THERE IS NO MORAL EQUIVALENCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS

What will unfold in Gaza over the coming days and perhaps weeks is not a war between Arab and Israeli or Muslim and Jew. Israel, a sovereign and democratic state, is fighting Hamas and other brutal Iran-sponsored non-state actors on behalf of the civilized world. There is no moral equivalence between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas. There never has been and there never will be.

The footage is viral for everyone to see. An Israeli soldier’s lifeless body tossed from a tank and stomped on by Palestinian terrorists shouting “Allah’ Akbar.” An Israeli woman with bloodstained pants, likely evidence that she was raped, being transported in the trunk of a jeep. Another Israeli woman’s mutilated body paraded naked through the streets of Gaza. A truck filled with live Israeli women and children abducted as hostages. The list goes on and on. On the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, no less.

Be honest and call this what it is: terrorism. Slaughtering civilians in their homes, cars, at the bus stop and in the street, indiscriminately launching rockets at non-military infrastructure, kidnapping women and children, and parading the mutilated bodies of your victims is the same behaviour as ISIL and Al Qaeda. The perpetrators of these crimes are not heroes, or martyrs. They are terrorists. Normalizing and justifying these despicable crimes against humanity under the pretext of “freedom” and “liberation” is nothing more than whitewashing terrorism. Call these despicable acts by their bloody name.

Hamas has nothing in common with Canadian society, nor most of the Palestine causers who worship the so-called “decolonization” movement as a cult. The Iran-backed terrorist group does not care about freedom, secular democracy, liberal values, or human rights. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip with an iron fist since it overthrew Fatah in 2007. It runs the enclave as an independent state separate from the Palestinian Authority-administered West Bank. The punishment issued for “collaborating with hostile entities,” like being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, is death.

Nevertheless, no shortage of Canadian spectators, apologists, and grifters have sought to chime in on Hamas’ “heroic” struggle against Israel.

“Anti-Islamophobia activist” Adil Charkaoui, whose mosque was famously referenced as a possible recruitment zone for ISIL, celebrated Hamas’ “historic” victory for “reaching the 1948 borders” and causing the “settlers to flee like rats.”

In a now-deleted tweet, controversial Liberal Member of Parliament Omar Algabhra wrote that he was dealing with “anxiety over what’s happening in the Middle East.” The former Minister of Transport didn’t have the courage to mention the free, prosperous and democratic state of Israel by name.

To understand who shares their interest: even the Taliban chimed in, adding that the terrorist group had requested permission from Iran, Iraq, and Jordan to cross their territory on the way to “liberate” the Holy Land.

Yes, Hamas unfortunately gave Jerusalem a bloody nose on October 7. But Israel is a powerful state with the political will, economic weight, and the hard power required to inflict unprecedented existential damage to the terrorist group. Do not expect Israel to fight with one arm tied behind its back, as it consistently has since 2006, nor to stop at precision air strikes or a limited ground incursion into Gaza. Responding with weakness against the enemies of the West would be fatal for Israel.

Some would say that Hamas is lucky that this cowardly terrorist operation was perpetrated against free and democratic Israel instead of a less law-abiding and freedom-loving country. For example, Syria. Rest assured, the dictator of Damascus would’ve already carpet-bombed Gaza to the last pebble and turned a million Palestinians into refugees fleeing for Egypt’s Sinai Desert. No roof-knocks, phone calls, or leaflets necessary.

It might take a while for the rest of the world to figure this out, but whatever hope remained for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict likely died on October 7. Murdered by Hamas and other Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups in Gaza. Open your TV and see for yourself.

Originally published by National Post on October 7, 2023.