I spent the weekend and most of Monday engaging in back-and-forth with fellow progressive Democrats<\/a> who were trying to change the subject on the clear black-and-white facts about Hamas\u2019 terrorist war against Israel. I kept reminding them of\u00a0four indisputable facts.<\/p>\n

Fact one:<\/strong> Hamas openly declares it hates Jews<\/a>. It is an openly bigoted, anti-Semitic organization. Its public charter, which it calls its \u201cCovenant,\u201d states: \u201cOur struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.\u201d\u00a0 The Covenant actually endorses<\/a>\u00a0the notorious fraudulent anti-Semitic rant, used in part by Hitler to justify the Holocaust, the \u201cProtocols of the Elders of Zion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fact two:<\/strong> Hamas\u2019 invasion is not about supporting an independent Palestinian state. Hamas denies Israel\u2019s right to exist<\/a>.\u00a0It rejects a two-state solution. The head of its political bureau, Khaled Meshal,\u00a0 stated this plainly at a 2012 rally<\/a>\u00a0in Gaza: \u201cPalestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on any inch of land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some commentators, attempting to explain the Hamas invasion over the weekend, blamed the establishment of the state of Israel<\/a> as the reason why there is still no independent Palestinian state. That is false and contradicted by undeniable historical facts. For example:<\/p>\n

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For 19 years, between 1948-1967, Arab countries controlled East Jerusalem and all the land of the West Bank all the way to the Jordan River.\u00a0 They could have established a Palestinian nation<\/a>, with Israel left with a fraction of the territory compared to today\u2019s Israel. So, why didn\u2019t they?<\/li>\n
In 2000, at Camp David, Israel\u2019s prime minister,\u00a0 Ehud Barak, offered to create a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 97% of the West Bank.<\/a>\u00a0The answer was no.<\/li>\n
In 2008,\u00a0 Prime Minister Ehud Ohmert offered to withdraw from almost the entire West Bank<\/a>\u00a0and to partition Jerusalem on a demographic basis\u2014in addition to all of Gaza still being without Israeli soldiers or civilians. Still, the answer was no.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Fact three:<\/strong> Hamas doesn\u2019t care about an independent, democratic Gaza for the well-being or social justice of Gazans. To the contrary. Since Gaza threw out the official government of the Palestinian Authority, it has not invested in food, education, or jobs. Instead, it has used millions of dollars from Iran to build bombs and rockets to be aimed at Israeli civilians, and has lined its own pockets with 15% of substantial funds from Qatar aimed at the poor. <\/p>\n
It is simply beyond dispute that Hamas has established a corrupt terrorist dictatorship, with some leaders living in luxury abroad. In the summer of 2023, Gazans defied their overlords and held rallies throughout the area.\u00a0Some chanted<\/a>, \u201cWhere is the electricity and where is the gas?\u201d\u2014and\u00a0burned Hamas flags.<\/em><\/p>\n
Nor is Hamas reacting to Israeli occupation of Gaza.<\/p>\n
In 2005, Israel withdrew its citizens (about 8,000) and soldiers from Gaza<\/a>\u00a0and from four settlements in the West Bank.\u00a0 In 2007, Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority<\/a>\u00a0and took over dictatorial control of Gaza. But it opposed the authority\u2019s negotiations to establish an independent Palestinian state and does so to this day.<\/p>\n
Fact four:<\/strong> Hamas is and continues to be a terrorist organization\u2014which meets the universal definition as dedicated to\u00a0intentionally\u00a0murdering civilians<\/a>\u00a0for political purposes. Hamas does not deny that. It brags about it. Just this last weekend, Hamas terrorists\u00a0intentionally\u00a0killed 260 young civilians attending a music festival in the desert near Gaza during the first moments of its murderous invasion.<\/p>\n
No, it is not the same thing when Israel<\/a> is forced to respond to defend itself from rockets aimed at civilians and, tragically and unintentionally, innocent Gazans civilians are killed\u2014often because Hamas chooses to launch its rockets intentionally aimed at civilians from schools and hospitals (a double war crime<\/a>). Those who make the false equivalence between intentional murder and self-defense with tragic and unintentional deaths of innocents ignore the facts.<\/p>\n
I have always been a supporter of a two-state solution. Since I was very young, I believed in justice for the Palestinians and argued with my father that they deserved their own nation. But I also now remember the famous line of Tevye from \u201cFiddler on the Roof\u201d when he argued with himself by saying, \u201cOn the one hand,\u201d and then countered with, \u201cbut on the other hand.\u201d However, on one issue on which he could never compromise, Tevye said, \u201cThere is no other hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, regarding the Hamas terroristic attack on Israel<\/a> in the last several days, I can only say\u2014based on indisputable facts\u2014\u201cThere is no other hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n
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