The eternal battle of good versus evil is on full display
Hamas evil is unmitigated, unadulterated and unsparing
During the “lull” in Israel’s righteous battle against the barbarians that massacred 1,400 of her innocent citizens on October 7, those held for ransom are being released in bits and pieces to their families. It is painful, however gratifying, to see the first returns of those subjected to unknown abuses and worse, as they are loaded into vehicles and taken to safe havens at last. Evil’s presence is overarching as these long-welcome acts come at the will of an enemy no less evil for being entrusted with release than for having taken hostages in the first place.
As part of the cessation in Israel’s battle plan, the perpetrators of uncivilized acts last month are being rewarded for crimes committed years earlier, as three times as many convicted killers and their enablers are being released from Israel’s prisoners—currently 150 for the 50 hostages now—even as hostages are being released in dribs and drabs. This further blurs the line between good and evil, serving the ends of Hamas even if Israel is willing to pay such a high price for recovering hostages, not by any means as much of their own, as foreign nationals are released also.
During these four days of war’s apparent suspension, one hopes, and one surely believes, that the Israel Defense Force is keeping close watch over any moves Hamas terrorists might make to put their forces into better position to hold out longer or to strike at Israel. One hopes, too, that the United States does not bring pressure on Israel to extend the lull and invite still further complications.
Let us contrast the evil of Hamas’s terrorism with the righteousness of Israel’s cause. If there was ever been a more vicious attack without provocation than that, I am not aware of it. Therefore, Israel has every right to do whatever it takes to destroy, dismantle and discredit Hamas, however long it takes, culminating in whatever is required to prevent its rising again. Israel’s actions are truly virtuous in that she is not merely refraining from evil but it is doing the right thing, with the right means, for the right reason, for the right consequences.
The moral clarity than Israel’s spokespersons have displayed on the broadcast networks, as well as her American defenders, has been exceptional. They never lose sight of the bigger picture—destroying Hamas—as they continually remind audiences of the evil that has been done and the hard military choices, the necessary choices, that have been made and will continue to be made. That sharp contrast manifests itself no less in the discussions this week about the hostage releases. They are no less the evil acts of Hamas than the precipitating ones. Network commentators have focused on how “bittersweet” are these long-delayed releases, even equivocating with weak modifiers like “sort of” and “kinda.” It is far more bitter than sweet.
That a war is still going on is made clear by the unrelenting attacks by Iran’s proxies, now passing 70, which have injured American soldiers in Syrian and Iraqi bases but have brought no comparable cost to the perpetrators. Why can’t we do more than attack weapons storage facilities and instead blowup training facilities, in or out of Iran? When that rogue regime attacked Americans during the Trump Administration, suddenly its chief spymaster wound up dead from a surgical strike.
The looming but not always helpful presence of American military power at strategic points in the areas of conflict have served to confuse and mislead much of the world about our objectives. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been firm in this determination to press on and is more likely than not to pass his nation through the hostage releases and prisoner trades to resume the essential campaign for Hamas’s destruction. He is not fazed by massive protests in some parts of the world that have marked the crisis from its very beginnings. His so-called “far-right” government is our best hope for salvaging America’s reputation, no less than Israel’s.
We have been seeing the most vile form of antisemitism on display for several weeks, but it is clear that this is more than merely the latest manifestation of a centuries-old bigotry. The Roman obliteration of ancient Israel and the invention of Palestine, and the later rise of Islam and Turkish domination, did not keep Israel from fulfilling Biblical prophecy in the twentieth century. Ancient hatreds remain unabated, and the nation has fought several wars and endured continual attacks to survive, and even prosper.
What distinguishes antisemitism from other forms of bigotry in the Arab world is the determination not merely to oppress Jews but to obliterate them. Slavery continues to exist in the world in various forms that benefit its perpetrators, but antisemitism has graduated well beyond ancient Egyptian slaveholding to mass murder.
Jews in the Western world endured centuries of indignities and worse but today face no serious barriers from their Christian and secular fellow citizens. But almost directly due to the influx of Muslims by the millions in Europe and growing numbers in the United States, what is plaguing Jews in the Middle East is increasingly plaguing them in these otherwise safe havens. Our universities have become incubators of Jew hatred as Jewish students have had to face threats and violence at colleges and universities wrongly imagined to be “tolerant” of all points of view. Tolerating evil doctrines eventuates in protecting them and thereby threatening those persons its adherents hate.
It is critical to take the full measure of evil in the world as our understandable desire for peace and tranquility can distract us and even paralyze our actions. No less is it important to go beyond safe spaces and take and support the necessary and sometimes dangerous actions which must go on. Good and evil are not mere feelings. They are manifestations of the morally grounded world we live in that demands the best in us.