Hamas didn't emerge from a vacuum..It is a popularly supported organization in Gaza and has been running Gaza for 18 years. It was initially selected by the citizens of Gaza to represent it through an election..While citizens haven't had the chance at another election ever since, the fact Hamas has retained its grasp on power for this long indicates a degree of widespread public support. It's time for the citizens of Gaza to abandon Hamas if only for their own sake..Only when Gazans stop supporting and shielding the terrorist efforts of Hamas will the terrorist acts end. When the terrorist acts end, the reprisals from Israel will end. .The active participants within Hamas may be in a minority, but Hamas likely enjoys the support of most Gazans if only passively. That support has to end..No, not every citizen of Gaza supports the terrorist acts of Hamas and innocent Gazan civilians will suffer in the Israeli retaliation for this week's attacks..I know its easy for me to sit safely in Canada to counsel people in Gaza to turn on Hamas members. The Hamas members are often friends, family and community leaders. I can only imagine the punishment for citizens caught opposing Hamas in Gaza is terrible..However, when the option is having most of Gaza levelled in air strikes and shelling, the loyalties to the terrorists of Hamas must be weakening..They can’t keep blaming Israel..What is Israel expected to do?.The scumbags of Hamas slaughtered people at a music festival. They have murdered babies, raped and tortured women, shot down entire families and now have hostages. Is Israel supposed to shrug and let bygones be bygones?.Israel won't stop until the threat is neutralized and that threat is Hamas. This is going to be a long and bloody war if Hamas can continue hiding among the citizens of Gaza..The terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah love to use their own people as human shields. Cowardice is a hallmark of terrorism. They purposely put military installations in schools and hospitals and then of course play victim when the inevitable retaliation occurs..Clearly, Israel had a breakdown in intelligence that allowed them to be caught so off guard when Hamas attacked. I'm sure they will be working feverishly to figure out what went wrong and will work to prevent such a lapse from happening again. How many Gazan citizens knew this attack was in the works though?.Tens of thousands of Gazan citizens had to know the missiles were being stockpiled, the terrorists were being trained and the plans were being made. None of them warned Israel. That's because tens of thousands of Gazans support the terrorists of Hamas. If not hundreds of thousands. Those Gazans surely knew the retribution for the attack would be swift and unforgiving as well. Yet they remained silent..If Gazans want the violence to end, they must stop supporting Hamas..They need to stop feeding them, housing them and donating to them. They need to stop hiding them and remaining silent when they know terrorist acts are pending. No approach is going to prevent all the violence that's surely coming. The violence won't end until Hamas is gone though..The world is not going to defend Hamas. Sure, there are some sympathetic leftist journalists and academics out there, but when it comes to developed nations, Hamas is on its own..They have been condemned roundly by nations and sympathy for their plight as the Israeli retaliation ramps up will be muted at best..Hamas didn’t even pretend to make their actions look like a military strike. They targeted civilians with the intent of being as inhuman and cruel as possible. They dug their own graves as they went so far over the line of humanity that no civilized nation can offer them sympathy..Hamas is a dead organization even if they don’t know it yet. They will be brought down and the only question now is by whom and how long it will take..If Gazans shed themselves of Hamas, the violence will end more quickly than if they leave the task to Israel. They can only play victims for so long when they so clearly have been supporting the most horrific of terrorist organizations..However the reign of Hamas may come to an end in Gaza, it is coming to an end. Whenever the conflict ends and Gazans are rebuilding, hopefully their new leadership will focus on the needs of its citizens rather than spending 18 years building bombs, training terrorists and fostering hate as Hamas did..Israel pulled out of Gaza nearly 20 years ago. How long can they still be blamed for the mess there? Egypt used to occupy that land not too long ago. Can they be blamed too? Egypt certainly doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to take it back..Only Gazans can determine what will happen once this conflict settles down. Hopefully they are ready to look at ways to improve their own state of affairs rather than tearing down their neighbors.
