As a Jew, I am watching in dismay as Hamas seems to be winning the war that Hamas unilaterally instigated on October 7 by its horrific assault. Hamas, which committed the actual war crimes of intentional killing, rape and torture of civilians, taking civilian hostages for ransom, and purposefully embedding military personnel and weapons within and below civilian homes, schools and even hospitals, has, with a brilliant campaign of disinformation, fine-tuned for a short-attention-span world of instant communication, and fanned by vehement supporters in the West, diverted public outrage away from Hamas’ actual war crimes, and directed it against Israel’s difficult military response. Hamas’ religiously motivated leaders are willing to put their own civilian population in harm’s way. Indeed, Hamas’ primary military strategy is to have as many Palestinian civilians as possible killed, or suffering, in order to turn public opinion against Israel, and to induce those in the West who support Hamas’ side of the war (such as Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party) to put forward resolutions calling for a ceasefire, an arms embargo against Israel and official recognition of the State of Palestine, as the NDP did in Canada’s House of Commons on March 18.
