Preface: This is an extremely complicated and taxing subject to write about. I was asked by many people for an article to try and make sense of what happened, why it did and what is likely to occur. Here are my thoughts. I strove to base them on facts and not on emotion in an attempt to provide an empirical review of the situation as many people do not fully realize what Hamas is and how it will impact the lives of people throughout the world. 

First - Why am I qualified to opine on such a complicated matter?
I grew up both in Israel and the US. I was in Israel when Iraqi Scud missiles were raining down during the Gulf War. I was in New Jersey when 9-11 happened. I have spent a considerable amount of time in both Academic circles surrounded by many different ideologies which I strove to understand as well as around military and various government professionals.

I also kept seeing the difference between what legacy media put out as news (which was lacking or agendized) and how it was different from what was really going on around me. 

This article is intended for an audience that might not be overly familiar with the events and participants.

What happened on October 7th, 2023:

On the morning of October 7th, 2023, a Saturday concluding the weeklong holiday of Sukkot in Israel, a time where many soldiers were on leave, families we­re gathered together and children were going about a sunny Saturday morning, pre-dawn sirens ushered a surprise assault by Hamas from the air, sea and ground.

Over five thousand missiles launched from Gaza broke the calmness and rained down on many targets across Israel, igniting fear and leaving casualties. Concurrently, thousands of organized Hamas militants (which in fact the phrase “Hamas soldiers committing terrorist acts” would be more appropriate), organized as units, riding motorcycles and technical trucks breached the border following bulldozers, overwhelming Israeli soldiers and proceeding on to indiscriminately butcher civilians within cities accompanied with maps and objectives. In a coordinated tactic, dozens of Hamas militants in motorboats invaded Israeli beaches, engaging in intense firefights with Israeli forces. Other militants infiltrated through paragliders amidst smoke-filled skies, adding to the multi-pronged onslaught.

As stunned Israelis rushed to safe rooms and bomb shelters, groups of militants marched through towns, breaking into homes and executing entire families, burning, pillaging and destroying everything they could to satisfy their bloodlust. The militants shot pleading residents and abducted women, children, and the elderly, forcibly taking them back to Gaza to be used as bargaining chips. There are horrific accounts of people from many nations, not just Israelis, that were massacred.

People that fled to safe rooms were burnt alive when militants set fire to their homes. Disabled elderly and their caretakers were butchered. Foreign farm workers were sadistically hacked with farm equipment. Militants stacked the bodies of Israeli victims in the back of trucks and set them on fire. Militants forced Israelis to hand over their phones on which Hamas militants live-streamed their killing on social media to the horror of the victims’ families. Nurseries were found with babies and children shot and mutilated, women were raped, tortured and killed, Hamas killed children in front of their families, streets were littered with bodies and many more grotesque unspeakable inhumane crimes were committed.

Whole families executed. Entire communities killed. Even a joyful music festival, billed as a celebration of “friends, love and infinite freedom” turned into a living nightmare when Hamas militants arrived in vans, gunning down over 260 attendees and kidnapping others. After it was over, thousands of Israelis and foreign nationals lay dead and thousands more severely injured in the matter of hours. Afterwhich Hamas leaders were brandishing threats of executing the hostages they abducted, one by one, pledging to film the brutal acts if their demands go unmet. Just as ISIS had done before.

These are all facts documented from videos, testimony, interviews and photos taken by both Hamas militants and Israeli victims.

This inhuman, sinister attack and its aftermath sent shockwaves across the globe, with reactions from global leaders pouring in. The level of violence and the sheer scale of the attack drew comparisons to historical atrocities, invoking a broader discussion on the state of global terrorism. The October 7th war was a stark reminder of the destructive potential harbored by extremist groups such as Hamas. Global displays of solidarity, such as the lighting up of many European monuments with the Israeli flag, signified the international community’s condemnation of terrorism and its support for the victims of this brutal attack​6​.

