Rafah must be invaded to destroy Hamas
Suddenly, everyone’s talking about Rafah. It’s a small Gazan city near the border with Egypt. It’s also the entry point for most weapons that are smuggled into the Gaza Strip and supply Hamas and other terror groups.
Egypt has fortified the border in recent months with a concrete wall stretching deep into the ground and topped with razor wire. Dozens of tanks and armoured personnel carriers were moved in last week. The border with the Strip is totally sealed.
Egypt is readying for a much-anticipated Israeli military operation in Rafah that would complete the intensive stage of this war. Four Hamas battalions remain entrenched in the southern stronghold, likely along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement along with the leaders of Australia and New Zealand, calling on Israel to refrain from entering Rafah and reiterating a litany of wishes, including that Hamas lay down its arms and release all the hostages immediately.
It goes on to misstate the substance of the recent preliminary order of the International Court of Justice (hearing an application brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide).
The court did not state that Israel “must ensure the delivery of basic services and essential humanitarian assistance and must protect civilians.” The court stated that, “The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
The standard articulated by the court is not to “ensure.” Israel has limited control as to what happens on the ground. Doing one’s best to “enable” — as the court did state — is a far different standard from ensuring. The court’s wording was very intentional. It understands that this is a war. The court did not — even though it had the jurisdiction to do so — issue an order that Israel cease military operations in the Gaza Strip immediately.
Even the ICJ understands that the matter of aid is complex. Israel has allowed massive amounts of aid to flow into Gaza. Egypt, meanwhile, has limited aid. But once aid trucks do enter the Strip, they are often hijacked by armed Hamas thugs.
Pretending that Israel has total control in this terrorist enclave is a dangerous lie. Hamas is a savage, Islamist death cult that celebrates martyrdom. Its founding ideology calls for the annihilation of Israel and the killing of Jews everywhere.
Gaza’s leadership — and many supporters on Canadian streets and throughout the West — celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre. In spite of its open savagery, many western “progressives” have decided that Hamas is a beacon of moral clarity.
Rafah, today, is home to 1.5 million people, many of them having been displaced in recent months from other parts of Gaza. As Israel strains to minimize civilian casualties, the conditions of this war are regarded by some experts as being the most complex and challenging ever faced by a conventional army.
Just a few days ago, it was revealed that UNRWA’S headquarters in Gaza sat atop a massive Hamas server farm. UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini has since stated that he was totally unaware of this — a preposterous comment. We now know that many UNRWA educational and health facilities, including hospitals, double as Hamas bases.
And then there is an issue that seems to be very uncomfortable for the West: that the general population in the Gaza Strip is highly radicalized. Many civilians openly support Hamas.
We saw it on Oct. 7, when terrified hostages were paraded through the streets of Gaza City. They had just seen loved ones murdered and tortured. They were then beaten and marched through the streets by masked, Kalashnikov-bearing brutes. Some children and elderly people were shoved into golf carts and driven.
This caravan of misery travelled a few kilometres through what has been described as “hell on earth.” Fire. Shooting. Dead bodies everywhere. Constant shouts of “Allahu akbar!”
As the captives were paraded through Gaza City, mobs of ecstatic civilians threw rocks, spat on them, physically assaulted them and jeered. The naked, desecrated body of 23-year-old Shani Louk was thrown in the back of a Hamas pickup truck like an animal carcass, before being spat on, beaten and abused — for sport. All ages participated. Not a single person intervened to protest the savage spectacle. This is Taliban-style family entertainment.
Many civilians collaborate openly with Hamas. An UNRWA teacher and a physician are among those who reportedly locked hostages in rooms in their family homes. While they ate well, their captives were starved and abused. Do these people count as civilians? How about the 13 UNRWA employees, including numerous teachers, who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre?
Throughout these four months of hell, Turkey, Qatar, Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen have supported Hamas. In their view, the triumph of Hamas Islamists hastens the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a global caliphate. At the other extreme are countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which are delighted that Israel is dealing with Hamas.
Wars are horrific. People die. Often it is the innocents who suffer the most. But never, in modern history, has the savage aggressor been revered. Even in the 1930s, the western alliance was keen on appeasing Adolf Hitler, but there was no widespread inversion of morality to praise and extol his regime.
As the tide turned and the Nazi war machine began to falter, the Allies pounded Germany into submission. Civilian casualties were stratospheric in Germany. Had the Allies not carried on as they did, we may still be living under the authority of the Third Reich, which the Fuehrer had boasted would last 1,000 years.
The fantasies of Hamas and Iran to establish a global caliphate are no less serious. They begin with the destruction of Israel, but by no means end there. Rafah is the last hub of Hamas power, and it must be destroyed. This is a war on the West.
MANY CIVILIANS COLLABORATE OPENLY WITH HAMAS. — BERCOVICI
THE GENERAL POPULATION IN THE GAZA STRIP IS HIGHLY RADICALIZED.