Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023 | 2 a.m.
According to Hamas doctrine, Israel has no right to exist and must be destroyed at any cost. Peace was, and never will be, an option.
The Oct. 7 slaughter of innocent Israeli citizens had but one political aim: to prevent peace. Israel was on the verge of signing a historic peace treaty with Saudi Arabia that would have normalized relations with much of the Arab world.
The horrendous Oct. 7 attack was carried out in the most gruesome way imaginable to ensure a brutal and outrageous response. Hamas knew Israel’s response would derail the treaty and result in a continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It addition, it would sow the seeds of hatred throughout the Arab world for years to come.
The other major obstacle to peace has been Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His radical-right government has created and supported policies that perpetuate a low-level conflict with Hamas. He has treated the Palestinians as second-class citizens and advocated for the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and other Palestinian regions in violation of international law.
Netanyahu, who is on trial in three corruption cases and is eager to stay out of jail, is also trying to disempower the Israeli court system and weaken other checks and balances essential to a democracy. He claims this will make Israel a safer, superior and more powerful country. But history shows that leaders who claim to make their nation “great again” are often an authoritarian threat to their own countrymen.
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