What many have not yet realized is that the multi-front attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th was more than a local skirmish; It is a manifestation of a deeply rooted conflict that has the capacity to destabilize not only the Middle East but also have ramifications on global peace and security.

What is Hamas?

Members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades parade during Hamas’ 27th anniversary celebration in 2014. (Source: Khalil Hamra/AP)

Amidst the volatile labyrinth of Middle Eastern politics, the menacing silhouette of Hamas looms large. Emerging as an offshoot of Egypts’ Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1980s, Hamas has entrenched itself within the sociopolitical fabric of Gaza and subsumed it. The 2007 Gaza electoral victory was a watershed moment, propelling Hamas into a position of unassailable dominance over Gaza, following a bitter feud with Fatah which Hamas considered too moderate. It should be noted that Fatah was formerly known as the PLO (Palestinian National Liberation Movement) which was a terror organization headed by Yasser Arafat. The PLO was responsible for many bombings across the world including airplane hijackings and the Olympic Massacre in 1972. Fatah had its roots as a seasoned terror organization but Hamas managed to exceed.

Hamas’ ascent to power was not just a local phenomenon but a reverberation felt across the global geopolitical landscape. The fact that the majority of the population of Gaza voted Hamas to the parliament serves as an indicator for the mindset of Gazans and what Israel and the world are up against. Hamas is interwoven into the Palastinians society in Gaza that differentiating one from the other becomes extremely hard if not impossible to do.

As Hamas took over governmental tasks, it did not waste time in solidifying its place as the governing entity of Gaza and proceeded to further mold the population to achieve its goals. Hamas began a systematic campaign of reeducation. From kindergarten onwards children are taught that the highest virtue is to become a Martyr for the Hamas cause [6][7][8].

A reality whereby death is valued more than life has been cemented into the Palestinian psyche. What is also of note is that quite a few of Hamas senior leadership do not reside in Gaza, they reside in Qatar, Iran, Lebanon and Europe. Directing their fodder from a distance.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held talks here on Tuesday, agreeing to further strengthen bilateral relations and expand cooperation to ensure security in the region. (Source: Iranian Presidential Website/via Xinhua)

Hamas leaders were even visiting with Russian and Iranian officials just prior to the terror attack they launched on October 7th which raises additional concerns. Hamas leadership is happy to generate an army of Martyrs for their Cause while bilking the West of financial aid in the name of rebuilding the Gaza strip. The reality is that the funds primarily go towards their terror machine and coffers.  

Hamas’s aspirations:

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan holds up a sign showing phrasing from the Hamas Charter as he speaks to reporters before the UN Security Council on October 8, 2023 in New York City. (Source: Getty Images/AFP)

While often viewed through the prism of its conflict with Israel, Hamas's aspirations are not confined within the borders of the Jewish state.

The call for an all-out holy war - a "Day of Jihad" by Khaled Mashal, a leader and founding member of Hamas, in October 2023, signaled an ideological alignment with a broader global jihadism. This menacing outreach shares an eerie semblance with the modus operandi of ISIS. Both entities, though rooted in radical Islamic ideologies, diverge in their geopolitical aspirations. ISIS sought a global Caliphate whereby the entire world is under radical and fundamentalist Muslim law. Hamas's vision, albeit similar and focused on Israel, has since expanded lockstep with ISIS’s Ideology.

The multi-front terror attack on Israel was not merely an act of local aggression but an exhibition of Hamas’s military prowess. It signaled that a war has started. Their Jihad on the West had begun. 

Hamas had been training and building up for at least a year for this moment and as more information is coming to light, logistical aid, training and weapons were provided by Iran and Russia. The goal is to utilize Hamas to extend the regional interests of Iran and the global interests of Russia by creating a war that can spiral out of control in the Middle East. There is an old saying in the Middle East: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. This however is a topic that merits its own discussion.

In the aftermath of the terror attack and the sudden ushering of a new war, it became evident that the multi-pronged assault mirrored the historical atrocities committed by extremist entities, evoking global outcry. World leaders' reactions were a testament to the threat Hamas poses not just to Israel, but to global peace and security.

