Hamas and its supporters seem divided on how to look at the 10/7 pogrom. Words are twisted to hide the barbarity of the terrorists and the deranged approval of their Western supporters.
While Hamas tries to reinterpret its heinous actions in southern Israel, its supporters in the West love what they did and bray for more. Before we look at this topic, let’s review what hopefully are the facts as they are known almost one month after the massacre.
*1,400 people were killed. That would include over 1,000 Israeli citizens, some number of foreigners including Thai agricultural workers, and 300 soldiers who were on local bases or responded to the attack. 5,400 people were wounded. Wounds might include shock; they might also include lost limbs or serious gunshot wounds. Someone in Israel with a “moderate” wound may have lost an arm. If he is not in immediate danger, he will not be considered seriously-wounded. Over 100 bodies cannot be identified due to their being burned beyond any recognition.
*The number taken into captivity from babies to Holocaust survivors is currently 244. There does not appear to be any accurate record, and Israel and the West do not demand in exchange for humanitarian aid a list of captives. This situation is unfathomable.
*The IDF estimates that 3,000 people made their way from Gaza into Israel for the murder and stealing frenzy. That number comes from security cameras, dead and captured terrorists, and information gleaned from interrogations of the latter. Victims describe the terrorists stealing everything from food in the refrigerator to computers.
The West may still not understand how evil the Hamas members are. One nurse who had to take care of a terrorist reported that the latter said that he will recover and then kill her and her whole family. Seems like he appreciates the world-class medical care he is receiving.
*The terrorists were extremely well prepared. Besides successfully using a large rocket barrage to hide the penetration of the security fence at multiple locations, the terrorists had detailed information on each Israeli town. Maps showed houses and how many people live in each house. These data came from the 17,000 workers who entered daily from Gaza to work in Israel, some of whom participated in the attack. Average monthly wages in Gaza are $200. Those who used to work in Israel made ten times that amount. They had addresses for top southern military commanders but never made it to their homes.
A few stories came out regarding the fact that they knew how many people were supposed to be home. One couple who became religious over the past few years spent their Sabbath weekends away from their home in a non-religious kibbutz. That Sabbath they were at home, but the terrorists never came because it was written on their maps that their house is always empty on Saturday. In another case, one man put his family in the safe room while he sat alone in the living room. When the terrorists broke in, they asked if he was alone and he said that he was. They killed him and never looked for his family. Another father succeeded in getting his family out of a roof window while he shot at the terrorists. In the video, he sits in the window and is killed after all of his family got out.
The Hamas spokespeople and “leaders” are trying to get away from the barbaric acts committed by their brethren. They claim that it did not happen or that non-Hamas members did the raping and torturing or that there was some “miscommunication”, whatever that means. All of it is obviously nonsense, as the entire attack was carefully planned, and instructions found with a date of October of 2022 stated clearly to kill, rape, and torture. Hamas could have attacked only army bases and killed soldiers and taken some prisoners. The fact that they threw at least two live babies into ovens, cut off other babies’ heads, raped women alive and dead, and tortured 80% of the civilians they killed (as determined by pathologists) means that the barbarity was a part of the plan. Because the world was disgusted by what it saw and since their Arab brothers were also embarrassed by the recorded bloodlust, Hamas is trying to say that the tortures and rapes never happened when their terrorists were careful to record them by GoPro and cellphones. They even live streamed murders on victims’ Facebook pages. Even now, they call families from the cellphones of those in captivity in Gaza.
Those in the West—in big cities and on college campuses—do not apologize for or try to explain away the wanton murders and barbaric acts (burning people to death, as just one example). They justify the actions by misusing many words—resistance, decolonization, defense, settlers, etc. If someone comes at you with a knife and you fight his trying to kill you, you are resisting his actions. No one would say that the attacker of a defenseless child is “resisting”. As I have written several times before, the pogrom took place in 1948 Israel. Their use of words such as settlers and occupation finally allow those on the left who mean well to know the truth: for the Palestinians, all of Israel is occupied and every Jew is a settler. This thinking has been known to those on the right, but those on the left have convinced themselves that if you just give the Palestinians the West Bank and Gaza, we’ll all just be the best of friends. What those marching in the West show is that the Palestinians do not want any Jewish presence anywhere in the Middle East. Tel Aviv, a city built on sand dunes by Jews at the turn of the last century is as much a settlement as any Jewish town in the West Bank. So of course, for our Western liberal or Islamist, an attack there would be perfectly acceptable. So much for the two-state solution.
In World War II, much of the killing of Jews involved gassing which did not require many Germans to be directly involved, as Jews were made to take out and take care of the dead bodies. The same was not true on the eastern front where einsatzgruppen soldiers shot and killed Jews themselves. It has been said that schnapps was distributed to the killers before the shooting so as to soothe what little humanity they may still have possessed. It would appear that Hamas running from the actions for which it initially was proud of and those on the Left trying to justify the barbarity via verbal gymnastics reflects their cowardice. They are too chicken to admit what they did while their armchair fanboys have to justify their loving it.
As we approach one month from the attack, I wish to give thanks. I wish to thank the editors of Townhall for giving me the opportunity to publish on this site. I also wish to thank all of those who stand with Israel not because they are knee jerk Israel fans or Jew lovers but rather because they believe in the truth. I am moved every day when I open this website and I see many articles talking honestly about what happened on the 10/7, the need to let Israel act, where the US has gone right and gone wrong, and shown the hypocrisy of the left and its institutions such as our garbage universities. I wish to give my thanks. The support of the vast majority of Americans and decent people in the West, while mostly unspoken, makes it possible for Israel to do what it needs to do to protect its citizens.