We All Must Demand Hamas Surrender

 

The world, all the world together, must demand that Hamas surrender.  It is beyond doubt that the suffering of the people of Gaza will begin to end only after the terrorist group Hamas surrenders, and not a moment sooner.  

Even the billions of people calling for Israel to cease its military activities in Gaza, must, at least simultaneously if not prior to making that call, also demand Hamas surrender.  This demand must be made in the name of compassion for the people of Gaza.

Not only would the fighting stop, (I would join in demanding an immediate ceasefire as soon as the white flag goes up) but most of the long term suffering endured by the people of Gaza will begin to diminish the moment Hamas surrenders.

The solid truth is that the terrorist group Hamas is not synonymous with the people of Gaza.  In fact, it seems to me like that group of thugs have ruled over the people of Gaza as a criminal enterprise for decades, and by constantly provoking Israel with violence, caused the lives of Gazans to be limited because of understandable Israeli security measures.  Without Hamas in charge of Gaza, and the constant rocket barrage ended, Gazans would soon enjoy much more freedom.

The ugly reality is that Hamas causes, with their criminal and terrorist activities, most of the suffering in Gaza, and then this criminal cartel exploits that suffering by deceiving Gazans into blaming Israel for their pain.  They take a mildly valid land grievance of a kind rather common on this planet, and (using their control of media and education) gin it into a never ending existential crisis in the minds of this captive people.  The Gazan people live in constant fear of genocide, yet their numbers have grown by the millions since the advent of modern Israel. Thus the people of Gaza are held in thrall, their hearts hating and their minds obsessed with Jew hatred to the point their children remain perpetually a field ripe for terrorist recruitment.

It turns out that none of the Arab nations around Israel want anything to do with the Gazans.  When they have been given places of refuge in those nations, they proved to be such a hotbed of rebellion that each of those nations,including Jordan which actually has the moral duty toward them, rejected them.  And all the while Hamas, or their terrorist group ancestors, has had cultural control of the people.  That is what must end, which means that Hamas must surrender.

When we look closer however, we realize that none of those nations actually tried very hard to end the reign of criminals over the refugees, even when they could have.  So one has to consider the possibility that this is all driven (and financed) by the same interests who have been trying to conduct a multi millennial genocide of the Jewish people.

That being the case, it is understandable that Israel has been driven to the extreme of flooding the tunnels under Gaza with seawater, and I deeply hate this. We can not let this long term harm to the land come about, so we all must unite in demanding that Hamas surrender.  That is the way to end all this damage and suffering.  The way the surrender is conducted could be very constructive and beneficial to the people of Gaza. 

First of all, the fighters of Hamas must know that if the tunnels are flooded, their ability to resist the IDF will collapse and they will have to surrender anyway.  So surrender now and avoid permanent damage coming to your homeland or fight on, allow your actual homeLAND to be ruined and surrender anyway.  The choice is yours.  Please, let sanity and the future well being of your people guide you, get together, and bitter as it might be, agree to raise the white flag of surrender.

As soon as that flag appears, Israel must stop firing for at least five minutes.  If no firing comes from the other side, a cease fire will be in place.  We must all also agree to this demand.

Next, the Hamas forces must come out into the open, waving that white flag.  They will be met by the IDF, who will require arms be laid down, and security of the captives be established.

The primary thing that we can collectively demand be different about this surrender is that every step any IDF Soldier makes will be accompanied by an unarmed citizen witness wearing light armor and two go pro (front and back) cameras with live uplinks.  These witnesses will be volunteers who are there to ensure prisoners are well treated, and to ensure transparency prevails throughout the entire process of transition from Hamas rule to Gazan self rule.  Given the billions who care about the fate of the people of Gaza enough to riot, it should be easy to find some volunteers brave enough to accompany those soldiers on point as they enter the supposedly surrendered tunnels. This approach would help ensure Israeli good behavior, and prevent Hamas treachery by making such treachery apparent and hence counter-productive

As Hamas fighters are processed, those identified as possible war criminals will be held for criminal trial.  In fact, any war criminal from either side must be prosecuted.  Those who fought as warriors,however, must be treated as prisoners of war and released as soon as practical.  Even some Hamas fighter who manged to hit a tank with an RPG, or any battle action like that, is not a criminal, but instead an honorable soldier and must be treated as such.

After the military situation is stabilized, we should continue to demand that Israel allow citizen witnesses to every phase of their pacification and rebuilding of Gaza.  If all the people who want the best for the people of Gaza would follow through and insist everything be done right, this path could lead to a much brighter future for the entire region.

In the past the world has insisted and Israel has complied with seeking an easy peace, a peace which has proven unstable at best.  This proposal offers a much more difficult peace, a peace which will require real effort on the part of that supposedly caring world; all of us.  But this more difficult path does offer a future with more stability, more prosperity, indeed, a more real and lasting peace.

The first step to real peace is that we all, together, must demand Hamas surrender.