The Hamas Pogrom

Pogrom: the organized massacre of Jews in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries, and, yes, now sadly in the 21^st century.

That's what it was in the south of Israel last week —a pogrom. And like the pogroms of a not-so-distant era, it was coldblooded, brutal, murderous, sadistic, and conceived of and carried out by very dark minds, reminiscent of other dark times.

The pogroms of the dark and distant past pale compared to the Hamas rampage last week. The April 19-21, 1903, Kishinev pogrom in Russia was one of the most notorious pogroms Jews have suffered. It was brutal, deadly, and unrelenting, horrifying the civilized world. By the time it ended, 49 Jews had been massacred and 92 seriously injured. The 2023 Hamas pogrom last week claimed 1300 dead Jewish men, women, and children, including infants and one unborn child ripped from its dead mother's womb.

The murderers, last week, did not come to conquer or to occupy land. They came to murder anyone they could reach, kidnap those they could grab, and leave wrecked homes and lives in their wake. It was a pogrom for the sake of killing and brutalizing. It was a calling card from Hamas as its marauders retreated, dragging at least one hundred and fifty hostages with them.

There is, of course, a difference between the HAMAS pogrom a week ago and the NAZI, USTAŠE, and COSSACK pogroms Jews suffered in the dark past. In the past, the Jewish victims had no army to protect them—this time, Israelis do. Israel has one of the world's finest, brightest, best equipped, best trained, and highly motivated armies to protect its citizens. But the army wasn't there. Not in time to prevent the slaughter anyway, but that's a discussion for another time, and one Israelis will indeed be having, and soon.

Hamas, a terror group masquerading as a government, controls Gaza. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it has unleashed the current conflagration to inflame the region, probably in an attempt to stop any further progress toward normalized relations between Israel and her Arab neighbors.

Hamas not only anticipates the Israeli response to its savagery but also depends on it. Hamas aims to stop any further rapprochement between the Arab states and Israel. Hamas's cause is the destruction of the Jewish state, an objective many Arab states no longer embrace.

Indeed, a growing number of Arab states today favor normal relations with Israel and an end to the generations of bloodshed. In all, 165 of the 193 UN member states recognize Israel, and a growing number of states, primarily in the Muslim world, that in the past did not recognize Israel have begun to either recognize the Jewish state or have entered into discussions to normalize relations. That reality, perhaps more than anything else, is, no doubt, what led to last week's massacre of Israeli men, women, and children.

Absolute rejection and intolerance of the Jewish state and, as demonstrated last week, any Jewish presence in the ancient land of Israel is the Hamas raison d'etre. It is simply a declaration of intolerance, intolerance of Israel, and, equally as important, intolerance of any other Muslim nation that seeks to establish peaceful relations with Israel

The Hamas charter is unambiguous, and last week's deadly pogrom was entirely in keeping with the right Hamas has embraced to commit murder. The charter demands the destruction of Israel—period, full stop. The Jewish state of Israel is to be replaced with a theocracy based on Islamic law—period, full stop. Hamas takes it upon itself to dismiss any negotiated resolution, political settlement, or agreement between any Muslim country and the state of Israel—period, full stop. The Hamas charter proclaims, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it"—period, full stop.

Hamas, in 2017, published a new charter that also rejects any recognition of Israel and advocates "the liberation" (read destruction) of all of Israel. The 2017 charter accepts a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, which would simply increase the geographic area from which the terror group could attack citizens of Israel.  

Until October 7, 2023, few normal or sane people anywhere could have conceived of such carefully calculated murder on such a mass scale as that carried out by the Hamas marauders. Adolph Eichmann would have nodded approvingly. The Hamas Charters read like master plans in some Orwellian novel in which successful campaigns are judged by levels of gruesomeness. The murderers from Hamas who stormed into the small communities in the South of Israel left the bodies of their victims, many of which were violated and mutilated, for the world to see. The viciousness of the attack was noteworthy for the wrenching message the corpses, the remains of the victims Hamas left behind, would send. This is what awaits.  

And remember this. While Hamas committed one of the greatest massacres in modern history last week, the organization is far from the most extreme of the Islamic movements. The late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, the first Muslim leader to make peace with Israel, was murdered by Islamic extremists, who would consider Hamas too timid and too secular.

Humanity was the target of the Hamas massacre last week. Israelis, visitors from other nations, men, women, children, whether elderly, in the prime of life, or young or even yet unborn—they were all targeted, cut down, all left for the world to see, violated and lifeless.  

Israel, however, will survive. The nation is strong and resilient. She will survive. Not just for those who call it home but for the miracle it is. For Hatikvah, "the hope."

Please consider our Of Thee I Sing 1776 Premium option. While my weekly column is always free, for just $5/month, you’ll also receive my annual ebook, “Essays For Our Time,” and my new Podcasts.

https://oftheeising1776.substack.com/subscribe.

 Recent podcasts have featured my commentary on Brian Kemp and Those Republicans of Georga, the Trump Indictments, the Fox Corp Settlement, The CNN Trump Town Hall, the Hunter Biden plea deal, The New American Cult of Personality, and my interviews with:

William Bratton, Retired Chief of Police, New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston

Rikki Klieman, Attorney, Network News Analyst, and best-selling author

John Thoresen, Executive Director, Barbara Sinatra Children’s Center

Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and founder of the Institute for Political Innovation

Jazz artist Ann Hampton Callaway

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon

AI Data Scientist Lawrence Kite

Ryan Clancy, Chief Strategist of No Labels

Senator Barbara Boxer

Senator Joe Lieberman

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan

 Become a Premium subscriber here: https://oftheeising1776.substack.com/subscribe.