Hamas is worse than any scum of the Earth. The time has come to cut off all aid to Gaza until Israel’s hostages are returned home.
Last Thursday, I went to our local pizza place near the top of a hill. From there, one has a perfect, unobstructed view of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Since countries have started to use colors on public buildings for policy messages, the Knesset has been bathed in blue and white lights every night. Even when other public buildings were colored for some countries that experienced some disasters, the Knesset stayed true to the country’s colors until Thursday night. I looked and looked again. Instead of blue and white, the building had red lights running up and down the side. Why would the Knesset be turned red? Maybe they did not pay their electric bill.
I forgot about the lights for a few hours until I drove out of town. The light rail “Chords Bridge” is at the city entrance. It, too, was red. It has had the image of an Israeli flag on its wire supports for three months. But not tonight. Did Putin conquer the country and turn the country red? The answer was no.
Kfir Bilbas, the youngest hostage taken by the Hamas barbarians, turned one year old on Thursday. The red lights were in his honor, as he is a red-head. The boy was kidnapped with his mother, Shiri, and his 4-year-old brother, Ariel (in addition to several American citizens, not that the State Department cares). There are videos of them being taken by the Totenkopf Hamas members from their homes. There is a question as to whether they are still alive.
There was a time long ago when there may have been some level of honor among thieves. I remember from my 1970s youth that hijackers and bank robbers generally released women, children, the elderly, and the sick during hostage standoffs. The basic thinking was that as long as they held a few hostages, the police could not storm their position and they retained leverage to demand money, safe passage, or whatever they sought. It was considered “proper” to hold the adult male captives until the situation was resolved. Even Hamas held a single Gilad Shalit until it received 1,000 hostages in return for his release.
Hamas, whose behavior on 10/7 and afterward is beneath anything associated with human activity, apparently is in no hurry to release further hostages. They reneged on the first release deal when all women were supposed to be let go. The stories at that time claimed that Hamas did not want to set free women who had been raped in captivity. Apparently, they got some PR company to help with their image. But what do we know about Hamas’ treatment of Israelis in captivity? According to released Israelis:
*Hamas members and Palestinian civilians routinely beat captives. Some were raped. Soldiers were treated the worst.
*Hamas killed some captives after their arrival in Gaza.
*Hamas members and Palestinian civilians gave very little food to the captives.
*Hamas members and Palestinian civilians used psychological warfare against these civilians. They told them that all of Israel had been destroyed, that they would come after them after their release, or that they would never ever be released.
*Hamas has been using the captives as human shields, with Yaha Sinwar apparently in a tunnel and surrounded by them.
All of the above behavior is added to the gang rapes, beheadings, and burning of people alive on 10/7. Hamas justified this behavior by claiming that Israel deserved it for occupying a non-existent country, “Palestine.” In the West, the behavior was celebrated by Muslims and leftists because it was supposedly “decolonization” in action. Now, this should be a warning to the West: for years, universities and other moral dumps have made declarations that their buildings are on “native lands”. They never give back their lands but make their declarations to feel better. But if decolonization allows the burning of Jews in their cars or the raping/killing of Jewish women, what do you think will be okay during US decolonization efforts? As Kurt Schlichter always says, buy guns and plenty of ammunition.
Israel has significant leverage of its own. Stop all “humanitarian” aid to the Gaza Strip. Trucks will be let in with the release of hostages: every day that ten hostages are released and successfully identified, then 100 pre-checked trucks can enter Gaza. No hostages, no aid. Let’s turn the Palestinian population on Hamas. Let the two million people with their donkey carts demand from Hamas food. Israel has the potential leverage but not the stomach for it. After the murder of soldiers and staff at the Kerem Shalom crossing on 10/7, Israel swore up and down that it would never be opened again. It is open now and being used to keep Gaza fed. Such arrangements should not be for free: hostages for food and medicine.
Hamas and other Islamist terrorist organizations are a cancer of civilized society. The time has come to treat them accordingly. Israel is fighting bravely against Hamas as well as Hizbollah and other enemies. Israeli soldiers are in great danger from terrorists popping out of tunnels and firing RPGs at their positions. The time has come to flood the tunnels and make humanitarian aid much more expensive than it has been until now. No hostages, no food. There is no reason why Israeli—and American—citizens should be sitting in a Gazan hell. They want to live; we want our people back—now!