If Hamas Wins, We All Lose

Western backsliding over support for Israel demonstrates an unwillingness to acknowledge what is at stake in this war.

On October 7^th, 2023, the world was reminded yet again what Islamist terrorists could do when unleashed. On their murderous rampage through southern Israel, Hamas butchered families, burned children alive, raped women, and gunned down young festivalgoers. Around 1,200 people were killed. While retreating from Israel, Hamas kidnapped hundreds of civilians, children, infants, and the elderly; all to be used as hostages in a high-stakes battle for control over Gaza.

Hamas knew what would happen. They knew that Israel would be forced to respond in force to the atrocity, but they didn’t care. They knew that the attack against Israel would inspire Islamist fanatics worldwide and that Israel’s response would allow Palestinians to pose as victims, increasing international support for a Palestinian state. They’d prepared for this. By building tunnels under civilian infrastructure, they could increase the death toll from Israeli bombs. By hiding in hospitals, they could use civilians as human shields and portray Israel as evil for attacking them.

Israel of course took the bait, but what else could they do? Allow Hamas to continue its attacks? Allow themselves to be killed?

Reaction to the Hamas pogrom was mixed. Many in the West were appalled by the Hamas pogrom and supported Israel’s right to self-defence. Some, including top academics at Oxford and Cambridge, blamed Israel for the slaughter. Others on the far-left rejoiced and celebrated the pogrom as an act of Palestinian resistance.

On the same day as the attack, Socialist Worker magazine argued passionately in defence of the killings: “The Palestinian people have every right to respond in any way they choose to the violence that the Israeli state metes out to them every day.” Immediately after the massacre of Jews by Palestinian gunmen, protesters in major cities were marching in solidarity with Palestine.

Antisemitism surged globally in the aftermath of the October 7^th attack. The most frequent form of antisemitic abuse was referenced to or linked to Israel, Palestine, or Hamas. In 2023, there were 182 incidents of damage and desecration of Jewish property in the UK, a 146 percent increase from 2022. 

Fast forward to April 2024 and the little support Israel did have seems to have disappeared entirely. Following a battle over the Al-Shifa hospital and the tragic killing of aid workers recently in Gaza, the West is losing patience with Israel. Spain now looks likely to recognise a Palestinian state. British politicians are now calling for both an immediate ceasefire as well as for an arms embargo on Israel.

Hamas has mostly been pushed back to Rafah in southern Gaza, along with over a million civilians. Israel has delayed its final assault out of hesitation. They do not wish to kill civilians unnecessarily. Israel also fears for the safety of the many hostages still being held captive.

Yet much of world opinion has been turned against Israel, both by horrific videos of destruction in Gaza as well as by extremist peddlers of anti-Semitism and Israelophobia such as Candace Owens and George Galloway who wrongly accuse Israel of committing genocide.

You’d think that Hamas using Palestinians as human shields would increase support for Israel’s mission to destroy the terrorist group, but no. Instead, Israel is blamed for civilian deaths. Some have even referred to the war as another Holocaust. So-called “pro-Palestine” groups have consistently blamed Israel for the war and called for a Palestinian state. Who would govern that state they won’t say. Definitely not terrorist groups, I’m sure…

The people condemning Israel and calling for a ceasefire are not pro-Palestinian. If they were pro-Palestinian, then they would support removing Hamas, a group that steals aid from Palestinian civilians and uses them as human shields.

Mr Galloway, recently elected MP for Rochdale, believes that it is wrong to remove Hamas because they were chosen by the Palestinians in 2006. The fact that a free and fair election hasn’t been held since then doesn’t factor in his judgment. Despite being an anti-Semitic organisation dedicated to the destruction of Israel, Hamas is a legitimate government in his eyes.

Galloway’s support for Hamas is unsurprising, considering he has also supported Hezbollah, another anti-Semitic terrorist group whose stated aim is to destroy Israel. Yet with all this hate against the world’s only Jewish state, people wonder why it needs to exist.

Thankfully, Galloway’s views remain a fringe position. But the Overton window is gradually shifting in that direction, towards an overtly anti-Israel position. Recognising a Palestinian state now would essentially green-light more attacks on Israel. It would provide moral cover, a justification for Palestinian terrorists who wrongly believe they are victims of Israeli oppression. Israel simply cannot withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza. If it were to do so then that land would become a launchpad for attacks into Israel such as the one on October 7^th.

Israel simply cannot allow Hamas to win. To do so would encourage more attacks on Israeli civilians. Yet to fully destroy Hamas will also result in civilian deaths. This is the bind Israel is in that so few in the West seem to understand. Imagine if a terrorist attack killed 1,200 people in your own country. Imagine if 200 of your countrymen, perhaps people you knew, were taken hostage by radical jihadists and rapists. Imagine if you were one of the hostages. Would you want your country to leave you behind?

According, to a UN team there is "convincing information" that hostages held in Gaza have been subjected to sexual violence including rape and sexualised torture. There are also grounds to suspect that this abuse is ongoing.

By now Hamas has revealed itself as a murderous anti-Semitic terrorist group that must be destroyed. That much is clear. But what many in the West do not realise is that if Hamas wins, we all lose. Victory for Hamas would not only embolden Islamists in Palestine, but it would also encourage violent jihadists worldwide to continue their Holy War on the infidels. As the horrific ISIS attack in Moscow last month demonstrated, nobody is immune from Islamist terrorism.

If jihadist groups are allowed to survive and grow back in strength, then they will be a threat to global security. No country will be safe. If we in the UK think we’re safe from Islamist terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah, then we are extremely naïve.

As recently as 2017, 23 people were killed in the Manchester Arena bombing, carried out by an Islamist fanatic. In 2021 MP David Amess was also murdered by an Islamist who stabbed him 21 times. Just this year Conservative MP Mike Freer resigned after receiving death threats and an alleged arson attack on his office. The extremist group responsible, Muslims Against Crusades, targeted him for his pro-Israel beliefs. How long before journalists are targeted as well as politicians?

The fight against Islamist extremism is not just about national security, it is an ideological fight for the defence of democracy and freedom against those who wish to terrorize us into submission. It’s a war between good and evil. Civilisation and barbarism. And that is why Israel must win.

For politicians, it is fashionable to talk about peace, but there will be no peace until Hamas is defeated. Hamas could end the war tomorrow by laying down arms and giving back the hostages. It is therefore Hamas that is the main barrier to peace, not Israel.

For anyone who thinks a political settlement is the answer to the war, I assure you it is not. Hamas and Hezbollah are not interested in constructive dialogue. The only language they understand is force. Palestinian terrorist groups must be militarily defeated, and their leaders killed. Only then will there be peace in the Middle East.