Hamas wages war on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians

October 30, 2023

Instilling fear and inciting war regardless of victims are always the aims of a terrorist

Part 3: Analysis by W. Thomas Smith Jr.

WAR IS TERRIBLE or as U.S. Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman once said, “all hell.” And any rational human being who has ever experienced so much as an hour of armed conflict knows this to be true. Everyone wants peace. All of us EXCEPT terrorist groups like Hamas. They do not want peace. Don’t kid yourself into believing they do.

What about the Palestinian people – women, children, and the elderly? Of course they want peace, just like the Israelis. But their governing, administrating, militia-leading, policing leadership in Gaza does not. The Hamas leadership in Gaza wants war and they want to expand the existing war as do their Iranian overlords. THAT IS WHY Hamas, again under the direct authority of Iran, initiated this terrible war in the first place.

Make no mistake, Hamas does not want to smoke the peace pipe with Israel: They never have. Hamas does not want to come to the table. They don’t want to talk (except perhaps to stall when they are on the ropes). They want to rain hell, death, and destruction on Israel. They – like their primary benefactor, Iran, their older more expansive brother Hezbollah (in southern Lebanon), and their Syrian cousins – want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

They don’t want a two-state solution in Israel. They want Israel driven into the sea. They’ve been saying so for years. It’s no secret, so why pretend otherwise?

American protestors are castigating the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – Israel’s army, air force, navy, and special operations forces – for killing Palestinian civilians; though unlike Hamas terrorists, the IDF goes to great pains to avoid killing or wounding civilian noncombatants.

That’s not an opinion. That’s both objective fact and official Israeli policy.

Hamas on the other hand DELIBERATELY and as a matter of policy, targets civilians – women, children, the elderly – both Israeli and Palestinian. Palestinian you say? Of course: Hamas has no qualms about using Palestinian women and children as human shields. It’s literally a matter of their own military defense strategy: Hamas fighters operating out of hospital basements, fighters and weapons caches located in interconnected tunnels dug below heavily populated areas, and missile launch sites deliberately positioned in residential neighborhoods.

According to a statement issued by the Embassy of Israel to the United States, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Oct. 26: “We need the blood of women, children, and the elderly so as to awaken our revolutionary spirit.”

Seriously? Why aren’t the pro-Palestinian protestors railing against that statement?

And let’s not forget the errant rocket, launched either by Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), that broke apart in flight and crashed into a Gazan hospital parking lot, exploding and reportedly killing hundreds in the adjacent hospital building, Oct. 17.

Hamas immediately seized upon the opportunity, blaming Israel for the deadly blast, saying the explosion was the result of an IDF airstrike, but U.S. intelligence agencies have since debunked Hamas’ claims. Caught in their propaganda miscue, both Hamas and PIJ have blamed one another whereas many pro-Palestinian protestors continue to insist the explosion was the result of an IDF airstrike despite all the evidence to the contrary. The protestors want and will cling to whatever fits their narrative: Facts be damned I suppose.

This reminds me of founding father John Adams’ statement in 1770: “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

Indeed, and by the way Haniyeh – yes, the guy calling for the blood of Palestinian women and children – conveniently left Gaza with his family two years ago and they are believed to be residing in Qatar along with other senior Hamas officials according to the Jewish News Syndicate.

There is so much more I could share about the war, and I will, but for now let’s chew on these little-known facts for a clearer understanding of the aims of Hamas and their Iranian masters. Additional analysis is forthcoming.

Read analysis Part 1 – https://whosonthemove.com/israel-at-war-hamas-launches-sneak-attack/

Read analysis Part 2 – https://whosonthemove.com/israel-will-prevail-in-this-war/

 

– W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a decorated U.S. Marine Infantry leader, counterterrorism instructor, and a retired S.C. Military Dept. officer. He was embedded with U.S. Marines and U.S. Army cavalry during the Iraq War, and he has logged time in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, the Balkans and elsewhere around the world. Since the war began in Gaza, he has provided analysis to NEWSMAX. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.