Leaving Hamas in power will mean more death and suffering in the long run. Destroying Hamas now is the real humanitarian position.
Imagine for a moment that the entire world was like Israel.
What would it be like?
Well, the world would have a high level of personal freedom and religious tolerance.
The world would be very innovative – there would almost certainly be a massive jump in technological advancement and space exploration. After all, Israel is the smallest country to have their own space program and launch capabilities.
Overall global GDP and human flourishing would be far above what it is today.
Now, let’s imagine that the entire world was like Gaza.
What would it be like?
Religious tolerance would be non-existent.
Women would be oppressed.
LGBT people would be oppressed.
Democracy would be destroyed.
There would be no free speech.
Primitivism would be the name of the game, with money for education and infrastructure being redirected to hate-mongering indoctrination and stockpiling weapons.
It would be a disastrous nightmare.
Different civilizations
This is a useful exercise in imagination because it points to the fact that different societies or civilizations are not all the same.
Now, that doesn’t mean each human being isn’t worthy of respect and dignity.
It does mean that we must honestly assess the different sides of a conflict and make a judgement as to who is the ‘good side’ and who is the ‘bad side.’
Now, some people see this as too simplistic.
But we have minds, we have ethics, and thus we must make moral value judgements.
And any reasonable judgement of Israel vs Hamas shows that Israel is the good side and Hamas is the bad side.
Israel is the type of society that can build a free, prosperous, and advanced civilization.
Gaza – under Hamas’ leadership – is the type of society that would pull humanity backwards into the depths of tribalism, hatred, primitivism, and endless human suffering.
And so, Israel deserves the support of all who value human civilization and who value true peace.
And that means Israel should be supported in the continuation of the war and the destruction of Hamas.
Only when Hamas is defeated and Gaza deradicalized and reformed can the Palestinian People in the area start to build their own successful civilization.
If Hamas is left in power, there will just be another war at another time, meaning more pain and suffering down the road.
So, even amid terrible tragedies like the deaths of aid workers in Gaza, it remains essential for Hamas to be crushed, for the hostages to be freed, and for Gaza to be reformed.
None of that can happen unless Israel finishes the job in Rafah.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
