Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
“Occupied Gaza.” Prior to October 7, there were roughly two million Arab citizens of Israel but no Jewish citizens in Gaza. Gazans in 2006 voted in Hamas to rule them. It summarily executed its Palestinian Authority rivals. Hamas cancelled all future scheduled elections. It established a dictatorship and diverted hundreds of billions of dollars in international aid to build a vast underground labyrinth of military installations.
So Gaza has been occupied by Hamas, not Israel, for two decades.
“Collateral Damage.” Hamas began the war by deliberately targeting civilians. It massacred them on October 7 when it invaded Israel during a time of peace and holidays. It sent more than 7,000 rockets into Israeli cities for the sole purpose of killing noncombatants. It has no vocabulary for the collateral damage of Israeli civilians, since it believes any Jewish death under any circumstances is cause for celebration.
Hamas places its terrorist centers beneath and inside hospitals, schools, and mosques. Why? Israel is assumed to have more reservations about collaterally hitting Gaza civilians than Hamas does exposing them as human shields.
“Disproportionate.” We are told Israel wrongly uses disproportionate force to retaliate in Gaza. But it does so because no nation can win a war without disproportionate violence that hurts the enemy more than it is hurt by the enemy.
The U.S. incinerated German and Japanese cities with disproportionate force to end a war both Axis powers started. The American military in Iraq nearly leveled Fallujah and Mosul by disproportional force to root out Islamic gunmen hiding among innocents. Hamas has objections to disproportionate violence—but only when it is achieved by Israel and not Hamas.
“Two-state solution.” Prior to October 7, there was a de facto three-state solution, given that Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza were all separate states ruled by their own governments, two of which were illegitimate without scheduled elections.
It was not Israel, but the people of Gaza and the West Bank who institutionalized the “from river to the sea” agenda of destroying its neighbor.
Israel would have been content to live next to an autonomous Arab Gaza and West Bank that did not seek to destroy Israel in their multigenerational efforts to form their own “one-state solution.”
“Ceasefire.” The so-called international community is demanding Israel agree to a “ceasefire.” But there was already a ceasefire prior to October 7. Hamas broke it by massacring 1,200 Jews and taking over 250 hostages.
Hamas violated that peace because it thought it could gain leverage over Israel by murdering Jews.
Hamas now demands another ceasefire because it thinks it is no longer able to murder more unarmed Jews. Instead, it now fears that Israel will destroy Hamas in the way Hamas sought but failed to destroy Israel.
Did Hamas call for a cease-fire after the first 500 Jews it massacred on October 7?
“Ramadan.” Joe Biden believes that the Muslim religious holiday of Ramadan requires Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
But did either Hamas or any other Arab military ever respect Jewish—or even its own—religious holidays?
The October 7 massacre was timed to catch Israelis unaware while celebrating the Jewish religious holidays of Simchat Torah, Shemini Torah, and Shemini Atzeret on Shabbat.
Moreover, Hamas’s surprise attack was deliberately timed to commemorate the earlier sneak Arab attack on Israel some 50 years earlier.
On October 6, 1973, the Israelis were the target of a surprise attack when celebrating the religious holiday of Yom Kippur. Arab armies also assumed they would achieve greater surprise when attacking during their own religious holiday of Ramadan.
So, Arab militaries fight opportunistically both during Jewish and their own Islamic holidays. Egyptians and Syrians still boast of their 1973 surprise attack on Israel as the “Ramadan War.”
Only Westerners, not Arabs, believe there should be no war during Ramadan.
“Civilian Casualties.” Israel risks the lives of its soldiers to prevent civilian deaths. Hamas risks the lives of its civilians to prevent terrorists’ deaths. Israel considers it a failure, and Hamas considers it globally advantageous when more civilians die than its soldiers.
“Foreign Aid.” The Biden administration threatens to cut off or slow-walk aid to Israel if it continues to retaliate against Hamas even though they started the war. So the administration promises to give more aid to Gaza after the October 7 Hamas massacres than it gave to Gaza before them.
