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If Hamas Really Cared about Palestinian Lives, It Would Surrender

(Washington Post) Charles Lane - Why aren't more people demanding that Hamas surrender? Hamas, a terrorist organization, lacks political and legal substance. It won an election in Gaza after Israel left in 2005 and subsequently established a dictatorship through violence. Its war aim is not democracy or civil rights for Palestinians, but to destroy Israel and establish an Islamist state - an objective as patently illegitimate as Putin's bid to erase Ukraine. At this point, Hamas' war is not only unjust but also pretty clearly doomed. Down in their subterranean headquarters, the organization's leaders must be aware their forces are being hit hard by an overwhelmingly superior Israeli military waging what it considers a fight for survival. There has been no full-scale revolt among Israeli Arabs or West Bank Palestinians, which Hamas leaders called for on Oct. 7. Iran and Hizbullah do not seem inclined to ride to Hamas' rescue. In short, the quickest, most appropriate way to save Palestinian lives would be for Hamas to surrender. After all, it has no prospect of meaningful victory. Hamas does not surrender because it believes, fervently, that Israel has no right to exist and that armed "resistance," even at the terrible human cost currently being paid by both Israelis and Palestinians, is justified.
2023-11-17 00:00:00
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