Hamas attack responsible for Palestinian carnage | GARY COSBY JR.

The Hamas-led Palestinians recently and inexplicably decided to launch an invasive attack of Israel. This seemed suicidal at the time and I think it looks even more so now that we are a few weeks into it. No other Arab nation joined this attack, which would have turned into a broad-based and extremely violent war.

That begs the question, what did Hamas expect to happen? They conducted a surprise attack, killed more than a thousand Israeli citizens and took hostage more than 200 people, including some American citizens. Did they expect no reprisal from Israel?

A black cloud of smoke rises from the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, seen from the Israeli border with Gaza on Oct. 29, 2023.

I don’t think anyone would be that stupid, so what, precisely was their goal? I can only think of one thing. They wished to goad Israel into a major attack on the Gaza Strip that would be bad enough to draw condemnation from world powers. Nothing else makes much sense to me.

A perfect example was the blast that killed all those people at a Gaza hospital. Initial news reports accused Israel of intentionally bombing the hospital. President Joe Biden was the first world leader to say publicly that the attack was not carried out by Israel and it appears now that the evidence points to Hamas as the perpetrators, intentionally or unintentionally.

But did you notice how the story was slanted in the major media outlets? In fact, the New York Times went to so far as to issue a retraction with an apology for their initial coverage. I noted a great many stories that were quickly slanted against Israel and, of course, there was extensive coverage of Palestinians protesting in the United States.

Excuse me for not crying for Palestine. The Gaza Strip is ruled by a group of terrorists. These terrorists carried out a major attack on Israel. The terrorists started it, knowing the Israeli response would kill many of their own civilians. Israel is not at fault. Hamas is 100% to blame. If you want to live in peace, then live peaceably.

But Hamas does not wish to live in peace. Terrorists seldom do. They wanted to at least derail the normalization of relations between other Arab countries and Israel, a process that was underway with some of the Arab nations in the region. But look what they did to their own people. Thousands have died and you can bet thousands more will die because of their pointless attack.

We have a saying, when you mess with the bull you get the horns. Israel is certainly the bull and the nation has strong horns. Many of the Arab nations have learned this the hard way. Israel has been under some form of attack from its neighbors since the British mandate ended with Israel being reformed as a nation in 1948 after having been driven out of the land since the nation of Israel was defeated and expelled as a majority population by the Romans between 66–136 A.D.

Arab armies have many times attempted to dislodge and eliminate Israel as a nation. The wars have been numerous and lengthy at times, bleeding into one another, but Israel won significant victories in the Six Days War in 1967 and again in 1973 in the Yom Kippur War. In fact, had both the United States and the Soviet Union not intervened diplomatically to prevent it, Israeli troops would likely have been parading through the streets of Damascus during the Six Days War.

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The Soviets were heavily allied with Syria and threatened to enter the conflict to prevent an Israeli incursion while the United States leaned on Israel to halt their counteroffensive to avoid having a world war right then. Had the Soviets entered, the United States and NATO would have been forced to enter. No one wanted that though things might have been easier on Israel had they marched into Syria. No one can say.

What is obvious is that terrorists in the Gaza Strip do not have the power to defeat Israel. Other terror organizations have tried. The Palestine Liberation Organization has tried. Israel invaded Lebanon to stop attacks from there. Hamas has obviously tried and each intervention by Israel to stop them has resulted in massive casualties to Palestinians. Hezbollah has tried and failed.

The math of this situation is very simple. If you attack Israel, you will be the recipient of a crushing response. Think about the reverse situation. Let’s say that Israel was confined to the Gaza Strip and were attacking Palestine in the manner they have been attacked. Would the Palestinians use any restraint in their response?

There is not a chance. If they had the means, the hypothetical Palestinian army would simply flatten Gaza and push what remained of it into the Mediterranean Sea. Any Arab nation would do the same. That Israel has not dealt summarily with Gaza and Hamas is quite remarkable.

I suppose the only reason they have not is because such an act would be seen by other nations in the region as something that had to be avenged. Such a summary action, though it would rid Israel of a thorn in its side, would incite a major war.

Gary Cosby Jr.

Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: I have no tears for Palestine | GARY COSBY JR.