A friend on Facebook asked me if it’s possible to eradicate hate?
This was my answer: It’s not possible to eradicate hate. But it’s necessary to try to eradicate this particularly depraved rendition of hate that is Hamas. Just as was done with Isis and Hitler’s Nazis. In both cases, the eradication was not complete, but surely the world was and is better without them.
I’ll add here: In both cases, the destruction of ISIS and Hitler’s Nazi regime also resulted in the death of innocent people. This opinion piece in The New York Times by David French, What It Would Mean to Treat Hamas Like Isis? explains why that loss of innocent life happens, and why it’s possible to limit that loss of life but never prevent it entirely. French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also thinks that the loss of innocent life in the attempt to destroy Hamas could well be less than what happened with ISIS but still unavoidable.
Hamas did unimaginably horrible things last week and set in motion a horrible situation with excruciating choices for Israel. Not only does Israel not want to harm innocent people, surely the last thing Israel wants now is to be responsible for the loss of more Israeli people. But Hamas took hostages, and though all sane and decent people hope all the hostages will be freed, it’s clear that they will be endangered by whatever military action Israel takes in Gaza.
Amidst this hellish situation, Israel has even managed to take some humanitarian actions. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN a few hours ago that Israel has turned the water back on in southern Gaza. I don’t know any more than you about how the Israeli campaign against Hamas will proceed. But I am hopeful that Israel will do everything in its power to minimize the loss of innocent life as it seeks to make sure that Hamas and its hate will never destroy an innocent life again.