“Prisoners.” The international community that favors Hamas, nevertheless, knows it would be safer to be a prisoner of Israel than of Hamas. It knows women are not going to be raped in custody by Israelis but are by Hamas. And the unarmed are more likely to be mutilated and decapitated by Hamas than Israelis.
Is the international community more likely to charge Israel than Hamas for war crimes because the Jewish state seeks to avoid civilian deaths that Hamas finds useful?
Victor Davis Hansen can you give a clear reason why the American people (Congress) continues to let Biden destroy this country and alienate Allie’s?
Why is he not stopped or at least not given the funds to throw away in support of the downfall of our country. Is all of congress so weak that they are all willing to just give away our sovereignty, security, and basically, our character of standing strong in the face of evil???
Yes, Congress is weak and cowardly and lacks the backbone to defund ALL of this administration’s blunders and corrupt agenda, let alone the spine to do the right thing and fully support Israel’s efforts to wipe Hamas out!
Never Trumpers
I am no expert, but if Biden withholds sophisticated weaponry, well, then instead of Israel using “smart” bombs, it will have to use “dumb” bombs. I read Dr. Hanson WWII book but missed the part where while the Allies were demolishing the “Bad” guys, they were delivering humanitarian supplies to the innocent civilians.
Throughout history sieges starved enemy populations in castles or towns until they surrendered. The German population was starving during WW I. It helped convince them to surrender. Denying sustenancel has always been a tactic. Free food helps the enemy.
“Prior to October 7, there were roughly two million Arab citizens of Israel but no Jewish citizens in Gaza.”…Of course: I knew that was the case when I read it. But, trust Prof Hanson to “slap me upside the head” with that simple, powerful truth…
Hamas will have to be destroyed and Israel will have to occupy Gaza for the next hundred years.
>diverted hundreds of billions of dollars
Perhaps not quite that much. Billions? Hundreds of millions?
But overall a good, tight enumeration of real facts.
Unconditional surrender. End of story.
Unconditional surrender, though used often throughout history, is inherently immoral no matter who it is directed at. A defeated enemy, as barbaric as it might be, still consists of fellow human beings that have inherent dignity as made in the image of God. They have a right to surrender while still protecting that reality. A surrender can indeed still result in reasonable and prudently harsh penalties so long as the inherent dignity of the surrendering humans are not compromised, but an unconditional surrender is basically insisting that “we can do whatever we want to you.”
Moreover, history demonstrates that too many times unconditional surrender requirements have prevented an earlier peace from being achieved and led to more Unnecessary deaths on all sides of a conflict as well as instill more bitterness and a desire for revenge on the part of a defeated enemy. Case in point: WWI.
I fail to see the ‘inherent dignity’ of the people who savagely attacked innocents on October 7th. Professor Hanson has always spoken about victory being winning and humiliating the enemy.
How about another ‘case in point? WWII. The Japanese surrendered unconditionally and look at where they are at today. I don’t believe one sided history exists where you can successfully argue your point.
Unconditional surrender in this case is the total disarmament of the Hamas organization (as well as the civilian populace), and a relinquishment of self-rule. The terrorists that organized and participated in the deaths of 1200 Israeli civilians need to be punished, in most cases, with their lives. This is justice, not unreasonable in most people’s minds. Hamas wears no uniforms, follows no rules of engagement, and are basically murderers. Unconditional surrender would be the most humane thing that could happen to the civilian population of Gaza.
What have you been smoking? Your statement is exactly why our country is deteriorating rapidly into the fourth world. To seek civility and honor in today’s world is to demonstrate naivety and idealism where it no longer exists.
WW1 was not an unconditional surrender. It’s that point that brought Hitler to his rise. It was an armistice, gentlemanly agreement to stop shooting and killing. The terms of the armistice were so onerous as to take the German economy into collapse.
The restart and continuation of WW1 in WW2 that lead to surrender and brought about the Marshall Plan not only helped Germany but the entire European Continent, yeah including the USSR, and Asia. Magnanimity by the victors has allowed nearly 80 years of relatively peaceful progress that include space development and communication.
Prof Hansen
I fully support Israel’s struggle for survival but please allow me a moment of selfishness. Israel is the birthplace of my Christian religion. Visiting Israel years ago, was a walk through all the bible stories I grew up with, an experience I carry with me still. If Hamas prevails in this war against Israel, is there any doubt that they won’t destroy all sites that are holy to Christians.
