Gaza must be disarmed, Hamas must be uprooted and Palestinian society must be de-radicalized
Netanyahu writes in the Wall Street Journal
Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be non-extremist. These are the three basic conditions for peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors in Gaza.
First, Hamas, Iran's main proxy, must be destroyed. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and many other countries support Israel's intention to demolish the terrorist group. To achieve this goal, it must dismantle its military capabilities and end its political rule over Gaza. Hamas leaders vowed to repeat the October 7 massacre "again and again". That is why their destruction is the only relative response to prevent a repetition of these terrible atrocities. Anything less guarantees more war and more bloodshed.
In destroying Hamas, Israel will continue to act in full compliance with international law. This is especially difficult because an integral part of Hamas ' strategy is the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas places its terrorist infrastructure inside and under houses, hospitals, mosques, schools and other civilian sites, deliberately endangering the Palestinian population.
Israel is doing its best to minimize civilian casualties by dropping leaflets, sending text messages and using other means to warn Gazans not to get out of harm's way. By contrast, Hamas does its best to keep Palestinians in harm's way - often at gunpoint.
Unfairly blaming Israel for these injuries will only encourage Hamas and other terrorist organizations around the world to use human shields. To make this cruel and cynical strategy ineffective, the international community must blame these injuries directly on Hamas. You must realize that Israel is fighting the biggest battle in the civilized war against barbarism.
Secondly, Gaza must be demilitarized. Israel must ensure that the territory is never again used as a base for attacking it. Among other things, this will require the creation of a temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and an inspection mechanism on the Gaza-Egypt border that meets the security needs of Israel and prevents the smuggling of weapons into the territory.
The expectation that the Palestinian Authority will demilitarize Gaza is an impossible dream. She is currently financing and glorifying terrorism in Judea and Samaria and teaching Palestinian children to seek the destruction of Israel. Not surprisingly, he has shown neither the ability nor the will to demilitarize Gaza. It failed to do so before Hamas expelled it from the territories in 2007, and it fails to do so in the territories under its control today. For the foreseeable future, Israel will have to retain the dominant security responsibility for Gaza.
Thirdly, Gaza must be non-extremist. Schools should teach children to cherish life instead of death, and preaching about the murder of Jews should stop. Palestinian civil society needs to transform so that its people support the fight against terrorism instead of funding it.
This is likely to require courageous and moral leadership. The leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, cannot even condemn the atrocities of October 7. Many of his ministers deny that the murders and rapes took place or accuse Israel of committing these terrible crimes against its people. Another threatened to carry out a similar attack in Judea and Samaria.
De-radicalization successfully took place in Germany and Japan after the Allied victory in World War II. Today, both countries are great allies of the United States and promote peace, stability and prosperity in Europe and Asia.
More recently, since the September 11 attacks, visionary Arab leaders in the Gulf have spearheaded efforts to de-radicalize their societies and transform their countries. Israel has since drafted the historic Abraham accords and today enjoys peace agreements with six Arab countries. Such a cultural transformation will be possible in Gaza only among Palestinians who do not seek the destruction of Israel.
Once Hamas is destroyed, Gaza is Demilitarized and Palestinian society begins the process of de-radicalization, Gaza can be rebuilt and the prospects for wider peace in the Middle East will become a reality.
