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Hamas and Israel Live in Different Worlds

(Times of Israel) Yehuda Bauer - Hamas is an Islamist fundamentalist movement, whose ultimate aim is the conversion of all of humanity to its version of Islam. The method it advocates to achieve its aim is armed struggle. In its armed struggle, Hamas is not bound by what in the West may be called liberal and humanistic conventions. Israel faces the extremely difficult position of having to fight Hamas, while avoiding as much serious harm as possible to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. In Israeli society, the responsibility of the community for each of its members is a highly-prized value, and an abandonment of hostages held by Hamas is simply out of the question. There is no demand by the Israeli public to simply capture a number of Palestinian-Gazan Arabs and say that they will be released only in an exchange. Hamas could not care less. Any compromise, temporary as it may be, actually weakens the liberal world of which Israel is a part. The call of a well-meaning U.S. government for calm and negotiations is totally misplaced. The issue of Israeli (Jewish) hostages in Gaza is something on which the Israeli side cannot compromise. The taking of these people as hostages is another peak of Hamas barbarism which must be defeated. The writer is Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem.
2023-11-07 00:00:00
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