Hamas's savagery would exist with or without Israel
We must stop coddling and making excuses for Palestinians, as if they have no control over their destiny. Hamas is not an alien group that descended upon them. It arose from within the Palestinian people before it solidified control and has much support amongst them. What it did on October 7 actually dramatically increased the support Hamas has in the West Bank. And recent polling by the Arab World for Research and Development shows that 68 per cent of Palestinians in the West Bank and 47 per cent in Gaza support the Oct. 7 attacks. When we allow the contextualizing of horrific cruelty in the name of addressing grievances, real or imagined, we also lose that which we should hold most dear: moral clarity. Without the ability to plainly call out that which is evil, without qualification, we, and our entire civilization, are lost.