Time to Hit Hamas and Hit Them Hard

It's official.  Israel's government is now saying Hamas carried out the abduction of three young Israelis.  I'm not surprised, nor should anyone else be.  Ever since abducting Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists have been attempting to kidnap more Israelis so that they can exchange them for fellow terrorists now in Israeli jails.  We should also remember that just days before the kidnapping, members of the international community, including the Americans, were toasting the national unity government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his rivals in Hamas had recently established.  Leaders around the world were screaming at Israeli Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu and his government to restart peace talks with the new, Hamas-backed Palestinian regime.  Even one of his coalition partners, Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party, threatened to pull out of the government if Netanyahu did not start talking to the new Palestinian government supported by Hamas.  Nevertheless, Bibi, as many of us Israelis like to call him, resisted both the external and internal pressure put upon him.  And now we know why.

Hamas' new arrangement with Abbas changed nothing about the terrorist organization's nature and its intentions, which are of course to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth and create an Islamic state in its place.  Bibi knew this, but as is often the case, many people didn't want to believe him.  Now that Netanyahu has proven himself right, again, on the subject of how to deal with terrorists, it is time for Israel's government to show unity and do whatever it takes to crush Hamas once and for all.

Indeed, there may never be a better time to destroy the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood.  Not only will a swift, decisive and fatal blow against Hamas unite the Israeli people, but it will also earn praise, albeit that of a quiet nature, from governments throughout the region who are struggling with their own Islamist terrorists.  Egypt's military-backed government, for example, has spent about a year decimating the ranks of the country's Muslim Brotherhood, most of whose prominent figures are now in jail.  Many have been sentenced to death.  I would encourage Israel to follow the same root that the current Egyptian regime has taken to imprison and kill every Islamist terrorist until there are no more.

               

In other words, Israel should arrest, jail and if necessary, kill every member of Hamas and any other Islamist terrorist organization in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and inside the Green Line until they are never heard from again.  Furthermore, Israel should compel the Palestinian Authority led by Abbas to terminate its unity deal with Hamas and assist in the liquidation of the Islamists.  If the PA refuses to co-operate, Israel should respond with punitive measures, including the gradual annexation of areas of the West Bank in which there is a Jewish majority.  Doing this will send the Palestinians a serious message that if they will not agree to root out the terrorists in their midst, Israel will do it for them and they will slowly lose the territory that they hope to retain for a state of their own.  We will then see what is more important to the Palestinian people: safeguarding the lives of terrorists who jeopardize their quest for self-determination, or ridding themselves of these same terrorists so that they can enjoy a peaceful, independent state alongside Israel.  The choice will ultimately theirs to make.  Let's hope they choose to do the right thing this time, because the Palestinians have an infamous history of making bad choices.