How Hamas effectively uses Western ideology against the West:

(Source: Mahmud Hams / AFP)

Hamas' exploitation of Western values has been both shrewd and systematic.

Hamas knows that the west has a fatal flaw in its reasoning. The west values and preserves life. Hamas in reality does not. Hamas values death and Martyrdom more than life. Hamas also knows that the West assumes people are predominantly the same and as such have similar values and interests. This is a fallacy. Hamas does not share Western values. Despite realities over the past 70 years, this lesson has yet to have been learned by many in the West, in the words of Golda Meir- Israel’s first female prime minister in the late 1960s: “You cannot negotiate with somebody who has come to kill you.”

Hamas leverages the naivety of the West to extract resources to further its cause under the guise of peace. The Hamas charter calls for explicit destruction of the state of Israel.  [9] Hamas’s Covenant is a comprehensive manifesto comprising 36 separate articles, all of which promote the unwavering Hamas goal of destroying the State of Israel through Jihad (Islamic Holy War). 

Man holding a copy of the Hamas Charter

The following are excerpts of the Hamas Covenant:

Goals of the Hamas: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” (article 6)

It further adds that “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (article 6)

If you think Hamas stops once Israel is destroyed you need not look further than Article 5 which plainly states:

“Its [Hamas’] ultimate goal is Islam, the Prophet its model, the Quran its Constitution. Its spatial dimension extends wherever on earth there are Muslims, who adopt Islam as their way of life;”

Hamas, like ISIS, the Taliban and Iran’s clerics, lives in a reality where they see the world being cast in their own image with fundamentalist Islam as the governing way of life and those who disagree are put to death. In fact, putting such infidel to death guarantees a Muslim a place in heaven so becoming a Martyr for the cause is considered the highest achievement possible. 

Some in the West try to explain away Hamas’ actions but that is the lack of understanding or even hubris that some in the West hold. The inability to comprehend that not everyone holds the same ideals and vision. One simply needs to listen to what Hamas has to say and read what they believe. They tell you exactly what they want to accomplish.

Hamas is happily enriching itself from the Infidels (the West) and getting closer to its goals because of the same voices in the West that condone or misunderstand its actions. Hamas uses humanitarian and financial aid given by the West to further its goals. Institutions like B’nai Brith Canada and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have highlighted how aid funneled into Gaza often finds its way into the coffers of Hamas, financing its military operations.

Hamas takes construction material intended for infrastructure projects and uses it for building terror tunnels and bunkers. Hamas was given hundreds of millions of dollars to build water and electrical infrastructure facilities yet it creates a narrative where Israel is refusing to supply electricity and water to Gaza (when in fact what Israel provides is nominal and Israel has no obligation to provide these to begin with).

As for water - in reality Gaza sits on top of a huge water aquifer but Hamas Authorities ended up polluting it with sewage and never used funds to rehabilitate it. It also disallowed Gazans from digging wells which exacerbates the water problem. Hamas’s recent propaganda shows how tens of millions of dollars provided by the EU to provide 30 miles of irrigation infrastructure in the form of water pipes were being dug up by Hamas and repurposed to create missiles [9][10][11].

The insidious and systematic manipulation of media narratives, especially during the recent conflict, has been a tool to vilify Israel and blunt international sympathy. 

This media manipulation underscores a sophisticated strategy aimed at exploiting the openness of Western societies to further its extremist agenda.

Israel finds itself in a precarious security dilemma. Engaging militarily with Hamas is a tightrope walk amidst a civilian population used as a human shield. The reluctance of the international community to accept Palestinians, underscored by historical destabilization in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, further complicates the scenario. The refusal by other Muslim countries to accept Palestinians underscores a broader recognition of the threat posed by Hamas. Curiously enough, Palestinians are not welcomed to work in Jordan, Lebanon or Egypt. These countries have a solid border and maintain it for their own sake. Israel is the only country that provided tens of thousands of worker permits to Palestinians. In the days following October 7th, Israel found that many of the militants knew their way around the towns so well because they were employed there.

