by Ran Yaakoby Ambassador of Israel to New Zealand
Hamas’s unprecedented massacre of Israelis on October 7th may have elated its supporters in Gaza and abroad, and it certainly delighted this terrorist organisation’s sponsors in Iran, but it also united the Israeli people around the need to stop Hamas from slaughtering their children ever again.
Clearly Hamas is no match for Israel’s military capabilities. Right now, its best chance of survival is to mobilise massive international pressure on Israel, compelling it to cease operating in Gaza.
Hamas’ technique to accomplish this is simple and twofold. Step one is to help instigate as many Palestinian casualties and as much destruction as possible. In the second step, Hamas spreads the resulting images across the globe to pressure Israel into a premature ceasefire.
To obtain its stories and images of devastation, Hamas uses human shields, placing most of its military assets within or underneath civilian houses, offices, malls, schools, mosques, churches and hospitals. It intentionally positions rocket launchers used to target Israeli civilians next to Palestinian civilians in the hope of drawing return fire. Make no mistake, these are deliberate and calculated practices.
Similarly, when faulty Palestinian rockets explode inside Gaza itself and hit hospitals and schools, Hamas deceitfully blames Israel. Palestinian deaths, even when caused by Hamas itself, are exploited to incite violence and hatred around the world.
Two key benefits are generated for Hamas by its placing the residents of Gaza in extreme peril:
The first is the traditional benefit from using human shields: effective immunity for Hamas’s leadership, weaponry and various terrorist infrastructures, obtained if Israel refrains from striking at legitimate military targets to avoid harming uninvolved Palestinians.
The other is fairly unique to Hamas: international pressure placed on Israel because no matter how carefully any military acts, when non-combatants are used as human shields, civilians and civilian infrastructure will be hit. And Hamas knows from past experience that the IDF is always held to a higher standard than any other military in similar circumstances.
There is an additional, closely related, benefit for Hamas. This terrorist organisation desperately wants to divert attention away from its horrific massacre of 1400 innocent people in Israel and the kidnapping of over 200 others. Only by depicting itself as the victim can Hamas regain the sympathy of some international audiences.
The idea that a regime would encourage the death of its own inhabitants might seem inconceivable to most people, but not to those familiar with Hamas’s ideology.
The Hamas terrorist organisation is an integral part of the jihadist movement. Its top priority is replacing Israel with an Islamist caliphate. To these fanatical believers, that goal justifies carrying out the most horrific attacks on Israeli civilians and treating Gaza’s population as pawns to be sacrificed.
Hamas prays on the sympathies of people who still do not comprehend that it is not some national liberation movement but rather an ISIS twin which will bring nothing but widespread devastation, instability and suffering.
NZ would do better by designating all of Hamas as a terror organisation, joining the USA, Canada, the EU and many other enlightened nations.
Hamas constitutes an immediate threat to both Israeli and Palestinian civilians. However, the danger Hamas poses does not stop there. Just as suicide bombings and vehicular ramming attacks first targeted Israelis and then spread to Europe and beyond, the October 7 massacre may well inspire jihadi terrorists in other countries to carry out similar attacks. For the jihadists — there is no place that is too far, not even NZ. Israel’s fight in self defence should be in NZ’s interests too. It is time for New Zealand to recalculate its path.
