never occurs to them that if they hadn’t started a war, all this suffering would have been avoided.
Calling Gazans “hostages” serves Hamas’s propaganda and fuels the world’s venomous attacks against us. If they are victims, then why are we causing them suffering? And if so, we supposedly bear responsibility for feeding and caring for them.
It never occurs to them that if they hadn’t started a war, all this suffering would have been avoided
The truth is, everything Netanyahu has failed to grasp during his 15 years in power since 2009, he still doesn’t understand. I have long opposed his appeasement toward Gaza — paying billions in protection money to Hamas, tolerating and absorbing their terror, abandoning Mengistu, al-Sayed, Goldin and Shaul for years, fearing to kill Sinwar and other terrorists, and failing to grasp that we owe Gaza nothing. They have a border with Egypt. We have no obligation to supply them with anything.
Unfortunately, I was a lone voice in Likud. Even today, no minister or Knesset lawmaker dares to voice dissent. Not because they all agree, but because they are cowards. That’s how we’ve reached the absurdity of supplying the enemy, at our own expense, in the middle of a war, strengthening its ability to hold out.
What is the point of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2” if, at the same time, we deliver supplies to the enemy? Instead of this foolish debate with the world about Gaza’s suffering, tell the truth: yes, things are bad in Gaza, and they will get worse — unless the hostages are returned.
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Fundamental concepts have been twisted to serve the survival of this failed government. But even if you call a chicken a cow a thousand times, it will still be a chicken. You call yourself right-wing? Continuing to pay protection money to terrorists through ongoing supplies, abandoning our people, dodging responsibility and caving to Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and the ultra-Orthodox — since when is this weakness and cowardice “right-wing”?
The cabinet now says it will defeat Hamas. Fine — but what exactly have you decided for nearly two years? And why do you always find a scapegoat instead of owning your failures? Your legitimacy is in question, because what legitimacy does a government that supports draft-dodging have to send soldiers into battle?