Nobody is addressing this. Hopefully you find it worthy of an article.
With gratitude and appreciation for all your past writings, I remain a dedicated fan.
Karen Solie
The only reason I can think of as to the certainly of hamas destroying all those places of history (for jews and christians) is that they fully comprehend their cultural and spiritual value to a people they utterly despise. (for the sole and simple reason they are “other” and not hamas.) And the only reason those places still exist is that hamas have not yet had opportunity to do so. Trust me, if they could they would.
Unfortunately the arguments you put forward have been said by others and have been ignored or fallen on deaf ears. Facts do not matter when ideology is involved. Facts are ignored, talked over, or simply brushed aside because they are irrelevant to those with an agenda to create chaos and division.
Clarity and jarring comparisons. We’ll done.
Bless you, Victor. For your voice, courage, and brilliance.
Show the pictures of what Hamas did to Jews. Start with Congress. Imagine a baby being cut out of a womb. Imagine a family with their eyes cut out, a foot cut off, a breast cut off and holding them while Hamas are eating your food, then shoots them. Imagine the elderly set on fire. They interview one of the Hamas and he said, “We were savages”. I don’t care if they blow the Gaza off the face of the earth. October 6 they were in a peace agreement.
Thank you Professor Hanson! Please keep up the good work! How else will we know the truth and be truly free?
Victor,
I flew for the USAF during Yom Kippur in 1973 bringing supplies into Israel.
Sadly, nothing has changed since then…
Nixon was a great help and thank you, sir. Again, Israel was victim to a surprise attack on an important holiday. The United States helped preserve Western values by helping the right side. Giving aid to people who danced for joy at news of October 7th as well as 9/11 is a different story.
I live in Israel. Thank you for explaining the war so well to people who may be confused by the hostility in the world. The marches and demonstrations are in so many places and are so large it’s a whole other category of anti-semitism from the streets of Pakistan to the UN. It’s a bad surprise. If only everyone knew the canary in the coal mine analogy.
This is off topic but I tried to pre-order The End of Everything on Amazon but they said it was sold out. I didn’t know pre-orders sold out.
Actually I followed a link on the site just now ‘something collectables’ and ordered it there so disregard my question.
Victor, you put so much truth in one place, and meanwhile, the lies continue in the rest of the media outlets.
The only way to win a war and prevent continued battle is to vanquish your enemy.
No cease fires unless Israel needs it.
Never stop fighting until you win or die.
THANK YOU (!) for speaking the TRUTH in this superb explanation of the reality regarding Israel and the “Palestinians” and/or Hamas.
Thank You VDH for the articles and podcasts. I pray you continue to have the energy, strength and wisdom to share your thoughts and analyses. Wishing You a Happy Easter.
It is somewhat telling that when Gaza was part of Egypt and the West Bank was part of Jordan, there was no discussion of ‘Palestinians’. It is time people understood that Palestinians do not want a ‘two state solution’. They want to obliterate Israel (and, if you read the original Hamas Charter, all Jews throughout the world). This is a religious war between Israel and Islamic extremists. There is a reason why NO Arab country accepts Palestinians as citizens, and why Egypt blockaded Gaza’s southern border. Arab states are well aware of the terrorism of Hamas, as well as what Hezbollah did to Lebanon, which was once the pride of the Mediterranean. The goal of all Islamic extremists is to annihilate the ‘infidels’, which means not only Jews, but Christians as well.
Wow, so clearly laid out!
This article was very interesting, however there’s two sides to this . Israel must stop building settlement.. furthermore at some point they have to take a two state solution… Why ? Because if a one state solution is adopted.. there will be no Jewish state . Because Arabic women had 3 times as many children, compared to Jews women…
PalestiniAN women have lots of children so that some of them (preferably weak-minded sons who have zero chance of success in school or getting reasonable employment) will be shaheeds for the cause. Whether they succeed of fail in killing Israelis, Hamas or the P.A. will still pay the mother a stipend for life, a stipend that currently runs at about $3200 USD per month. That is a fortune in Gaza or the territories, and some Palestinian women have 3 sons who are all raised to be martyers—so they collect 3 monthly stipends.
