VICTOR JOECKS: Israel has right, duty to destroy Hamas

Sometimes, violence is the solution. Look at what Israel is facing.

Over the weekend, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel. They bombarded Israel with thousands of rockets. Terrorists breached security barriers and poured in. Others used powered parachutes to enter the country.

These vile militants began a campaign of terror against Israeli civilians. They beheaded babies. They killed hundreds of people who were attending an outdoor music festival. Some went house-to-house killing families. In one case, a Hamas terrorist shared video and pictures of an Israeli grandmother’s execution on her own Facebook page. That’s where her granddaughter learned of her grandmother’s murder.

Barbarians from Hamas raped women and girls. Footage showed a woman with the seat of her pants bloodied and hands tied shoved into a vehicle. Another video showed terrorists sitting atop the disrobed body of Shani Louk, a German citizen. A crowd in Gaza cheered, and some spat on her body.

At this point, the death toll from Hamas’ murderous rampage stands at more than 1,000. It’s the largest number of Jews murdered in one day since the Holocaust. Among the dead are at least 14 Americans. Hamas also took more than 100 hostages. Some have already been executed.

What Hamas did is pure unadulterated evil. Sternly worded statements, U.N. resolutions or social media tut-tutting won’t stop Hamas. What can is violence. Dead terrorists can’t decapitate babies. Dead terrorists can’t slaughter grandmas. Dead terrorists can’t rape young women.

This used be a blindingly obvious point. A foundational purpose of government is to “provide for the common defense.” That means when a terrorist group attacks your citizens, your military attacks and destroys it.

Shamefully, some members of the Biden administration have a different idea. After Israel repulsed the initial attack, they and other Democrats called for a cease-fire. That includes Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In a since-deleted tweet, he wrote, “I encouraged Türkiye’s advocacy for a cease-fire.”

This would be like Israel telling the United States on Sept. 12, 2001, to declare a cease-fire. A cessation of fighting now would create only a false veneer of peace. It would soon be punctured at the time and place of the terrorists’ choosing.

In another deleted tweet, the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs wrote, “We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing.”

What willful ignorance. When a terrorist group is murdering your citizens, killing the terrorists may be the only way to solve that problem.

This is why the violence on the two sides isn’t morally equivalent, and it verges on anti-Semitism to pretend otherwise. Hamas commits violence to take innocent lives. Israel uses violence to shield and defend innocent lives.

Don’t be fooled by talk about civilian casualties in Gaza. The moral responsibility for those deaths rests on Hamas. Israel wouldn’t be invading if its terrorists didn’t massacre hundreds. Israel even told those living in Gaza how to evacuate safely before it invaded.

Israel doesn’t just have the right to wipe out Hamas. It has a duty to do so.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.