The images of women, men, children and the elderly being brutalized and kidnapped by Hamas this weekend should be a clear-cut indictment of that terrorist group’s depravity. The photos and videos on display for all to see are heart-wrenching. There is no logical or moral defense for Hamas’ actions. Now, Hamas is threatening to start executing hostages as Israel prepares for a retaliatory invasion of Gaza.
Even with this sordid history, the graphic photos and videos circulating online shocked the world.
For 15 years, the terror group has committed countless crimes. It has fired tens of thousands of rockets into civilian communities, executed hundreds of terror attacks and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Even with this sordid history, the graphic photos and videos circulating online shocked the world.
There are videos showing the bodies of some 260 Israelis, many horribly mutilated, who had been attending a music festival. Another video shows a girl in bloodied and ripped gray sweatpants, her face, hands, and feet covered in blood, pulled from the trunk of a Jeep and pushed into the side door. All the while, armed Hamas fighters cheer.
The point of terrorism is, typically, to incite fear. And obviously, the violent acts of this weekend are terrifying. As we read the firsthand accounts of these atrocities, it’s sickening to imagine what these hostages are now enduring.
But Hamas and its supporters also argue that their actions are principled, even noble. The group says that it provides money and social services to civilians in the Gaza Strip. But make no mistake, it is a terrorist organization. The absolute evil of that group has been made clear from the images streaming out of Israel today.
A vocal minority, even now, have attempted to defend and rationalize. The anti-Zionist Jewish group IfNotNow maintained that the victims’ “blood is on the hands of the Israeli government.” Anti-Israel protesters gathered Sunday in New York in Times Square, chanting “resistance is justified” and “smash the settler Zionist state.” In Boston, a group of Harvard students issued a statement that begins, “We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
Hamas may be heartened by such statements. But the rest of the world has largely responded with unity in the face of terror, and full-throated denouncement. The path to peace is complicated; kidnapping children is not.
Hamas has stolen millions in foreign aid dollars earmarked to build Gaza hospitals and schools and instead used them to operate a terror network that stretches throughout the Gaza Strip. It is using the entire population as a civilian shield as Israel masses troops along the perimeter.
Hamas’ ultimate objective is the demise of Israel. The group has always been open about its central goals, and its charter is explicit in its intentions: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” These recent events in Israel offered a chilling glimpse into what would ensue if militant groups like Hamas succeeded in gaining control of all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Hamas does not believe the Jewish state has a right to exist. It does not believe Jewish life has a right to exist. Israel is still reeling from the weekend’s attacks, and the full scope of the tragedy is not yet known. The death toll is in the hundreds and is still climbing. The total number of kidnapped is well over 100. Given the country’s small size, nearly every Israeli will know victims — some have had to learn it from social media posts. Those same photos and videos have become a Rorschach test for the world. But the truth is spelled out in gruesome detail. And Hamas has been revealed for what it really is.
Aviva Klompas
Aviva Klompas is co-founder of Boundless, a non-profit organization that partners with community leaders to support Israeli education and combat anti-Jewish hatred. She also served as director of speechwriting at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations. 
