By ANJULI PANDAVAR •
In the dying days of the Islamic State, Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, a cross between Goebbels and Soleimani, and the ISIS No.2, famously boasted, “We would be defeated and you victorious only if you were able to remove the Qur’an from Muslims’ hearts.” This week we saw Hamas playing the Qur’an-in-the-heart-of-Muslims card. A Muslim jihad organisation only does this when not just itself, but the entire ummah, is facing a shattering humiliation.
It is one thing for Israel to defeat Hamas, but quite another for the West to move all Muslims, every single one of them, out of Gaza, for the latter would mean a defeat infinitely worse than the deaths of Soleimani, Haniyyeh, Sinwar, Shukr, Nasrallah, Khamenei, Al-Houthi, and every layer of leadership beneath each of them combined. Israel seizing “Muslim land” from Muslim fighters specifically waging war to restore Israel to “Muslim land” would be a humiliation no Muslim could bear. Even if Hamas were to be obliterated, the highest priority always has been and always will be the protection of Islam. Islam must not be driven back from any part of the Earth that Allah has willed for Muslims to conquer, and make no mistake, 2005 was a reconquest. Alhamdulillah.
With Donald Trump moving to clear everyone out of Gaza and Israel eliminating its remaining leaders at rapid clip and re-annexing territory, it is time to push the self-destruct button to preserve Islam in Gaza.
The “protests” we have seen on the streets of Gaza this week, comical in their theatricality, are designed not to save Hamas, but to save “Muslim land” from falling into infidel hands, to boot Jewish, hands. Last night footage emerged of Hamas firing shots into the air to “disperse” a crowd semi-frozen on a stage. Firing into the air is what Palestinians do at weddings! Hamas, a brutal organisation that leaves no room for anything less than absolute, enthusiastic support, acts on the slightest suspicion of dissent with torture and murder.
In this totalitarian society in which patient suffering is a virtue, when its willingly-suffering population takes to the streets, it is not against Hamas per se, but against its tardiness in destroying Israel. By the time they reach such a point, the strain of balancing the religious imperative to endure (sabr) and impatience with Hamas’s pussyfooting shows in their faces, in their demeanour and in their voices. This is hard to fake at short notice and is conspicuously absent from these “protests.”
If Hamas is prepared to sacrifice itself so its hastily-assembled “opposition” is granted exemption from removal as “Palestinians who gave up jihad to live in peace with Israel,” as Yishai Fleisher puts it, then Muslims can tell themselves that there is still Islam on Muslim land and they will have been spared the worst humiliation of all. They can then rekindle jihad under a new Islamic resistance organisation and resume the war against Israel.
Now is not the time to relent. It is time to push through to complete humiliation of the Gazans. Israel must not repeat the Hezbollah mistake. To “threaten” Hamas: for every x days you hold our people captive, we will annex y sq Km of Gaza, is not a threat; it is an offer. Not only does this open yet more negotiations with Hamas, but it elevates the murderers of 1200 Jews and all the rest of it on October 7, to a party of equal standing with Israel. This is to humiliate yourself in the eyes of people who defeat their enemies by humiliation. This an offer, rather than a threat, because we are offering that in exchange for the hostages, we will reward them with Gaza. First, we rewarded their aggression by giving them the Temple Mount, now we are offering to reward their aggression by giving them Gaza, AGAIN.
Annexation of territory is the key, provided you remain unflinching about it. Annex the territory: firstly, to impress upon Hamas our contempt for their honour; secondly, to humiliate them in that they are an Islamic army unable to defend what is most sacred to them, “Muslim land”; thirdly, once so humiliated, they will respect and fear Israel.
Force them to release the captives by pressing the humiliation home: force all of the Gazans into the ever-shrinking territory remaining after each successive annexation, until they get their feet wet in the Mediterranean. If they still have not released everybody, then only one ultimatum remains. Push a little more, until those on the edge are up to their knees in water. They will be made to face exactly that which they all want to do to the Jews. Such a complete reversal of fortune is impossible, unless Allah does not will for them to be victorious this time. Push another metre forward. Those furthest into the water will begin to lose their footing. Panic will set in. Let this panic build on itself.
When they begin to feel like those young people felt at the Nova Festival, when they are shaking with terror as the families huddled in their safe rooms shook with terror, then, over loudspeakers, command everyone to be silent in the rudest way possible. When they are completely silent, say nothing for a full five minutes. This is when they might actually start abandoning Hamas. If they have not handed over the captives by this point, then, over the loudspeakers, play the song Yalla ya Nasrallah. When the song is finished, command them to be silent again. Wait another five minutes.
Without any introduction, start telling the story of Hezbollah from the killing of Fuad Shukr to the killing of Nasrallah, making sure to mention every leader killed and the “heroic deeds” of each of them. Go into great detail on the pagers and walkie-talkies and on the weeping cripples in the mosques and shrines, and play Nasrallah’s children’s voices talking about the state of their father during his final days, before describing in detail how Nasrallah died. Tell them that the last thing Nasrallah saw before he died, was Prime Minister Netanyahu on the phone in New York, giving the order to kill Nasrallah, and add, “Netanyahu will still be inside his head when he wakes up in Jannah.” Command them to be silent. Wait five minutes.
Over the loudspeakers, play the recording of the Hamas murderer phoning his family in Gaza, drunk on just having killed ten Jews with his own hands. Then they will know they are defeated. Then we can expect them to release everyone, and place themselves at the IDF’s mercy. They will fall over themselves to kiss the boots of IDF soldiers. Then we will know we have won.
The Palestinians perpetrated the October 7 massacre one month before the centenary of the publication of Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s essay The Iron Wall, a work to which I return often. An insight worth reminding ourselves of is:
We all demand that there should be an iron wall. Yet we keep spoiling our own case, by talking about “agreement” which means telling the Mandatory Government that the important thing is not the iron wall, but discussions.
This was in the context of the Zionist struggle to restore the Jewish homeland in Mandatory Palestine. But the lesson is as apt in the current context, as can well read him to say:
We all demand that all the hostages be released. Yet we keep spoiling our own case, by talking about “agreement” which means telling Hamas that the important thing is not the hostages, but discussions.
Western talking heads, as is to be expected, are trembling with excitement at the “innocent Palestinians” finally “speaking up”. What a lovely confirmation of the enduring message of democracy. Don’t snuff out this tiny flame, Israel. These are obviously the Palestinian silent majority sending a clear message: save us from Hamas. Do we want to save the hostages, for which we need resolute firmness, an iron wall, or do we want to spoil our case by getting distracted with Palestinian theatre, our pretext for more negotiations?
Respectable peaceniks, suit-and-tie capitulators, and even YouTube rabbis will climb on this bandwagon to coddle these “innocent civilians” and put more pressure on Israel. “But they shot the leaders,” some will object. Firstly, such “leaders” are sacrificing themselves for the cause; secondly, Hamas throws its own members off rooftops for much less. Palestinian psychological warfare done to perfection! Alarmingly, early signs are that the Israeli government is falling for it. Defence Minister Israel Katz, make no deals with these people! Do not even acknowledge them. Carry out your plans regardless of them, for they are Hamas!
Picture credit:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1904572558571155830
I very much doubt if even Netanyahu will implement this plan. It is on the same level of consideration as Dayan giving over the Temple Mount to the Waqf. The fear that all of Islam would attack Israel is overwhelming.
Nonetheless, I like it a lot!!
Excellent article… I particularly liked this:
“… once so humiliated, they will respect and fear Israel.”