Hamas is using the same strategy that the Viet Cong used in Vietnam. Hamas holds the Palestinian people hostage, starts a war, then blames Israel for every civilian death. Hamas only has to win the propaganda war, not the military war, then their paymasters can destroy Israel without attacking directly.
VDH, love your work/insight and always have. But here are some data points (or non data points, I might be wrong) that I think needs to be factored into all this, maybe:
1. Reporting from Alex Jones says that IDF stood down for ~ 7 hrs. on Oct. 7. Plus, the Israeli/Gaza border is one of the most secure in the world. In short, it appears that the Israelis cannot ever be caught unawares unless Alex Jones is possibly right. And there are some very strange implications here.
2. Brain Cates (@drawandstrike) on X recently conflated “Ukraine/Israel” with money laundering. Obviously, Ukraine is money laundering central but Israel? But the light bulb went off for me, what if Israel was also in the money laundering business in a bigly way? After all, the US and Israel both have Deep States (as does Ukraine). It seems possible and maybe likely.
3. I am not sure if you have followed Q or not but Q916 states that Israel is being saved for last and Q2337 implies that there will be an Israeli intelligence stand down on March 10, 2018 and October 4, 2018, respectively. Q is rather cryptic, to say the least, but it is proved beyond any doubt that President Trump and the Q team are joined at the hip. These Q drops have incredible foresight if true.
Personally, I have decided to suspend all judgment about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until this shakes out further. Plus, it doesn’t help that we have the Fake News in America (or Israel) delivering what might be bogus information.
There’s evidence Hunter Biden got cash from Ukraine. There’s no evidence of money laundering by Israel. The 7 hours will be investigated after the war is over and “… a stand down will be on 2018…” ?
I guess it’s a Q thing. Time is a construct. Back to the future. LOL
If this were an Arab-Arab conflict, or Arab-Black, or virtually any other combination, the world would tut-tut , lament, and that is all. The world giving a willing win to the Jews is unimaginable.
VDH, is a voice of reason but unfortunately rarely is heard outside of the conservative community. Watching people demonstrate for the people who raped, kidnapped or even murdered innocents is incomprehensible. Hearing the administration seemingly worry more about the saboteurs rather than our friends is mind boggling.
If only you were not preaching to the choir so to speak. I am afraid the facts you so accurately listed will never reach those who here in the USA that need to hear them.
Trump should be incorporating the plain facts that VDH presents on his website into his speeches.
The Biden administration is dysfunctional on so many levels. As for its foreign policies look no further than the Afghanistan withdrawal. Its recent actions at the UN was straight out of the Obuma playbook. Schumer is a disgrace. There isn’t much to admire in the governing democrat party which ai onetime I considered democratic.
Señor David Hanson, you narrate History with truthfulness and simplicity. Meaning, no convoluted rhetoric that conceals the hypocrisy of the writers and their lies
No hidden agenda, just History to share and hopefully educate the misinformed., and there are many. We will need many Hansons to destroy the current number of idiots coming out from Ivy League Universities repeating like parrots the teachings of Non-Idiot-Malevolent Indoctrinators.
I ran away from Fidel Castro’s Marxist indoctrination many moons ago. Many of the things that are happening now in the U.S. are a ditto copy of what happened in Cuba more than 60 years ago. . If I try to share my past experiences today in this country, I’m immediately “labeled” something” with just a couple of words… and Ciao- Ciao
“Our enemies [Islamists] are peaceful when they’re weak, are ruthless when they’re strong, demand mercy when they’re losing, show no mercy when they’re winning.” — Bill Bennett
A foreign opinion. The opinion of Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador. He said around March of 2022, paraphrasing, ‘for the USA to be in such a rapid decline, it must be driven from within the USA. No external power could be so efficient and fast.’ He is not alone in his opinion. Mexico’s president Lopez Obrador issues a smile of delight and has his own replacement at the ready.
Another take from Hungary…
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2024/03/28/hungary-calls-out-western-hypocrisy-on-christian-persecution/