The ripple effects of Hamas' actions transcend local boundaries. Its alliances with Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Russia, signify a broader regional realignment, which has grave implications for global geopolitics. These alliances embolden Hamas, exacerbating the peril in a region already teetering on the brink of a broader conflict.

The pro-Hamas sentiment, which has found resonance in rallies across Europe, Canada, and the US, signifies a global ideological battle. The impact of this sentiment is not just confined to public opinion but has tangible repercussions on counterterrorism efforts globally. One simply goes online to see the violent Palestinian demonstrations from Beijing (knife attack) London (machete attack), Sydney (“gas the jews”), France (bomb threats), Sweden (no go zones)

The international response, often a cacophony of condemnations interspersed with calls for restraint, has fallen woefully short of addressing the menace of Hamas. A collective global action transcending geopolitical rivalries is imperative to curb the rising tide of extremism epitomized by Hamas.

The reality is that the threat posed by Hamas is not a fleeting challenge but a persistent growing danger It is cut from the same cloth that brought the world the likes of ISIS and the Taliban, 9-11 and the World Trade center attacks, the Mumbai Massacre as well as countless bombings, stabbings, killings and destabilizing attacks on the non-fundamentalist muslim world. 

The international community must shed the shackles of selfmade narratives and compulsions and address this threat head-on. A unified global response is not just a necessity but an imperative to ensure the flames of extremism fanned by Hamas and its ilk do not engulf the broader region and beyond.

The haunting words of Golda Meir reverberate through the annals of time, embodying the moral dilemma Israel and now the world faces: "We can forgive them for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace when they love their children more than they hate us."

As it stands Hamas militants fight from schools, hospitals, neighborhoods and homes using Palestinian and hostages as human shields simply because they do not value their lives but also because it helps them further subvert Western values and constructs (like the Geneva convention which they do not abide by but enjoy accusing others of breaking) to subvert the reality that is their war on the West which in their charter, shared by Iran and other radicals, begins with the destruction of Israel.

Golda Meir was the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974.

In this somber contemplation, the peril staring down the civilized world is vividly encapsulated. The mantle of responsibility now firmly rests on the shoulders of the global community to discern and dismantle the death-culture fostered by Hamas, thereby laying the foundation for a resilient, enduring civilization. 

As we stand at this pivotal juncture in a highly technological epoch, the potential for a small faction to inflict catastrophic harm upon the masses is alarmingly real. Such a scenario is untenable. There exists no moral pedestal or intellectual discourse that can justify the horrors we are witnessing. There exists no scenario which allows for the inclusion of these radical groups into our societal fold. In unity on these points, we find our stand. The fundamentalist's worldview is stark in its simplicity—dividing humanity into allies and adversaries, the living and the dead. They do so with a readiness to embrace death or deal it in adherence to their dogma without hesitation. No one is exempt. No one is safe. 

Gone are the days when a nation or individual could say “this does not concern me. I am far away”. Every nation, every person, should be aware of this direct danger, understand it and act decisively to repulse it from their community. Without exception. Earth is surprisingly small. What happens in Israel impacts Americans as easily as it impacts Australians, Thai and Taiwanese. 

This perilous ideology cannot go unchecked; the collective conscience of humanity must rally against it to avoid a descent into an abyss from which we are not likely to emerge from.

The stakes cannot be higher. We must ensure the survival and flourishing of our global society.

(This piece reflects the author's opinion, and does not represent the opinion of CommonWealth Magazine.)

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About the author

Jon, a Taiwan Gold Card holder, graduated from Rutgers University where he earned a Doctorate in Law and founded multiple companies in different spaces which are attributable to his broad experience in Technology, Real Estate & Entertainment. Jon is an innovator, patent holder and writer. Welcome to connect Jon with his [LinkedIn] [Instagram]

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