LOS ANGELES.–Battling Hamas since its Oct. 7 massacre of Israeli civilians, killing 1,200 and taking 253 hostages, Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] killed No. 3 Hamas leader Manwan Issa, the chief deputy of Mohammed Deif, Hamas military chief who planned, organized and carried out the slaughter of mainly Israeli teenagers and elderly in a cross border raid, prompting 74-year-old Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war against the U.S.-labeled terror group that controls Gaza. Hamas continues its charter started in 1987 by its founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin to destroy Israel. “From the river to the sea,” Hamas’s motto of destroying Israel, meaning to push Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, completing its mission of erradicating Israel. “From the desert to the sea,” was the phrase used by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Nov. 6, 2023.
Killing the “shadow man” Issa was big deal for the IDF whose five-month old war has endured condemnation at U.N. and in other international bodies, as Netanyahu prosecutes what he calls an “existential” war against Hamas, the terror group ruling the Gaza Strip. Hamas Ministry of Health claims that the IDF has killed over 32,000 Palestinians, largely civilians since the Oct. 7, 2023 war began. Calls for a ceasefire have grown more deafening as the Palestinian body count mounts daily, something reported by Hamas without verification. IDF officials refute Hamas’s figures as grossly exaggerated, fueling the growing pressure for Netanyahu to end the war. Yet until Hamas leaves Gaza, Netanyahu can’t conceive of living side-by-side with Hamas knowing they would repeat the slaughter if given the chance. Killing No. 3 Issa was a big step for Netanyahu with only two more Hamas chiefs to go.
Without Issa, it leaves only 61-year-old Yaya Sinwar and 58-year-old Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas responsible for countless suicide bombings and mass murders inside Israel. IDF has the unenviable task of rooting out Hamas’s vast underground tunnel network where Sinwar, Deif and other Hamas terrorists hide from the IDF. Killing Issa was real progress in Israel’s five-month-old war against Hamas. Israel’s IDF has been through this before when they killed Hamas founder wheel-chair bound Ahmed Yassin March 22, 2004 and his chief deputy Abdel al-Rantisi April 17, 2004. If Netanyahu accomplishes his goal of ridding Gaza of Hamas control, then the war will be considered successful. Past wars have left enough Hamas terrorists alive to replace its leadership determined to destroy Israel.
Once Netanyahu claims to have destroyed Hamas leadership, including Sinwar and Deif, the hard work begins of cobbling together with U.N. help new leadership in Gaza. As long as Hamas stays in charge, the Gaza Strip will be destroyed, again, repeating the same pattern since 2007 when Hamas seized Gaza from 87-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, the West Bank-controlled Palestinian Authority. Abbas has no control over Hamas terrorists, knowing that one mistake could end his command of Ramallah-based leadership. Whether admitted to or not by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) or other U.S. leaders calling for a two-state solution, the U.S. and Israel have no peace partner in Gaza or the West Bank. Schumer called for new Israeli elections March 14, without any recognition of Israeli’s dilemma in Gaza and the West Bank. There’s no leadership available for a two-state solution.
Netanyahu has resisted all the pressure coming from the U.S. and European Union [EU] to end his five-month-old Gaza war. No one in the U.S. or EU has any plan for how a two-state solution would work with the current political failure in Gaza and the West Bank. Netanyahu knows that as long as a terror group committed to Israel’s destruction runs Gaza and the West Bank there can be no peace in the region. Netanyahu isn’t opposed to a two-state solution but only with responsible Palestinian leaders committed to renounce violence and armed struggle against Israel. Since the 1948 war of Independence, Israel has faced constant Palestinian terrorism, sponsored in 1964 when Yasser Arafat founded the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] to liberate Palestinian lands. Arafat went to his grave Nov. 11, 2004, most likely poisoned by Hamas terrorists.
Netanyahu won’t be intimidated by global efforts to broker a peace deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Without ridding Gaza of Hamas control, Netanyahu knows that the same violence and destruction would continue as it has since 1948. Arafat worked feverishly with six other Arab States to eradicate Israel in 1967 AKA the Six Day War, watching his dreams crushed by the IDF in six days. Arafat used Hamas until his death to pressure Israel into making concessions for Palestinian land and sovereignty. Gone are the days when sovereign Arab States want to make war with Israel under the old slogan of Palestinian liberation. Palestinians would have no land at all had Israel not annexed territory from Jordan in the Six Day War, including the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Netanyahu gets one terrorist closer by the day of ridding Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
