Letters

The human costs of the war in Gaza have been and continue to be horrific. Pro-Palestinian sources describe what they believe is a genocide in progress. Indeed, there is no denying the suffering that the residents of Gaza endure. It borders on the obscene.

From these shores, the reaction has grown more and more hostile to the Israeli Defense Forces’ prosecution of a war that has as its goal the extermination of an enemy that has plagued the region with a permanent Jihad. Generations in Israel have attempted to establish a workable compromise that would provide peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis to no avail.

The alternative to endless conflict has proven unobtainable in the face of vengeful hatred wrapped in a religious fatwa preached to every new generation of Palestinian youth. It is their raison d’etre, bred into the fabric of Gaza.

I have recently begun asking the basic question: Where does Hamas end and the Palestinian begin? A serious question. Is Hamas a foreign occupier? Can they be distilled from the general population? My impression is that they are one and the same.

Hamas is not rejected or disassociated by the Palestinian population in any meaningful way. On the contrary, they appear to more than tolerate their brotherhood with Hamas. Find a report of civilians turning on Hamas. I know of none.

Out of this reality, there is only the actual carrying of arms that distinguishes the battlefield combatant from the rest. This may explain why the Palestinian people have permitted themselves to become human shields, out of some distorted act of martyrdom. I don’t know.

But one thing is relatively obvious: We don’t hear of the general population assisting Israel in locating and extricating the cancer of Hamas from their lives to end their own suffering.

So the task of defending Israel from a Hamas that brings death and destruction devolves into war with the people of Gaza. It is an impossible mission unless Palestinians show a willingness to end this cycle of suffering and choose to rebuild Gaza without Hamas.

Here in the United States, the demonstrators we see in our cities and universities don’t want the Palestinian people to enjoy prosperity. They want to pursue an end to the Jewish state and to propagate antisemitism here and abroad. Sadly, these haters have become influential in an administration that is desperate to retain power in an election year.

Our weakness will and does invite our enemies to probe our national psyche. With enemies now inside our border, it’s not if but when America is struck again.

Only an election will save us from this feckless leadership.

Ed Surgan

Westhampton