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Moshe Phillipsis a commentator on Jewish affairs whose writings appear regularly in the American and Israeli press.

On March 18 Jake Sullivan, the United States National Security Advisor, said "The president told the prime minister again today that we share the goal of defeating Hamas."

And the very next day, on March 19, Matthew Miller, Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, said "every step must be taken to degrade Hamas so such an event like October 7th can't be repeated."

[Source: https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-march-19-2024]

Is the State Department now saying that the Biden Administration policy is to see Hamas degraded and not destroyed? If the defeat of Hamas remains "the goal" why hasn't State corrected its March 19 statement?

Is the delivery of conflicting signals intentional?

To have the goal that Hamas does not ever carry out another October 7th type event assumes that Hamas is evil and both needs and deserves to be utterly and completely destroyed. Destroyed because it is evil. The moral thing to do is to destroy evil when it poses a "clear and present danger" or likely will again.

When the Allies after World War Two conducted a systematic effort of denazification it was not because the Nazi Party or Nazi ideas were going to be threat in 1946 or 1947 but because the Nazis’ ideas were dangerous enough that if not outlawed and fought and vanquished on the battlefield of ideas then the Allies had every right to believe that they might have to return to combat on the actual battlefield in the 1950s or 1960s and fight the Nazis yet again. Israel has fought Hamas too many times already.

The purpose of war is to permanently eliminate the threat coming from your enemy. Far too often history has revealed the eternal truth that wars are things that must be won decisively or they will cause subsequent conflicts that will grow in both intensity and the degree of devastation. Evil must be confronted and evil must be destroyed. Hamas is evil. Hamas is the enemy. Hamas must be eliminated.

Destroying Hamas is the right thing to do.

Destroying Hamas is a necessary thing to do.

Destroying Hamas is something it is possible to do.

Those who argue that it is wrong to want to destroy Hamas do not accurately understand what Hamas is all about. Those in the American government who argue that it is unnecessary to destroy Hamas do not comprehend the threat that a well-armed Iranian proxy within a morning’s drive to Tel Aviv really means.

Would any U.S. president allow an al-Qaeda guerilla army to train and prepare for war against America from northern Mexico? Those who argue that it is impossible to destroy Hamas may have a strong argument. It will not be easy. Finding and killing Osama bin Laden was not easy. But it was well worth it.

And be sure these subjects are closely connected:

DATELINE: GAZA, September 11, 2001

Mass dancing and celebrating has been seen throughout the streets of Gaza after news reports of the Islamic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon were first heard here. Hamas celebrated in the hours after the attacks by distributing candy to Gazan school children.

DATELINE: WASHINGTON DC, September 11, 2001

President Bush stated in his address to the nation that: We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them … America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism.

DATELINE: WASHINGTON DC, September 20, 2001

President Bush stated in his address to the United States Congress that: "We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

DATELINE: GAZA, May 2, 2011

Ismail Haniyeh, then the Hamas prime minister in Gaza declares "We condemn the assassination of an Arab holy warrior … and the continuing American policy … of shedding Muslim blood."

Calling for support of the Hamas/Fatah alliance is a wrong move for U.S. foreign policy makers. The idea rejects the Bush Doctrine that Americans so strongly embraced in the days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Asking Israel to accept the new Hamas/Fatah arrangement is no different than asking the American people to agree to a truce with al-Qaeda now that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated.

Moreover, it must be remembered that Hamas and al-Qaeda share an identical world view, strategy, and are allied. Just read the pledge of Hamas as it is revealed in their official covenant (constitution): "Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Koran its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the cause of Allah is its highest belief."

Compare this to Ben Laden’s infamous August 1996 Fatwa: "Those youths know that their rewards in fighting you, the USA, is double than their rewards in fighting someone else not from the people of the book. They have no intention except to enter paradise by killing you. An infidel, and enemy of Allah like you, cannot be in the same hell with his righteous executioner."

Hamas and al-Qaeda share a bloody, genocidal, and megalomania driven philosophy. Israel’s opposition to Hamas rule in Gaza is an extension of America’s war against Islamic terrorism.

Let’s remember the words of columnist Cal Thomas from January 2009 "Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, are the Nazis of modern times. Israel is right to pound military targets inside Gaza."

The State Department is wrong to speak about a goal to "degrade Hamas." If U.S. policy states that Israel cannot destroy the terrorist organizations that attempt every single day to kill Israelis, then on what grounds does America have the right to target the terror groups that seek to harm her?

There is a lot more at stake here than another October 7th and both the White House and the State Department need to internalize that, and soon.

Ed. note: And while we are talking truth to power, read David Bedein below:

Qatar poses as an innocuous mediator.

However, you do not need a commission of inquiry to identify Qatar as the nation that funds Hamas and its henchmen.

Therefore, Qatar bears criminal responsility for their Hamas proxy in the rape and kidnap of hostages hijacked from sovereign Israel, an act which inflicts daily grief on the people of Israel,let alone on the hostages themselves.

This is not a crime confined to October 7.

Today, Qatar captives suffer rapes, starvation and torture, which willl continue until Qatar pulls the plug on Hamas.

When you get ulcers, give ulcers.

When the business week begins on Monday, conduct acts of peaceful protest, and close Qatari missions until Qatari captives are free.

Give Qatar the collective ulcers that they deserve.

Choose your local Qatari mission for direct acton from this list ot Qatai diplomatic around the world.

https://embassies.net/qatar-embassy