"Hamas cannot be destroyed so easily, Hamas is part of Palestinian society both in Gaza and in the West Bank," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said yesterday, confirming what many Israelis have been saying since the war began: Contrary to the approach of President Biden and the West, Hamas and the Arab public in the West Bank and Gaza are not different. On the contrary, the murderous movement, with its atrocities, enjoys broad support among them, and therefore the attempt to portray it as separate from the Palestinian masses is detached from reality.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh greets Iranian foreign minister in Qatar // Uncredited
Abdel Rahman's precise diagnosis underscores the magnitude of the challenge facing Israel. After the physical destruction of Hamas, Israel will be required to "denazify Gaza," in Netanyahu's words. In fact, not only of Gaza but also of Judea and Samaria. The reason: The crimes against humanity committed by Hamas do not alarm the Arab residents of Gaza and Judea and Samaria. On the contrary. Just last Saturday we saw in Tulkarm the murder of two people suspected of aiding Israel and dragging their bodies in the streets. The lynching in Ramallah is also etched in the national memory.
This is the educational-cultural challenge facing Israel, and indeed every civilized person. Because as long as Hamas and what it represents is not destroyed from the face of the earth, there is a danger not only to Israel and the Jews, but to the entire free world. And at this point, the Qatari prime minister made a big mistake. The elimination of Hamas will not be easy, but it will happen because there is no other choice. And Qatar, which has been deceiving the West and Israel for many years, will involuntarily be part of this process.
"Hamas is part of Palestinian society in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Photo: Reuters
In Doha, they probably still don't understand that what happened to Saudi Arabia after the September 11 attacks awaits it too. The Saudis knew how to get rid of everything that had to do with Osama bin Laden, including a profound change in religious content, because if they hadn't, the Americans would have shown Riyadh the door. The same is true for Qatar.
The United States, and certainly Israel, will no longer accept its cooperation with the West with its right hand, while cultivating an anti-human and anti-Semitic monster with its left. This game is over. And yes, Hamas will be destroyed. Not easily indeed, but will be destroyed just as the Nazis were exterminated. So it took the world six years to achieve this goal.
Just as PA curricula will be thoroughly revised when the fighting subsides, Qatar will have to fundamentally change Al Jazeera's content, stop funding Hamas and stop supporting toxic content on American campuses. The tectonic shifts in the US have already begun, and they will intensify over time. If the West desires life – and according to the voices coming from the United States, this is certainly the case – the bill will be submitted to the al-Thani family, and it will be expensive and poignant.
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